Framework for Heliophysics Education
Big Idea 2.2
Heliophysics
Big Idea 2.2
Our heliosphere is a vast bubble of plasma – a gas of charged particles – that spews out of the Sun.
This outflow of plasma from the Sun is known as the solar wind. The bubble surrounds the Sun and stretches beyond the planets. Both Voyager spacecraft had to travel more than 11 billion miles (17 billion kilometers) from the Sun in order to cross the edge of the heliosphere. This bubble is moving through interstellar space as the Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way galaxy. As our heliosphere plows through space, it creates a bow wave, like the wave formed by the bow of a ship.
This illustration shows the position of NASA's Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes, outside of the heliosphere.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Have leaners investigate this heliophysics big idea with the guiding questions below.
Introductory: A younger learner (K-5), or a learner new to the subject matter.
Intermediate: A middle-aged learner (6-8), or a learner that has some familiarity with the subject matter.
Advanced: An older learner (9-12+), or a learner that has a lot of experience with the subject matter.
Heliophysics Resource Database
Use the guiding questions above to explore resources at each level or go directly to our database to search for resources by level, NGSS performance expectation, topic, and mission.
Resource Database
