Near the magnetopause the solar wind is slowed, compressed, heated and deflected by the ‘bow shock’. This typically lies 3 RE upstream of the magnetopause on the EarthSun line. The diameter of the bow shock perpendicular to the Earth-Sun axis increases in the anti-sunward direction so that around L2 (236 RE downstream) it is around 100 RE in radius. The region between the bow shock and the magnetopause is called the ‘magnetosheath’.