[Home]Magnetopause

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The magnetopause is the boundary between a planet's magnetosphere and the plasma solar wind emitted by the sun. It behaves roughly like a droplet of liquid exposed to supersonic flow. It is common for the magnetopause to ripple, flap and even to have large droplets break off in the wake of a planet. See also heliopause and magnetosphere.

This article defines a magnetopause as something between a planet's magnetosphere and the solar wind, and then heliopause says that the heliopause is a magnetopause between the sun's solar wind and the galaxy's plasma currents. While I can see what the articles are getting at, they are prima facie contradictory, and should be reworded (probably by using a more general definition of magnetopause).


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Edited November 6, 2001 8:54 am by Simon J Kissane (diff)
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