The heliosphere—made of solar wind, solar transients, and the interplanetary magnetic field—acts as our solar system's personal shield, protecting the planets from galactic cosmic rays. These extremely energetic particles ...
Astronomy
Mar 29, 2024
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NASA's twin Voyager probes have become, in some ways, time capsules of their era: They each carry an eight-track tape player for recording data, they have about 3 million times less memory than modern cellphones, and they ...
Space Exploration
Aug 18, 2022
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Our corner of the universe, the solar system, is nestled inside the Milky Way galaxy, home to more than 100 billion stars. The solar system is encased in a bubble called the heliosphere, which separates us from the vast galaxy ...
Space Exploration
Oct 20, 2021
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When the four-decades-old Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft entered interstellar space in 2012 and 2018, respectively, scientists celebrated. These plucky spacecraft had already traveled 120 times the distance from the Earth ...
Astronomy
Apr 26, 2021
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Scientists have developed a new prediction of the shape of the bubble surrounding our solar system using a model developed with data from NASA missions.
Astronomy
Aug 5, 2020
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Far beyond the orbits of the planets are the hazy outlines of the heliosphere, the magnetic bubble in space that we call home. This flexible cosmic bubble stretches and shrinks in response to the sun's gasps and sighs.
Astronomy
Jun 12, 2020
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You are living in a bubble. Not a metaphorical bubble—a real, literal bubble. But don't worry, it's not just you. The whole planet, and every other planet in the solar system, for that matter, is in the bubble too. And, ...
Astronomy
Mar 17, 2020
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Measurements taken by the Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument aboard NASA's New Horizons spacecraft are providing important new insights from some of the farthest reaches of space ever explored. In a paper recently ...
Astronomy
Dec 2, 2019
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One year ago, on Nov. 5, 2018, NASA's Voyager 2 became only the second spacecraft in history to leave the heliosphere—the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by our Sun. At a distance of about 11 ...
Space Exploration
Nov 5, 2019
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NASA has confirmed that Voyager 2 has joined its twin to become only the second spacecraft to enter interstellar space – where the sun's flow of material and magnetic field no longer affect its surroundings. The slightly ...
Space Exploration
Dec 11, 2018
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The heliosphere is a bubble in space "blown" into the interstellar medium (the hydrogen and helium gas that permeates the galaxy) by the solar wind. Although electrically neutral atoms from interstellar volume can penetrate this bubble, virtually all of the material in the heliosphere emanates from the Sun itself. It was thought for decades that it extends in a long comet-like heliotail, but in 2009 data from the Cassini and IBEX show a different shape. However, depiction of the heliotail is still common. Another change is that the heliosheath area is not smooth but filled with magnetic bubbles.NASA 2011
For the first ten billion kilometres of its radius, the solar wind travels at over a million km per hour. As it begins to drop out with the interstellar medium, it slows down before finally ceasing altogether. The point where the solar wind slows down is the termination shock; then there is the heliosheath area; then the point where the interstellar medium and solar wind pressures balance is called the heliopause; the point where the interstellar medium, traveling in the opposite direction, slows down as it collides with the heliosphere is the bow shock.
As of June 2011, the heliosheath area is thought to be filled with magnetic bubbles (each about 1 AU wide), creating a "foamy zone". The theory helps explain in situ heliosphere measurements by the two Voyager probes.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
