Slashdot Mirror
First Images of Solar System's Invisible Frontier
FiReaNGeL writes an unexpected side-effect from NASA's STEREO spacecraft has allowed scientists to see a much more well-defined picture of the boundary of our solar system. "The twin STEREO spacecraft were launched in 2006 into Earth's orbit about the sun to obtain stereo pictures of the sun's surface and to measure magnetic fields and ion fluxes associated with solar explosions. Between June and October 2007, however, the suprathermal electron sensor in the IMPACT (In-situ Measurements of Particles and CME Transients) suite of instruments on board each STEREO spacecraft detected neutral atoms originating from the same spot in the sky: the shock front and the heliosheath beyond, where the sun plunges through the interstellar medium."
IMPACT (In-situ Measurements of Particles and CME Transient)
Dear God, an acronym inside another acronym! I think the space geeks have beat us computer geeks yet again.
Last chance for gas, 20,000,000,000 km. We have lotto tickets and cold beer!
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Would that be like recordings of silence or the smell of nothing?
I read Slashdot for the headlines, because the headlines, unlike the articles, are usually original and never duplicated
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=puns
int main() { while(1) fork(); }
I'm sure it's possible, but pointless. Decades ago, astronomers mapped proper motion and showed that all the stars were streaming away from a single point in the constellation Hercules. Presumably, that's where we're headed.
Makes you think, doesn't it? Everyone is getting the hell out of there and we're headed straight for it. Someone ought to do something about this... :)
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
TFA: The termination shock is the region of the heliosphere where the supersonic solar wind slows to subsonic speed as it merges with the interstellar medium.
Okay boys and girls. Quick, grab your calculator and calculate the speed of sound in space...
I was expecting a picture that didn't look like something I drew today at work using MS Excel and autoshapes.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."