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Thursday September 30, 2010. (Heliosphere). The Launch Pad Thursday, 9/30/10. What three characteristics does a Scattered Disk Object (SDO) have?. orbital eccentricities ranging as high as 0.8 orbital inclinations as high as 40° perihelia greater than 30 astronomical units. Announcements.
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ThursdaySeptember 30, 2010 (Heliosphere)
The Launch Pad Thursday, 9/30/10 What three characteristics does a Scattered Disk Object (SDO) have? orbital eccentricities ranging as high as 0.8 orbital inclinations as high as 40° perihelia greater than 30 astronomical units
Announcements • Be sure to bring your laptop to class every day this week. • If you haven’t done so already, please register for this ESS course in Blackboard 9.1. Log on using the same information that you use to log in to the network.
The Heliosphere 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.
The Heliosphere For the first ten billion kilometers of its radius, the solar wind travels at over a million kilometers 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; the point where the interstellar medium and solar wind pressures balance is called the heliopause; the point where the interstellar medium, travelling in the opposite direction, slows down as it collides with the heliosphere is the bow shock.
