Voyager 2 Detects Peculiar Solar System Edge

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Wednesday May 24, 2006 @05:17AM 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.'"

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Er. Wait. by Roody+Blashes · 2006-05-24 05:22 · Score: 5, Insightful

That's two data points, and "bulging" implies a highly irregular shape, or at least an even shape that couldn't be accurately modeled by two data points.

Wouldn't it be equally as logical to say that it's just expanding/contracting? How can they know with only two points?

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Re:Variable size? by sidfaiwu · 2006-05-24 05:29 · Score: 5, Insightful

Could it not be both changing sizes and be irregularly shaped and off center?