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Article: A place for the sun; exploring the solar neighborhood. (solar system environs)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- April 20, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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If a director were making a movie about the sun's neighborhood, the first scene might be a close-up of the outer solar system. Here, the wind of charged particles blowing out from the sun runs head-on into the gas left over from the formation of nearby stars.
A longer shot would reveal that the solar system and its environs resides inside a cloud of warm gas nicknamed the Local Fluff.
An extreme wide-angle shot would show that the Local Fluff lies within a network of overlapping bubbles. One of these, the barrel-shaped Local Bubble, extends up to about 300 light-years from the sun and supplies the interstellar ions that flow toward it.
The whole kit and ...