heliosphere
Americannoun
noun
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The large, roughly elliptical region of space around the Sun through which the solar wind extends and through which the Sun exerts a magnetic influence. The heliosphere extends well beyond the orbits of the planets, and its shape and extent fluctuate with changes to the solar wind and other influences.
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◆ The boundary between the heliosphere and interstellar space is known as the heliopause.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
According to the simulations, the heliosphere may at times have shrunk to a size smaller than Earth's orbit, temporarily leaving our planet outside the Sun's protective bubble.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 2, 2026
Others think these observations help show that Voyager 1 still hasn’t completely left the heliosphere.
From Science Magazine ● May 23, 2024
Voyager 1 exited the heliosphere in 2012, the first earthly object to reach interstellar space.
From Science Magazine ● May 23, 2024
Astrospheres, stellar analogues of the heliosphere that surrounds our solar system, are very hot plasma bubbles blown by stellar winds into the interstellar medium, a space filled with gas and dust.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 12, 2024
After cosmic explosions at a distance of more than ten but less than 150 parsecs, according to theory, the solar wind and the magnetic field of the heliosphere prevent individual atoms from reaching the Earth.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2023
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
