| Abstract: | Gasdynamic models of the solar wind interaction with the ambient interstellar medium are reviewed. The model associated with supersonic flow around the solar wind by the interstellar gas stream is analyzed in more detail. This model is based on the fact that the supersonic motion of the interstellar hydrogen and argon relative to the sun has been established by spacecraft experiments to investigate the scattered solar radiation at wavelengths 1216 A and 584 A. The creation of an adequate gasdynamic model of the flow is especially topical in connection with the missions of the Voyager 1 and 2, Pioneer 10 and 11, Ulysses, and international probe spacecraft. New unsolved theoretical problems relating to the correct interpretation of the experimental data are formulated.Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 3–24, May–June, 1993. |
