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heliosphere

Region of space dominated by the Sun

Instance of: stellar-wind bubble

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

The heliosphere is the magnetosphere, astrosphere, and outermost atmospheric layer of the Sun. It takes the shape of a vast, tailed bubble-like region of space. In plasma physics terms, it is the cavity formed by the Sun in the surrounding interstellar medium. The "bubble" of the heliosphere is continuously "inflated" by plasma originating from the Sun, known as the solar wind. Outside the heliosphere, this solar plasma gives way to the interstellar plasma permeating the Milky Way. As part of the interplanetary magnetic field, the heliosphere shields the Solar System from significant amounts of cosmic ionizing radiation; uncharged gamma rays are, however, not affected. Its name was likely coined by Alexander J. Dessler, who is credited with the first use of the word in the scientific literature in 1967. The scientific study of the heliosphere is heliophysics, which includes space weather and space climate.

Overview

All data

31 statements · 23% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Facet of: Sun
Has boundary: heliopause

On other databases

26 identifiers linking heliosphere across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

23%

externally sourced

Source last edited October 8, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). heliosphere (Q131687). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/heliosphere-Q131687