Science: We Have The First-Ever 3D Map of Our Solar System's Heliosphere, And It's Amazing

geechiedan

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
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The heliopause is a fascinating place. The Sun is constantly gusting a stream of charged particles - a supersonic wind of ionized plasma - out into space. Eventually, the solar wind loses strength over distance, so that it is no longer sufficient to push against the pressure of interstellar space. The point at which that happens is the heliopause.

Interstellar space doesn't have a great deal of material in it, but there's enough that it does have a low density of atoms, and a cosmic wind blowing between the stars.

The shape of the boundary between the two has been a matter of some debate. Is it a rounded bubble? A comet-shaped structure, with a tail streaming behind the Solar System as it moves around the Milky Way galaxy?

Or something a bit more like a strange croissant?

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This Weird Shape Might Actually Be What Our Sun's Magnetic Bubble Looks Like

CARLY CASSELLA
22 MARCH 2020
Every planet in our Solar System, including our own, is enclosed in a bubble of solar wind, emanating from our Sun at supersonic speeds.
The particles making up this wind create an invisible magnetic field, which protects us from the rest of interstellar space. For decades now, astronomers have been analysing this system of radiation and magnetism known as a heliosphere, mapping its boundaries in an effort to figure out what it looks like.

 

Gazoo

The Big Brain
BGOL Investor
Now I have to research the Heliosphere to look smart. Interesting stuff, but above my pay grade at 3:00AM. :giggle:
 
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