abstract:The term heliophysics was coined in 1981 to denote the physics of the entire Sun: from centre to corona. It is a direct translation from the French héliophysique, which was introduced to provide a distinction from physique solaire (solar physics) which in practice was then confined to only the outer layers of the Sun.
Understanding exactly what the Geotail does (something to do with measuring the solar wind's interaction with the Earth's magnetosphere) may require a background in heliophysics.
To date, balloon-borne activities have centered around heliophysics and astrophysics that have not required precision-pointing, says Near-Earth Object (NEO) program officer Rob Landis at NASA headquarters.