Results of IPS Observations in the Period Near Solar Activity Minimum

IPS observations with the Big Scanning Array of Lebedev Physical Institute (BSA LPI) radio telescope at the frequency 111 MHz have been monitored since 2006. All the sources, about several hundred daily, with a scintillating flux greater than 0.2 Jy are recorded for 24 hours in the 16 beams of the radio telescope covering a sky strip of 8^° declination width. We present some results of IPS observations for the recent period of low solar activity considering a statistical ensemble of scintillating radio sources. The dependences of the averaged over ensemble scintillation index on heliocentric distance are considerably weaker than the dependence expected for a spherically symmetric geometry. The difference is especially pronounced in the year 2008 during the very deep solar activity minimum period. These features are explained by the influence of the heliospheric current sheet that is seen as a strong concentration of turbulent solar wind plasma aligned with the solar equatorial plane. A local maximum of the scintillation index is found in the anti-solar direction. Future prospects of IPS observations using BSA LPI are briefly discussed.