Where is the Edge of the Solar System?

September 5, 2017
CreditNASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Language
  • english

Where does the solar system end? It all depends on the criteria you are using.

Based on where the planets end, you could say it's Neptune and the Kuiper Belt.

If you measure by edge of the Sun's magnetic fields, the end is the heliosphere.

If you judge by the stopping point of Sun's gravitational influence, the solar system would end at the Oort Cloud.

Transcript

Narrator: Where is the edge of the solar system?

The answer is not so simple.

You could say it's where the planets end. But the Sun's magnetism can be felt far beyond that.

And the sun's gravity stretches even farther.

Like everything in exploration, it depends on how far you are willing to go.