spacetoday.net: Voyager finds "magnetic bubbles" at outskirts of the solar system

Voyager finds "magnetic bubbles" at outskirts of the solar system

Posted: Fri, Jun 10, 2011, 6:24 AM ET (1024 GMT)
Voyagers at heliosheath illustration (NASA/JPL)

The Sun's magnetic field breaks down into a foam of bubbles at the outer edge of the solar system, scientists found in new analysis of data collected by NASA's Voyager spacecraft. Models of the Sun's magnetic field based on data from instruments on Voyager 1 and 2 indicate that solar magnetic field lines break up and reconnect in bubbles over 150 million kilometers across in the boundary region between the heliosphere and interstellar space, over 14 billion kilometers away. These bubbles create a magnetic "foam" that may make it easier for galactic cosmic rays to penetrate the magnetic field.