Solar car racing

2013-10-21T22:55:52Z

163.238.42.16: /* Other races */ removed dead link

{{redirect|Astrosphere|the astrosphere of the Sun|Heliosphere}}

'''Stellar-wind bubble''' is the [[astronomy|astronomical]] term usually used to describe a cavity light years across filled with hot gas blown into the [[interstellar medium]] by the high-velocity (several thousand km/s) [[stellar wind]] from a single massive [[star]] of [[stellar classification|type]] [[O star|O]] or [[B V star|B]]. Weaker [[stellar wind]]s still blow bubble structures though, and these are also called '''astrospheres'''. The [[heliosphere]] blown by the [[solar wind]], within which all the major [[planet]]s of the [[Solar System]] are embedded, is in fact a small example of a stellar-wind bubble.

Stellar-wind bubbles have a two-shock structure.<ref>{{cite journal| bibcode=1975ApJ...200L.107C| last= Castor| first=J.| coauthors=McCray, R., & Weaver, R.| title=Interstellar Bubbles| year=1975| journal=Astrophys. J. (Letters)| volume=200| pages=L107–L110| doi=10.1086/181908}}</ref> The freely-expanding [[stellar wind]] hits an inner termination shock, where its kinetic energy is thermalized, producing 10<sup>6</sup> [[kelvin|K]], [[X-ray]] emitting [[Plasma (physics)|plasma]]. The hot, high-pressure, shocked wind expands, driving a shock into the surrounding interstellar gas. If the surrounding gas is dense enough (number densities <math>n > 0.1 \mbox{ cm}^{-3}</math> or so), the swept up gas radiatively cools far faster than the hot interior, forming a thin, relatively dense shell around the hot, shocked wind.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Star}}

[[Category:Stellar astronomy]]
[[Category:Galactic astronomy]]
[[Category:Interstellar media]]

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