Simulated shock characteristics at Earth’s cobpoint. Panels a–c: give, respectively, the heliospheric radial distance, latitude, and longitude of Earth’s cobpoint in heliocentric Earth euatorial (HEEQ) coordinates as a function of the time elapsed after the CME injection at 0.1 au. Panels d–f: give, respectively, the shock speed, the shock compression ratio, and the shock angle at Earth’s cobpoint. The dashed vertical lines indicate the shock arrival time at Earth. Panel g: a snapshot of the solar wind radial speed at constant latitude θ = 4.5° close to the time when Earth established magnetic connection with the shock front. Earth is indicated by a black dot; it is magnetically connected to the cobpoint (magenta dot), which resides on the western flank of the CME.