Posted on 10/10/2022 2:10:41 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Data from a spacecraft orbiting Earth has revealed ripple structures in the termination shock and heliopause: shifting regions of space that mark one of the boundaries between the space inside the Solar System, and...interstellar space.
...Sun affects the space around it...solar wind, a constant supersonic flow of ionized plasma. It blows out past the planets and the Kuiper Belt, eventually petering out in the great emptiness between the stars.
The point at which this flow falls below the speed at which sound waves can travel through the diffuse interstallar medium is called the termination shock, and the point at which it is no longer strong enough to push back against the very slight pressure of interstellar space is the heliopause.
Both Voyager probes have crossed the heliopause and are, effectively, now cruising through interstellar space, providing us the first in situ measurements of this shifting boundary.
NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX)
IBEX measures energized neutral atoms, which are created when the Sun's solar wind collides with the interstellar wind at the Solar System boundary. Some of those atoms are catapulted further out into space, while others are flung back at Earth. Once the strength of the solar wind that produced them is taken into account, energized neutral particles that return our way can be used to map the shape of the boundary, a bit like cosmic echolocation.
Previous maps of the structure of the heliosphere have relied on long-scale measures of the evolution of solar wind pressure and energetic neutral atom emissions, which resulted in a smoothing of the boundary in both space and time. But in 2014, over a period of roughly six months, the dynamic pressure of the solar wind increased by roughly 50 percent.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencealert.com ...
Ok….what’s for supper?….
Oh, heck, it’s all over. I knew the moment the Mariners made the playoffs that the end of the world is at hand.
If the Mariners and Phillies make the World Series, you’ll really know it’s over.
This means we are all really gonna die, even before the nukes hit.
Haven’t had Ripple to drink since before high school..
Obviously ships dropping out of hyperspace.
Those aren’t ripples, they’re ridges.
“That’s no moon...”
Ripples? Is something trying to get in?
Abd remember. The Sun has nothing to do with the climate.
Depends on how closely spaced they are. The more spread out they are they become rippled according to the potato chip institute.
Just a wave front from the galactic current sheet. It does it every 6-12000 years. No big deal.
Wait...the Sun’s going through heliopause?
No wonder it’s having hot flashes.
Or did I get that wrong?
Well, they should know.
My favorite Genesis song.
Hehe...I always wondered what it would be like to work there. :)
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