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TOPIC: Heliosphere

Blobrana

L

Posts: 131433

Date: Jun 9 18:03 2011

Heliosheath	Permalink

The heliosheath is the region of the heliosphere beyond the termination shock. Here the wind is slowed, compressed and made turbulent by its interaction with the interstellar medium. Its distance from the Sun is approximately 80 to 100 astronomical units (AU) at its closest point; however, the heliosheath is shaped like the coma of a comet, and trails several times that distance in the direction opposite to the Sun's path through space. Scientific results in 2009 showed that model may be incorrect. At its windward side, its thickness is estimated to be between 10 and 100 AU. Read more __________________

Blobrana

L

Posts: 131433

Date: Jun 9 17:31 2011

Heliosphere	Permalink

A Big Surprise from the Edge of the Solar System NASA's Voyager probes are truly going where no one has gone before. Gliding silently toward the stars, 9 billion miles from Earth, they are beaming back news from the most distant, unexplored reaches of the solar system. Mission scientists say the probes have just sent back some very big news indeed. It's bubbly out there. According to computer models, the bubbles are large, about 100 million miles wide, so it would take the speedy probes weeks to cross just one of them. Voyager 1 entered the "foam-zone" around 2007, and Voyager 2 followed about a year later. At first researchers didn't understand what the Voyagers were sensing--but now they have a good idea. Read more __________________

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