Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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.'"

13 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.
  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 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. 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

  9. 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.

  10. 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.
  11. 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.