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Banana
is the next Chiquita
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2011-02-17, 21:52

A question for this space ignoramus:

Just exactly what makes the boundary between heliosphere and interstellar medium a "shock", and why does it appear to occupy such large distance?

I guess the intuition (sure reliable, eh? ) would have been that solar winds would gradually fizz out and given the vastness of space involved, it seems odd to imagine there's a "shock".

Have I made the mistake of assuming that interstellar medium = void?

Or is it just a poor choice of wording like "annihilating particle" which actually doesn't violate the conservation of mass/energy?
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