ScienceDaily -- For the last few decades, space scientists have generally accepted that the bubble of gas and magnetic fields generated by the sun -- known as the heliosphere -- moves through space, creating three distinct boundary layers that culminate in an outermost bow shock. This shock is similar to the sonic boom created ahead of a supersonic jet. Earth itself certainly has one of these bow shocks on the sunward side of its magnetic environment, as do most other planets and many stars. A collection of new data from NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), however, now indicate that the sun does not have a bow shock.
MORE: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120510225004.htm
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