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Voyager 2 Detects Peculiar Solar System Edge

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the magnet-on-a-really-long-string dept.

ClickOnThis writes "CNN reports that Voyager 2 has detected evidence of the magnetic edge of the solar system (aka the heliopause) at 76 AU (1 AU = 93 million miles), much closer to the Sun than the location of 85 AU found by Voyager 1. From the article: 'This implies that the heliosphere, a spherical bubble of charged low-energy particles created by our Sun's solar wind, is irregularly shaped, bulging in the northern hemisphere and pressed inward in the south. [...] The researchers think that the heliosphere's asymmetry might be due to a weak interstellar magnetic field pressing inward on the southern hemisphere.'"

21 of 272 comments (clear)

  1. I knew it by sidfaiwu · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have been living in a bubble all my life.

  2. Correct me if i'm wrong... by Tibor+the+Hun · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...but all that mumbo-jumbo about weak this and that seems really complicated.

    Couldn't the inward bulge on the south be because the turtle shell is pushing in on it?

    --
    If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
    1. Re:Correct me if i'm wrong... by Shimmer · · Score: 2, Funny

      LOL

      Yes, as any serious thinker knows: "it's turtles all the way down".

      --
      The most rabid believers in American Exceptionalism are the exact same people whose policies are destroying it.
  3. Other possibilities by Glacial+Wanderer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Or it means that the heliopause is collapsing at an alarming rate. In other words, the sky is falling! End of the solar system! Run for your lives!

    --
    Hobby Robotics
    1. Re:Other possibilities by Tibor+the+Hun · · Score: 2, Funny

      'lax man. I'm pretty sure we can just reverse the polarity of the deflector beam, point it south by south and drive in reverse at warp 2.

      --
      If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
    2. Re:Other possibilities by SABME · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually, I think that would override the Varion phase subsystem and result in a dangerous multiphasic plasma leak. Remember when we tried that on the Trilobites of Gleberaux V? Lieutenant McShane spent weeks resurfacing the intermediary manifolds after that misadventure, and complained about it in the Forward Lounge every night for months!

      I think if we draw off about 10% of our reserve holodeck power and re-route it to the rear sensor array, the resulting harmonics would induce a tachyon burst in all directions. We could measure the burst echo and we'd have have a much better idea what all of this is about.

      (even if you mod me down, please mod the parent up; I just love a good Trek technobabble).

    3. Re:Other possibilities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Undoubtable liberals will claim this as yet another piece of convincing evidence of solar warming due to the Bush administration's non-competitive granting of projects to the Halliburton corp.

  4. Obligatory Global Warming Link? by fernandoh26 · · Score: 3, Funny

    How much you guys wanna bet some people will either:

    A) Say that this is causing global warming
    B) Say that this is being caused by global warming

    --
    Chums up, let's do this!
  5. Oh, No! by AoT · · Score: 3, Funny

    The solar system is collapsing!

    It must have started after Voyager I got there, which means it's going *really* fast.

    Run everyone, Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!

    --
    A blog about stuff.
    1. Re:Oh, No! by EvanED · · Score: 3, Funny

      Pretty soon we'll be down to:
      "Computer, what is the nature of the universe?"
      "The universe is a spheroid region, 705 meters in diameter."

  6. Re:Variable size? by JebusIsLord · · Score: 3, Funny

    You mean it shrinks??

          -Elaine

    --
    Jeremy
  7. here's a question you shouldn't be able to answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    "computer, what is the nature of the universe?"

    The universe is a spheroid region - 705 meters in diameter...

  8. What V'ger Wears by Bob3141592 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I've been to the heliopause and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!

    --
    In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.
  9. Re:Wait for it... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 3, Funny

    You're only saying that to get attention. No wonder the parents won't let you play with their kids. :P

  10. En1arge your heli0sphere by mikeeg555 · · Score: 5, Funny

    En1arge your heli0sphere! With our proven program, you can make your heliosphere larger and thicker in just a few short weeks. Would you like to see results by the end of the first week?... You will... Follow our program, and within just a couple months you can be 9 or more AU larger than when you first started.

  11. Re:I wonder. by njchick · · Score: 4, Funny
    Will Santa have to move when the poles flip?
    No. Santa will die, and Anti-Santa will arise.
  12. Re:Wait for it... by tim1724 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Keynote, not PowerPoint.

    --
    -- Tim Buchheim
  13. Re:Variable size? by Typhon100 · · Score: 2, Funny

    The solar system is moving? Relative to what? Paging Dr. Einstein...

  14. Re:Variable size? by skarphace · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...the source would consequently need to be really big, or really close... enough so that we should have seen it already.

    The source?

    If it's daytime: go outside and look up.

    If it's night time: wait until daytime and see above.

    --
    Bullish Machine Tzar
  15. spheroid region? by Analogy+Man · · Score: 4, Funny

    I am quite certain that the solar system is in FACT banana shaped.

    --
    When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
  16. Re:Variable size? by iamlucky13 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ahem...I seriously thought I'd never have to explain this one on slashdot. It turns out that beyond our solar system, there is a vast amount of space and bodies that provide references against which to measure the motion of the solar system. We call that the "universe."

    For further background on this concept, you may be interested to read about galaxies or Copernicus.