Posted on 05/14/2012 3:47:03 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The sun is moving through the Milky Way slower than previously thought, according to new data from a NASA spacecraft.
From its orbit around Earth, the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) satellite measured the speeds of interstellar particles entering at the fringes of our solar system, 9 billion miles (14.5 billion kilometers) from the sun.
Plugging the new data into computer models, the IBEX team calculates that the sun is moving at about 52,000 miles (83,700 kilometers) an hour -- about 7,000 miles (11,000 kilometers) slower than thought.
The discovery suggests that the protective boundary separating our solar system from the rest of the galaxy is missing a bow shock, a major structural component thought to control the influx of high-energy cosmic rays.
The sun is constantly sending out charged particles in all directions, forming a cocoon around the solar system called the heliosphere.
Like a boat moving through water, it's long been thought that the "bow" of the heliosphere forms a crescent-shaped shockwave as our solar system plows through the surrounding cloud of interstellar gas.
But the new IBEX findings mean the sun is moving so slow that pressure from material flowing around the heliosphere is 25 percent lower than expected -- not enough for a bow shock.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalgeographic.com ...
I don’t think algore is aware of this.
Seems a rather significant calculation error. Was the old speed a SWAG?
Does that mean we’re all not as old as we though we were?
Obviously this is due to Globull warming, or something.
Since the entire Solar System is orbiting around the sun, then it also is moving at 52,000 mph.
It was derived from the estimates of distances and size of the galaxy, which relies a bit on red-shifting. Halton Arp ping. :’)
“It is true, indeed. Days have been getting longer, Ive noticed, as sun moves slower across the sky.”
I’ve noticed that too. You’d think the media would catch on. It’s gotta be a conspiracy.
Milky Way speed trap ahead!
Wait’ll we hit a black hole! Then we’ll really speed up:)
Stop driving SUVs.
Stop using CFCs.
For God's sake we're destroying the Solar System's protective "ozone layer." And one more thing: It's Bush's fault along with the very evil Exxon-Mobile corporation. And fraking might be to blame too.
And we need affirmative population control.
Why isn't OWS protesting this destruction of our Mother Solar System?
Nahhhh, it is all because of a failure in the Infinite Improbability Drive.
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
By kooks do you mean those of us that realize that SUVs weren't around to cause global warming millions of years in the past and therefore this "theory" that man is significantly responsible for global warming (uh wait a minute is it even warming any more?) is a crock? Do you mean us?
“By kooks do you mean those of us that realize that SUVs weren’t around to cause global warming millions of years in the past and therefore this “theory” that man is significantly responsible for global warming (uh wait a minute is it even warming any more?) is a crock? Do you mean us?”
First, why does it matter what I think? Second, what do you mean by “us”?
If you really care what about I think, here it is: everybody who is emotionally involved in science has their agenda. So, scientists have their reputation and funding at stake, businesses have their PR and regulations at stake, politicians have their financing at stake, grassroots have their ideology at stake, and regular people don’t give a damn about science, except exploding watermelons and footage of highspeed bullets shattering awatermelons.
Thanks. I was wondering whiskey tango horsefeathers we were going. You’d think somebody would have posted a memo.
UNEXPECTED!
Yeah I think I agree with most of what you said in this last post. Thanks for clarifying a bit where you are coming from.
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