---
title: "Does the sun have a bow shock? Maybe."
description: "[caption id=\"attachment_11532\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"336\"] Image Description: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of what appears to be a fast bow shock around a very young star in the Great Nebula in Orion. Image Credit: NASA/Hubble Heritage Team[/caption] I admit, there are some things that annoy me about our solar system because of a theatrical..."
date: "2013-12-04"
modified: "2013-12-04"
authors:
  - name: "Joshua Filmer"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/joshuafqtq"
url: "https://futurism.com/does-the-sun-have-a-bow-shock-maybe"
categories:
  - "From Quarks to Quasars"
---

# Does the sun have a bow shock? Maybe.

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/1236966_508127332607014_2075602116_n.jpg>)

[![Image Credit: NASA/Hubble Heritage Team](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/1236966_508127332607014_2075602116_n.jpg>)](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/1236966_508127332607014_2075602116_n.jpg>)
*Image Description: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of what appears to be a fast bow shock around a very young star in the Great Nebula in Orion. Image Credit: NASA/Hubble Heritage Team*

I admit, there are some things that annoy me about our solar system because of a theatrical "cool" factor. The sun [won't go supernova](<https://futurism.com/death-from-the-skies-how-our-solar-system-will-die>), which would be awesome, we don't have a [Tatooine-style sunrise](<https://futurism.com/worlds-with-two-stars-the-kepler-47-system>), which would also be awesome, we also don't have [homo-reptilia](<http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Silurian>) living under Earth's surface, which would, again, be awesome. A bow shock would also be cool, because bow shocks are neat things, but a data collected by the [Interstellar Boundary Explorer](<http://www.ibex.swri.edu/>) (IBEX) seemed to throw a cold bucket of reality on something else that would have been cool.

Fortunately, science is to the rescue and the sun may yet produce a bow shock. It won't be as cool, defined, and dynamic as the bow shock seen in the pictured star from the Orion nebula, but hey, we must compromise. A bow shock is best visualized as a sonic boom from a jet, but more accurately thought of as the bow wave created by boats as they pass through water. Due to pressures caused by the interstellar medium against the outer layers of [the heliosphere](<https://futurism.com/what-is-the-heliosphere>), you get this shockwave to form.

[![Image Credit: NASA](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Bow_Shock_En-300x225.jpg>)](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Bow_Shock_En.jpg>)
*Image Credit: NASA*

A [research team](<http://www.newswise.com/articles/new-study-predicts-slow-bow-shock-ahead-of-the-sun-s-heliosphere>) from Boston University not only restored hopes for a Sun-caused bow shock, but they suggest that such a shockwave is very likely. Whereas the conclusion of the study challenges the idea that the sun doesn't produce a shock wave, it doesn't really contradict the IBEX findings. This is because bow shocks aren't "one size fits all," there are different types.

IBEX proved that the sun doesn't produce a fast bow shock, the type of bow shock pictured. There are also intermediate and slow bow shocks; IBEX data showed the sun was still moving too slowly (about 52,000 miles/hour) to produce an intermediate wave, but more than fast enough to produce a slow shock. The new calculations show the sun is almost certain to have a slow-moving bow shock in front of it.

At the moment, [Voyager 1](<https://futurism.com/voyagers-legacy>) is traveling towards the bow shock, but Voyager 2 isn't. This means the two probes should encounter different types of conditions as they cross from the heliosphere into interstellar space. This provides a firsthand ability for scientists to measure whether or not a bow shock exists around our Sun. Even then, I think a better classification for our sun's bow shock would be a "bow wave" because, a shock invokes a much cooler mental image than a wave, which is more accurate in this particular case.

## Author
Joshua specializes in Mathematics and Physics at Portland State University.