Model of the Heliosphere Over the Solar Cycle
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This magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) model shows how the heliosphere of the Sun might interact with the local interstellar medium (ISM) over the course of a single 11 year solar cycle. The sun (and the orbit of the Earth) is located in the tiny blue region in the center. The ISM is moving from left to right. The solar wind varies from 400 km/s up to 566 km/s and back down to 400 km/s over the cycle in this particular model. The colors are logarithmically scaled to represent temperature, with blue around 10,000 Kelvins (in the undisturbed ISM and the region immediately around the Sun) and red over 1,000,000 Kelvins (corresponding to the bow shocked region in the plasma). The green region around the Sun has a radius that varies between 100-200 Astronomical Units.
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Animation of the heliosphere during an 11-year solar cycle.
Duration: 8.0 seconds
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When the solar wind speed is low, the heliosphere is small.
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As the solar wind speed increases during the solar cycle, the heliosphere expands.
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