Data has shown that the sun's heliosphere is shrinking
Posted on 10/18/2008 6:05:05 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
The protective bubble around the sun that helps to shield the Earth from harmful interstellar radiation is shrinking and getting weaker, Nasa scientists have warned.
Data has shown that the sun's heliosphere is shrinking
New data has revealed that the heliosphere, the protective shield of energy that surrounds our solar system, has weakened by 25 per cent over the past decade and is now at it lowest level since the space race began 50 years ago.
Scientists are baffled at what could be causing the barrier to shrink in this way and are to launch mission to study the heliosphere.
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, will be launched from an aircraft on Sunday on a Pegasus rocket into an orbit 150,000 miles above the Earth where it will "listen" for the shock wave that forms as our solar system meets the interstellar radiation.
Dr Nathan Schwadron, co-investigator on the IBEX mission at Boston University, said: "The interstellar medium, which is part of the galaxy as a whole, is actually quite a harsh environment. There is a very high energy galactic radiation that is dangerous to living things.
"Around 90 per cent of the galactic cosmic radiation is deflected by our heliosphere, so the boundary protects us from this harsh galactic environment."
The heliosphere is created by the solar wind, a combination of electrically charged particles and magnetic fields that emanate a more than a million miles an hour from the sun, meet the intergalactic gas that fills the gaps in space between solar systems.
At the boundary where they meet a shock wave is formed that deflects interstellar radiation around the solar system as it travels through the galaxy.
The scientists hope the IBEX mission will allow them to gain a better understanding of
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Man made!
ahh...maybe this is the real cause of “global warming.”
Bush’s fault!
Something has to be done about people who are driving their SUVs around on the Sun.
I’m waiting for the tie-in to global warming...
It may have been me....I drank a bottled water today. Sorry.
Of course, it’s Bush’s fault.
wait... so there are evil Americans ignoring Kyoto living on the SUN too?
well, that’s it, the neighborhood is falling apart. I’m moving.
DITTO
SUV’s!
**I’m waiting for the tie-in to global warming...**
I’m already on that list too
Mars is warming too, and one group is trying to blame the ROVERS .. the SOLAR POWERED ..Rovers?!?!
I don’t know if I have much more “”Giveadamn” left to fight these MORONS!!
25% does sound like quite a bit over a decade but I wonder how long we’ve been able to measure such things. It may be pretty much the standard.
There you go! Those dadblasted things keeps drawing energy away from the sun which is causing all the problems...
“whoopie, we’re all gonna die”
Country Joe and the Fish
Or part of a cycle?
Why spend all that money sending a rocket up to investigate?
Why don’t we just ask Al Gore?
I’m sure he knows why. He knows everything.
Any ideas as to how that shield is energized? (No, not the bunny....)
If this isn't a new phenomenon then the theory is bogus. In the past 50 + years it should have been depleted by now.......
Zackly, just like the Ozone hole’s demise/re-strengthening.
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