Voyagers discover solar system "squashed"
Posted: Tue, Dec 11, 2007, 8:40 AM ET (1340 GMT)
NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft have revealed that the solar system in "squashed" relative to the interstellar medium, scientists said Monday. Voyager 2 cross into a region called the heliosheath, the region where the solar wind runs up against the interstellar medium, about 1.5 billion kilometers closer to the Sun than Voyager 1, which reached the heliosheath in late 2004. Because the two spacecraft are headed away from the Sun in different directions, scientists concluded that the bubble carved into the interstellar medium by the solar wind is not perfectly spherical. Scientists got more information from this mission than Voyager 1 because Voyager 2's plasma science instrument is still working, and managed to capture data as the termination shock at the heliosheath "sloshed" back and forth, allowing the spacecraft to sample it several times.
NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft have revealed that the solar system in "squashed" relative to the interstellar medium, scientists said Monday. Voyager 2 cross into a region called the heliosheath, the region where the solar wind runs up against the interstellar medium, about 1.5 billion kilometers closer to the Sun than Voyager 1, which reached the heliosheath in late 2004. Because the two spacecraft are headed away from the Sun in different directions, scientists concluded that the bubble carved into the interstellar medium by the solar wind is not perfectly spherical. Scientists got more information from this mission than Voyager 1 because Voyager 2's plasma science instrument is still working, and managed to capture data as the termination shock at the heliosheath "sloshed" back and forth, allowing the spacecraft to sample it several times.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
FAA restricts hours for commercial launches during shutdown
Posted: Sun, Nov 9 9:05 AM ET (1405 GMT) China postpones Shenzhou-20 return on orbital debris concerns
Posted: Sun, Nov 9 8:58 AM ET (1358 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Monday, November 24
Amazon starts letting businesses test rebranded Leo satellite service as it plays catch-up to Musk’s Starlink
CNBC — 12:15 am ET (0515 GMT) Starlink's direct-to-cell service launches in Ukraine in European first
Reuters — 12:14 am ET (0514 GMT) Amazon’s Starlink competitor is launching with ‘world’s fastest satellite internet antenna’
The Verge — 12:14 am ET (0514 GMT) China exploring how to block Musk’s Starlink in Taiwan
The Daily Telegraph — 12:13 am ET (0513 GMT) China would need 1,000 jammers to block Starlink over Taiwan
The Times of London — 12:13 am ET (0513 GMT) |
