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    heliosphere tagged posts

    Breakthrough in understanding Cosmic Forces that Shape Earth’s Heliosphere

    December 7, 2021, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    New research led by BU astrophysicist Merav Opher could explain why the heliosphere, a protective magnetic “force field” emanating from our sun and encompassing our solar system, is likely unstable and irregularly shaped. “The universe is not quiet,” Opher says. “Our BU model doesn’t try to cut out the chaos.” Image courtesy of Merav Opher, et. al

    Astrophysicists reach another milestone on their quest to understand the heliosphere...

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    NASA’s Voyager 2 Probe enters Interstellar Space

    December 11, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space


     Position of NASA’s Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes, outside of the heliosphere, a protective bubble created by the Sun that extends well past the orbit of Pluto. Voyager 1 exited the heliosphere in August 2012. Voyager 2 exited at a different location in November 2018.
    Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    For the second time in history, a human-made object has reached the space between the stars. NASA’s Voyager 2 probe now has exited the heliosphere – the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun.

    Comparing data from different instruments aboard the trailblazing spacecraft, mission scientists determined the probe crossed the outer edge of the heliosphere on Nov. 5...

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    NASA’s IBEX observations pin down Interstellar Magnetic field

    February 27, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    (Artist concept) Far beyond the orbit of Neptune, the solar wind and the interstellar medium interact to create a region known as the inner heliosheath, bounded on the inside by the termination shock, and on the outside by the heliopause. Credit: NASA/IBEX/Adler Planetarium

    (Artist concept) Far beyond the orbit of Neptune, the solar wind and the interstellar medium interact to create a region known as the inner heliosheath, bounded on the inside by the termination shock, and on the outside by the heliopause. Credit: NASA/IBEX/Adler Planetarium

    A new study uses IBEX data and simulations of the interstellar boundary – which lies at the very edge of the giant magnetic bubble surrounding our solar system called the heliosphere – to better describe space in our galactic neighborhood. Immediately after its 2008 launch, NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spotted a curiosity in a thin slice of space: More particles streamed in through a long, skinny swath in the sky than anywhere else...

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