For the first time, astronomers have been able to determine the shape of the heliosphere, the boundary that marks the end of the influence of our star

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

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2021-06-21 06:30:07

For the first time, astronomers have been able to determine the shape of the heliosphere, the boundary that marks the end of the influence of our star's solar wind. This discovery could help us better understand the environment of the Solar System, and how it interacts with interstellar space.

"Physics models have theorized this boundary for years," said astronomer Dan Reisenfeld of Los Alamos National Laboratory. "But this is the first time we've actually been able to measure it and make a three-dimensional map of it."

Actually, we have had encounters with the edge of the heliosphere, a boundary known as the heliopause. Both Voyager probes, launched over 40 years ago, have encountered it and traveled past into interstellar space.

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.

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