The heliosphere—made of solar wind, solar transients, and the interplanetary magnetic field—acts as our solar system's personal shield, protecting the planets from galactic cosmic rays. These extremely energetic particles accelerated outwards from events like supernovas and would cause a huge amount of damage if the heliosphere did not mostly absorb them.
Currently, the scientific community cannot reach a consensus on the boundaries or contours of this protected space, and they're exploring mission concepts for an interstellar probe that travels beyond the sun's sphere of influence to answer these questions.
A University of Michigan-led study published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences provides recommendations to maximize scientific measurements to understand better the size and shape of our home in the heliosphere from the outside.
"Without such a mission, we are like goldfish trying to understand the fishbowl from the inside," said Sarah A. Spitzer, a postdoctoral research fellow at U-M and first author of the study.
"We want to know how the heliosphere protects astronauts and life in general from harmful galactic radiation, but that is difficult to do when we still don't even know the shape of our shield," said Marc Kornbleuth, a research scientist at Boston University and co-author of the study.
According to the study, the best possible exit route is through the side of the heliosphere's tail end.
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