The Ulysses legacy, in pictures

The joint ESA/NASA solar mission Ulysses has forever changed the way scientists view the Sun and its effect on the surrounding space. The mission’s major results and the legacy it leaves behind have been presented today at ESA Headquarters in Paris, in view of the impending conclusion of the mission on 1 July 2008.

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Caption: Interstellar wind hits the heliosphere Credits: ESA (image by C.Carreau) ID number: SEMYHUUG3HF HI-RES JPEG size: 684 kb HI-RES TIFF size: 5155 kb Related Images: Astronomy targets Sun Ulysses

Description

The outer boundaries of the heliosphere, the huge bubble in space created by the solar wind, continuously interact with interstellar wind, a continuously stream of gas of electrically-charged particles of interstellar origin. The ESA/NASA Ulysses mission found that the interstellar wind is fast enough to cause a shockwave outside the heliosphere.

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