Map of the Universe

Heliopause

Region / boundary · Region of space dominated by the Sun

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About Heliopause

On 2026-01-01, the date the map shows, Heliopause was 120 AU from the Sun; sunlight takes 16.6 hours to reach it.

The map lists it as a region / boundary and shows it in the Solar System part of the map, drawn on the plane of Earth’s orbit (the ecliptic).

Edge of the Sun's bubble of solar wind (the heliosphere), where interstellar space begins. Voyager 1 crossed it at 121.6 AU (2012), Voyager 2 at 119 AU (2018). Drawn as a circle; the real heliosphere has a long tail.

Key numbers

Distance from the Sun120 AU

Where it is

Its place in the universe, from the inside out: Solar System › Orion–Cygnus Arm (Local Arm) › Milky Way › Local Group › Virgo Supercluster › Laniakea Supercluster › Observable universe.

Zoom out to see it in context: Heliopause and Voyagers, a view about 400 AU across.

From Wikipedia

The heliosphere is the magnetosphere, astrosphere, and outermost atmospheric layer of the Sun. It takes the shape of a vast, tailed bubble-like region of space. In plasma physics terms, it is the cavity formed by the Sun in the surrounding interstellar medium.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Heliosphere, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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