The interplanetary medium - the dominator of space in the universe
Hello Steemians!
Yesterday I went to learn about the Sun, the object that accounts for the vast majority of the mass in our Solar System.
Today I will take a look into what's accountable for the majority of the space in our Solar System, the interplanetary medium, also called interplanetary space.
So what is the interplanetary medium?
The easiest explanation of the interplanetary medium is that it's the "thing"/ material that fills out the empty space between the larger objects in our Solar System.
representation of the interplanetary medium between the Sun and the Earth
source: http://www.goes-r.gov/users/comet/basic/print.htm
It is a near to vacuum like material with extra low density.
It is made out of dust particles, hot plasma which is left by the solar wind and cosmic rays.
Solar wind picture shot by NASA's STEREO
source: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/comet-encke-a-solar-windsock-observed-by-nasa-s-stereo
Although it seems like it could be categorized as gas, in fact also it carries characteristics of a plasma.
a plasma ball
Source: http://chemistry.about.com/od/matter/a/What-Is-Plasma.htm
The interplanetary medium also causes some observable phenomena, like the Zodiacal light and the Gegenschein (literally translated it would mean countershine) .
Zodiacl light
Source: http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2014/10/20/5-sky-events-this-week-orions-meteors-hidden-sun-and-zodiacal-light/
The Zodiacal light and the Gegenschein happen at night when the sunlight scatters dust particles in the interplanetary medium.
Gegenschein, Astronomy picture of the day on 14 October 2015.
Source :https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap151014.html
This was quite interesting to learn, as I always thought the space is pure vacuum.
So basically the interplanetary medium is the material that fill's out the space in between objects in the universe.
Hope you enjoyed this short lesson about what's filling out the space in the universe!
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