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The heliopause is the theoretical boundary where the Sun's solar wind is stopped by the interstellar medium; where the solar wind's strength is no longer great enough to push back the stellar winds of the surrounding stars. This is the boundary where the interstellar medium and solar wind pressures balance.
Heliopause may refer to: Heliopause (astronomy), the theoretical boundary where the Sun's solar wind is stopped by the interstellar medium. Heliopause (band), a U.K ...
Moving away from the Sun, the point where the solar wind flow becomes subsonic is the termination shock, the point where the interstellar medium and solar wind pressures balance is the heliopause, and the point where the flow of the interstellar medium
The Solar System [d] is the gravitationally bound system of the Sun and the objects that orbit it. [11] It formed about 4.6 billion years ago when a dense region of a molecular cloud collapsed, forming the Sun and a protoplanetary disc.
Scientists hope to gain perspective on the heliopause from data acquired through the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission, launched in October 2008. The heliopause is noted as one of the ways of defining the extent of the Solar System, along with the Kuiper Belt and the radius at which the Sun's gravitational influence is matched by ...
heliopause heliosphere The vast, bubble-like cavity in the interstellar medium which surrounds and is created by the plasma emanating from the Earth's Sun. The heliosphere encompasses the entirety of the Solar System and a vast region of space beyond it. Its outer limit is often considered the boundary between matter originating from the Sun ...
The probe passed the heliopause at 121 AU on August 25, 2012, to enter interstellar space. [7] Voyager 1 is still active. In about 40,000 years the star Gliese 445 (AC +79 3888) and the Sun will fly past each other at a distance of 3.45 light-years, after being currently 17.6 light-years from each other, [ 8 ] with Voyager 1 coming as close as ...
A solar wind of plasma particles constantly streams outward from the Sun until, at the outermost limit of the Solar System, it reaches the heliopause. As the solar wind passes the Earth, it interacts with the Earth's magnetic field ( magnetosphere ) and deflects the solar wind, but traps some creating the Van Allen radiation belts that envelop ...