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Old 06-20-2011, 12:16 PM   #2
dreadgeek
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I realize I didn't explain the *.

The solar system does not just encompass the planets, it is actually the entirety of the Sun's influence both gravitational and (in a limited sense) electromagnetic*.

So, strictly speaking if some alien life form looks up at the sky and sees a twinkling star that is our Sun, then the Sun has influenced it in the electromagnetic spectrum. However, that's not what I'm talking about here. Rather, I'm talking about things like the solar wind which is just charged particles disgorged from the Sun. For the sake of accuracy, it has to be said that the electromagnetic influence of the Sun extends as far as it can be detected (assuming, for the moment, that there are other someone's out there to do the detecting). But once an object has passed the heliopause it is well and truly beyond the influence of its home star.

Cheers
Aj
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