Scientists have created the first real map of the boundaries of the solar system with interstellar space
A scientific group from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for the first time in history, based on real data, formed a map of the boundaries of the solar system with interstellar space.
Before that, the boundary of our system with you was calculated on the basis of mathematical calculations, and the NASA satellite Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) allowed to form a real picture. And now scientists know for sure what is the shape of the heliosphere around our star, called the Sun.
How the boundary of the solar system is determined
As you know, around any star (the Sun is not any exceptional object here) a bubble is formed, consisting of stellar gas, which is called the heliosphere. So the particles ejected by the Sun (called the solar wind) scatter in all directions with a starting speed of 4 million km / h.
After a certain period of time, the solar wind begins to exert pressure on the environment of interstellar space. And it turns out that the pressure of the solar wind enters an equilibrium state with the external influence exerted.
So when such a balance of internal and external pressure occurs, the so-called heliopause is formed - the outer part of the teardrop-shaped a bubble consisting of stellar gas, inside of which is our home with you - the Earth is reliably protected from the harmful effects of interstellar space.
Back in 2008, the NASA IBEX spacecraft was launched into orbit for active comprehensive consideration of real boundaries. At the same time, the sensors installed on the satellite act as an echo locator, but no active radiation emanates from the satellite itself.
The sensors only pick up faint echoes from the impact of the solar wind on the oncoming "interstellar" stream.
So, in the process of such interaction of particles, the so-called energetically neutral atoms are formed, which are precisely what the satellite devices record.
Researchers know the time, speed, and distance of all events (flight of particles from our star, collision and return of impact particles). It is for this reason that, in principle, it is not difficult to calculate the distance at which these neutral particles appear.
For such a calculation, it was only necessary to collect the necessary characteristics over the past decade, from 2009 to 2019.
After analyzing the collected data, the engineers were able to accurately determine the boundaries of the heliosphere of our solar system.
So it was possible to establish that the distance from the Sun to the leading edge of the heliosphere is 120 astronomical units, and the tail is stretched to 350 astronomical units (1 astronomical unit is the distance from the Sun to land).
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