Edge of Solar System Filled with Bubbles, NASA Says

www.space.com ^ | 06 June 2011 Time: 05:16 PM ET | Staff

[Red Badger]

The edge of our solar system is filled with a turbulent sea of magnetic bubbles, according to new NASA research.

Scientists made the discovery by using a new computer model, which is based on data from NASA's twin Voyager probes. The unmanned Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, which launched in 1977, are plying the outer reaches of our solar system, a region known as the heliosheath.

The new discovery suggests that researchers will need to revise their views about the solar system's edge, NASA officials said. A more detailed picture of this region is key to our understanding of how fast-moving particles known as cosmic rays are spawned, and how they reach near-Earth space.

Cosmic rays are a threat to astronauts, as they can slam into spaceflyers' cells and damage their DNA. Earth's atmosphere attenuates cosmic rays, shielding folks on the ground from their worst effects.

NASA hasn't revealed many details about the new find. The space agency will hold a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT on Thursday (June 9) to discuss it in more depth.

Participating in the teleconference are:

— Arik Posner, Voyager program scientist, Heliophysics Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

— Merav Opher, assistant professor of astronomy, Boston University

— James F. Drake, professor of physics, University of Maryland

— Edward C. Stone, Voyager project scientist, professor of physics, Caltech

— Eugene Parker, professor emeritus of physics, University of Chicago

Voyager 1 is now about 11 billion miles (17.7 billion kilometers) from Earth, while Voyager 2 is about 9 billion miles (14.5 billion km) away. Voyager 1 is the most far-flung human-made object in the universe.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

Woo Hoo! We are living in a giant glass of Guiness!

[Sir Napsalot]

Hear, hear.

I remember ‘debating’ a guy claimed to be a NASA scientist in 2005 on Diplomad (that site had since completely disappeared, and with good reason). He was completely SHOCKED that there were people out there
(1) don’t believe in human-caused global warming;
and (2) thinks NASA a complete waste of money, whatever they do could be achieved much better, faster, and cheaper with private enterprise.

[Grammy]

"Woo Hoo! We are living in a giant glass of Guiness!"

Funny... my first thought was that we are the bath toy in God's bubble bath.

[Salamander]

Are they ‘Tiny Bubbles’?

[Yo-Yo]

In 34 years they have traveled about 15 light hours. It’s going to be a long flight to the next star at this rate.

Reminds me of a sci-fi story I read where a ship of colonists set off for a distant star, and since they didn't have FTL drives they had to be put in hibernation for the several hundred year journey.

When they arrived at their destination, they found it had been colonized centuries earlier by people from their own planet who developed FTL space flight and leapfroged their ship.

[Red Badger]

The speed of light isn't nearly fast enough..................

[LibWhacker]

Bubble: A region, often spherical, of less dense material inside material, perhaps different, of greater density. In this case, the denser “material” is just about as near to a perfect vacuum as you can get. We’re spending billions of dollars studying nothingness inside nothingness. Kind of stretches the mind, and the pocketbook. Can’t blame people for being cynical. And I’m a science booster.

[Red Badger]

I read “Icarus at the Edge of Time” recently.
Similar story........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icarus_at_the_Edge_of_Time

[blueunicorn6]

Weiner said he had a magnetic bubble in his grey shorts.

[dead]

some people I know smoked some weed out of a part that is on this thing

That's freaking cosmic.

[Ro_Thunder]

What’s in the bubbles?

[Yo-Yo]

I read “Icarus at the Edge of Time” recently.

Cool! Now I have yet another book to throw on the stack of "when I have spare time..."

[Red Badger]

It’s really a short story in a big coffee table size book. The text is interspersed with pictures from the Hubble Telescope. You can read it in less than an hour................

[Red Badger]

WHat's in the bubbles?....FUN!.................

[Red Badger]

No wonder it is so FAR OUT, MAN..........................

[Yo-Yo]

You can read it in less than an hour................

YOU can read it in an hour. It takes longer for me to sound out the bigger words...