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Voyager 2 Shows Solar System Is "Dented"
Selikoff writes "NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft has found that our solar system is not round but is 'dented' by the local interstellar magnetic field, space experts said on Monday. The data were gathered by the craft on its 30-year journey when it crossed into a region called the 'termination shock.' The data showed that the southern hemisphere of the solar system's heliosphere is being pushed in. Voyager 2 is the second spacecraft to enter this region of the solar system, behind Voyager 1, which reached the northern region of the heliosheath in December 2004."
Could somebody explain how exactly the solar system has an innate 'shape'? I would think that that would be human-defined, not an actual, measureable feature.
And the masses cried out, "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0!"
Voyager 2's data is scientifically exciting for a number of reasons, NASA said. The spacecraft has a working plasma instrument that can directly measure the velocity, density and temperature of the solar wind. A similar instrument on Voyager 1 stopped functioning long ago.
Voyager scientists had expected the temperatures within the termination shock to be about 1,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit (555,500 C) as material normally slows down and is heated up when it encounters an obstacle in a normal shock wave.
But according to Edward Stone of California Institute of technology, the temperatures registered were much lower, at around 200,000 degrees F (111,100 C). Also, Voyager 1 made only one crossing into the termination shock while Voyager 2 has made at least five shock crossings over several days which allowed
how does the spacecraft survive in those temperatures?
Actually think it's awesome that even twenty YEARS after it's launch, voyager 2 is STILL doing useful science. Another thing that astounds me is how the engineers managed to ensure that even after all these years in the hostile environment of space, this machine is still perfectly functional.
This is how the loudness war is killing music.
Obviously, the reason the solar system is dented is because God dropped it.
Good job we have third party insurance on this sucker, I'd hate to see what we hit...
Task Mangler
If I ever do the transhuman thing and get turned into software, The Oort cloud is where I would want to be for serious durability.
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that the birthplace of Arthur, Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha, contains something that appears Dent(ed).
They sure don't make 'em like they used to. Of course, this isn't the first time I've heard of the Voyager probes, but I am amazed every time I read a story about them. Thirty years old and still flying through space taking measurements. Absolutely amazing.
AFAICT, they have one data point on the surface of the 'sphere'. Using that one data point they decide that the sphere isn't spherical. If they had a hundred Voyagers all leaving the solar system in different directions at the same time, I would be more convinced.
Hmm? Is there anything known to us humans, that isn't human-defined?
Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
Sorry folks, this was my fault. The folks were out of town and I figured I'd take the solar system out for a spin. I took a hard right to dodge a black hole and one thing led to another... Anyway, sorry about the dent; I'll pay for the damage.
Boy, it's the most... it just leaves the frogs standing!
Could someone remind me how to orientate myself in the universe?
Bot Assisted Blogging
"Very Good - Looks fine at arm's length, but looking closer reveals soft corners and other imperfections."
There goes our hopes for a near mint Solar System.
Someday we'll finally end destroying the Earth and start with the rest. This gives us a head start.
Should have parked farther out, not close to any other solar systems. Probably won't even meet the deductible.
It's good to know that the grocery store won't charge full price for our solar system.
Regards, Ian
That's just because of the black hole eating away at the center of Mars, where all the water went...
Remember that giant supercollider project that was cancelled? That's probably as far as the Martians got.
The Solar System is Dented! God damn it! That's the last time I let Voyager 2 borrow the Solar System. This is going to have to come out of Voyager 2's allowance!
Dented?!?!
I could have saved 15% or more on my solar system insurance...
C|N>K
RE: "Voyager 2 Shows Solar System Is "Dented", and "our solar system is not round" ...update: Grrr... some wiki-fanboi perfectionist editor has corrected it to read "sphere-ish" ... oh well, at least my edit has a reference source so I guess I'll just take it up with Jimmy Wales
The Wikipedia entry for "Solar System" has a bunch of silly stuff about planets and moons and asteroids and other useless stuff, so I've deleted it all and replaced it with the much more informative: "not round, but Round-ish"
Karma: Excellent. 15 moderator points expire sometime.
My question is how Voyager 2 can stand the thermal shock. The article reports that the temperature is something around 200,000 degrees. They are actually talking about the temperature of the "ions" but I would think that would damage the probe?
I know we are not talking ambient temperature which would vaporize the probe. How dense is the matter and how do you measure this kind of energy?
"If all the American people want is security, let them live in prisons." Eisenhower
...millions of personal-injury lawyers cried out in pleasure at the idea of the galaxy's largest class-action damages lawsuit, and were suddenly silenced - by realizing that simply serving the summons on that bastard Fomalhaut (we know it was him, he's always been a troublemaker) would take longer than their lifespans.
Nevertheless, I'm sure a few are planning to file anyway this morning, "just in case".
-Styopa
that the thing has been functioning for 30 years, in such conditions.* All the star trek shows have made us immune to the amazement of such a feat. I mean this thing traveled to the edge of the solar system, we can't begin to comprehend that distance....that's gotta be at least some 30-40 light seconds away from the sun.
It traveled a huge distance, over a rather large period of time, and it still function.
if that doesn't desrve a 'WOW'** that i don't know what does.
*No MS/Linux jokes please
**No World of Warcraft jokes please.
it's not dented, it just needed a hug.
