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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!"
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.
The density is very low. The body of the spacecraft might get hit by individual molecules which have that temperature, but what are a few thousand molecules going to do to it?
http://michaelsmith.id.au
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.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Probably simple physics ... remember, the density of the gas in space is very low (almost non existant); this implies that there are very few particles hitting the craft at that temperature. Meaning that the craft only needs to have roughly 10000 times the density of space to operate at a "normal" temperature. Given the craft is made out of solid things like metal, that shouldn't be too hard...
that the birthplace of Arthur, Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha, contains something that appears Dent(ed).
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.
Could someone remind me how to orientate myself in the universe?
Bot Assisted Blogging
Should have parked farther out, not close to any other solar systems. Probably won't even meet the deductible.
As an analogy, it's like smoking. You're breathing particles at up to 6000 degrees C, but it doesn't do (much) damage.
I wrote my first program at the age of six, and I still can't work out how this website works.
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 hat is off to you. You, sir, are a master of irony.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
I ANAAP but Earth is 8 Light minutes from the sun...so I would suspect we are talking an hour or so.
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
Looks like the Prince has some rolling to do.
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?
This is why we can't have nice things.
Well, thanks to the Internet, I'm now bored with sex.
Never buy a solar system without a starfax history report....
I am the unwilling control for my Origin.
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.