The heliospheric neutral hydrogen density profile in the presence of a solar wind shock

The effect of a postulated nearby solar wind shock on the radial density profile of the cold inflowing neutral hydrogen atoms is studied. It is found that a nearby solar wind shock strongly affects the neutral hydrogen breeze. Model calculation reveals that the strongly perturbed hydrogen atom distribution beyond a solar wind shock can be remotely detected by observation of the radial dependence of the backscattered UV glow from the deep space probes Pioneer 10/11 and Voyager 1/2. 33 references.