Looks like the Prince has some rolling to do.
It seams to me that this could be stronger evidence that the whole thing fluctuates in size, rather than having a hard, irregular boundary.
Small weather-like fluctuations at the periphery of this Zone are normal, but it only fluctuates wildly when there is some kind of a malignant, evil force that needs to be neutralized. The only question is how deep Earth is within the Unthinking Deeps.
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain
This article says it's 84 AU out, which is a little more than 11.6 light-hours.
Okay folks, I have some bad news for you. Human space exploration is deforming the universe and stuff. You heard it here first. I declare this anomaly "Universal Warming." What's higher than the Nobel prize?
I go and give you a brand new solar system, and what do you do? You go and *dent* it! And that won't even buff out, I'm going to have to use some interstellar Bondo!
What about space herpes?
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When was the last time we launched something with an intended lifespan of 30+ years? I can't recall (not to say that there *aren't*) any projects in the past 10-20 years. Granted, Spirit may end up running for a total of 30 years, but it's been running unexpectedly for a while already, and had no intentions of running for 1 year, let alone 30.
Is there any way to get the US public behind a long-term investment like the Voyagers again?
Maybe it's a rental and came like this?
I drank what? -- Socrates
It is all the parasites in our solar system that gives it such a good discount.
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
People should realize that this "dent" is in a heliopause with a density of maybe 1 atom per cubic centimeter - in other words, a much
better vacuum than any on Earth. The solar wind blows up a huge "bubble" in galactic space, and Voyager is just getting to the edge of it.
It is interesting but hardly surprising that so tenuous a gas so far from the Sun is buffeted by the even more tenuous gas flowing in the galaxy.
Ok, so if the Solar System has a dent, paint primer, rust, and no hub caps, then maybe we can at least fill in the dent and then spray paint over it. It may take a while though, so its going to cost you. Would next Thursday be ok?
There are 10 kinds of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.
This is why we can't have nice things.
Well, thanks to the Internet, I'm now bored with sex.
Space is not a total vacuum, moron.
I just glad that it didn't get lost in the Delta Quadrant as well!
"He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
Never buy a solar system without a starfax history report....
I am the unwilling control for my Origin.
They have two data points: where V1 and where V2 crossed into the heliopause.
And that's enough. If the heliosphere were a sphere, then by definition every point on its surface would be equidistant from the Sun. Now that they know two points are not equidistant from the Sun, they know it's not a sphere.
What they don't know is how big the "dent" is. It could be no bigger than the spacecraft, of course, although that is extraordinarily unlikely. Or it could be enormous. This is probably what you mean: they can't say exactly what shape the heliosphere is without lots of data points, outlining it.
However, only a few -- in the case of a sphere, just two -- data points are enough to say what shape it isn't.
Matter is unbelievably thin out there. Roughly 1 atom every 10 cubic centimeters. By contrast the best vacuums we can produce on Earth (around a trillionth of an atmosphere) contain 250 million atoms in every 10 cubic centimeters.
It doesn't damage the spacecraft because, as anyone who has put out a candle flame with his fingers can tell you, it's not temperature that is dangerous but heat. Things with very little heat to transfer -- in this case, some unbelievably tiny amount of matter -- but at very high temperature, are harmless.
An analogous situation exists with respect to electricity: it isn't voltage per se that is dangerous to you but rather charge. Things that are at very high voltages (e.g. the static charge you built up when you scuff your shoes on a dry winter day) can be quite harmless if the amount of charge that can be transferred is very small, e.g. just a little spark.
The confusion exists in part because usually things at high temperature (or high voltage) have plenty of heat (or charge) to transfer, and then they are more dangerous than equivalent reservoirs at lower temperature (or voltage), because they transfer the lethal dose of heat (or charge) much faster.
see, even the solar system practices safe sex!
I'm a rabbit startled by the headlights of life
For shizzel: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/11/21/scicosmos121.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox
(OK, I'm sorry for saying sizzel. I don't know what come over me. I'm gonna go sit down. My head is spinning.)
Can someone explain to me why the measure temperature was 200K F and the spacecraft didn't burn up? Was voyager built with enough shielding?
The radio imparted commentary about this. However, they described the Voyager probes as going "North and South, respectively". I did a mental double take in my car, and wondered who in the hell got to decide which way is "North" in this 3D (or more) coordinate system. Can they even have that?
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This is a reasonable answer to a question that the summary raised for me.
If you figure out how to define them, you probably aren't human. Or seriously mistaken and about to be told so in detail.
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
It's been over 30 years since Voyager 2 was launched, and technology wise we've come a long way. It's long overdue that a new Voyager should be made and sent up.
so my question is, why hasn't it happened already?
So .. if the temperature is out by 5x, doesn't that mean their modeling is rubbish? Or are they just going to explain it away with a small tweak to make this 'new fact' fit?
When's the last time an astronomer wasn't 'surprised' by some new discovery in space? Is this really science, or just expensive fantasy, barely better than astrology?
_
\\/ are accustomed' - First Lensman
Homer: itwaslikethatwhenigothere
My Ronco Pop-a-Dent can make that sucker look good as new!
It must have been the same fucker who dented my car in the parking lot today and then took off.
Patent: from Latin patere, to be open