It has to do with the interaction between solar wind and interstellar plasma.
There is a relatively sharp transition— the Heliopause— from solar wind dominating to interstellar “wind” (from other stars) dominating, which occurs where their respective radiation pressures are roughly equal:
Is there a prevailing wind in interstellar space from other stars? Seems like it would be chaotic eddies near net zero. But maybe due to solar system motion or something like that there is a prevailing direction. If so would that mean we could use solar sails to continue to accellerate a spacecraft (at a much reduced rate) outside the heliosphere as long as we want to go in a specific direction arc?
oliveshell|7 years ago
There is a relatively sharp transition— the Heliopause— from solar wind dominating to interstellar “wind” (from other stars) dominating, which occurs where their respective radiation pressures are roughly equal:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliosphere#Additional_heliosp...
daveguy|7 years ago