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There actually isn't anything strange about it leaving solar system multiple times when the heliopause recedes towards Sol and then expands forward again envelo
by lmilcin 8y ago
There actually isn't anything strange about it leaving solar system multiple times when the heliopause recedes towards Sol and then expands forward again enveloping the craft.
- neaden 8y agoWell it's also that we have multiple ways of defining the border of the solar system.
- lmilcin 8y agoSure, you can say that the Solar system ends where it stops being gravitationally dominant. But think about this, we say we left Earth for space when we actually leave Earth's atmosphere. When you cross heliopause you are actually leaving "atmosphere" of solar system. Within it it is dominated by the particles from solar wind. And the change is very abrupt and well defined (but only in the direction of the motion of the Solar system, ie. where Voyagers are) in contrast to how Earth's atmosphere just gradually thins out and we have to get into some sort of agreement when it actually ends.