The Surprising Edge of Our Solar System

A couple of days ago I mentioned that NASA was having a teleconference today (June 9) to discuss conditions at the edge of the Solar System. (You can find it mentioned at the end of this post.) Well, the conference is over, and the press releases are out, along with some new images and a nifty video to explain it all.

I find the video gives the best explanation about what has been learned. It is a bit amazing to know we are still learning so much about our own Solar System, and we recognize that we still have much to learn.

Old and new views of the heliosheath. Red and blue spirals are the gracefully curving magnetic field lines of orthodox models. New data from Voyager add a magnetic froth (inset) to the mix. Credit: NASA

The basic gist of the findings is that a froth of magnetic bubbles make up the barrier between us and interstellar space. This is determined from data gathered by the Voyager probes and computer modelling. These bubbles change the old idea that there was a smooth barrier at the edge of the Solar System.

The froth seems to be generated by twisting in the Sun's magnetic field, causing the bubbles that can be a 100 million miles across. As Merav Opher, an astronomer at Boston University (and formerly George Mason University) puts it:

"The sun's magnetic field extends all the way to the edge of the solar system. Because the sun spins, its magnetic field becomes twisted and wrinkled, a bit like a ballerina's skirt. Far, far away from the sun, where the Voyagers are, the folds of the skirt bunch up."

Another amazing find from the astronomical community. This discovery will also help to build a better understanding about how galactic cosmic rays enter our solar system and help define how the star interacts with the rest of the galaxy. You can read the NASA feature story here.

(I am still working on an Astro-Lesson on Comets, I might just put that off until next week now.)

Read more »

Posted in Astronomy,Heliosheath,Solar System,Voyager 34 comments

Our Changing Solar System

As they keep searching, astronomers learn more and more about how our Solar System formed. There is a good amount of understanding on how things happened, but a lot of the finer details of just why things appear the way they do still have to be answered.

Our Solar System is like a giant cosmic puzzle, and we are constantly finding new clues about the course of its evolution.

This week a few amazing findings that are redefining the way we understand our Solar System, planet formation, and what we might expect to find in other star systems.

An artistic rendition of the impact that created the Moon.

The idea that our Earth-Moon configuration is a rare occurrence has been challenged by simulations. Our Moon is considered to be disproportionally large, at over a quarter of the Earth's diameter. The Moon was formed from a large impact between a young Earth and a Mars-sized planet. The simulations run by researchers from the University of Zurich's Institute of Theoretical Physics in Switzerland and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado show that these kinds of impacts might actually be much more common, perhaps as many as one in 10 rocky planets around a Sun-like star may host a large moon.

What is even better about this news, it is a way to help identify possible habitable planets. The Moon plays a large role in making the Earth a livable place between blocking would-be impactors and stirring the tides. Other planets with large moons could be ripe for life.

In this artist's conception, gas and dust—the raw materials for making planets—swirl around a young star. The planets in our solar system formed from a similar disk of gas and dust captured by our Sun. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The planet-sized object that glanced the Earth might have gotten its gravitational push from Jupiter. In another piece of news, researchers from around the world and NASA have developed a new model about the early motions of planets in our Solar System. The biggest news in this is the roaming of Jupiter, at one point it would have wandered almost as close to the Sun as Mars (before Mars was there), it would have only been stopped by the counter pull of Saturn.

The effects of Jupiter's motions have a profound impact. Over millions of years, Jupiter would have pushed around objects in our neighborhood. The nature of the asteroid belt would owe itself to these gravitational interactions. And probably the biggest impact is that Jupiter prevented Mars from growing to a larger planet. Jupiter either absorbed or scattered most of the material in the region Mars exists in, leaving slim pickings for planet formation.

A previous concept about the edge of our Solar System, which may be changing with new findings. Credit: NASA

And the last story about our amazing Solar System doesn't quite flow with the other two as well, but is still important. NASA is holding a teleconference on June 9 to discuss conditions at the edge of the Solar System. Based on data from the Voyager probes, the view of the edge of our Solar System needs to be changed.

The discussion will be about "a new computer model that shows the edge of our solar system is not smooth, but filled with a turbulent sea of magnetic bubbles." Since this is a poorly understood and previously unexplored region, there is much to be learned. Understanding is important though, this is a region that protects us from galactic cosmic rays.

Another reason why I am interested in this particular conference is because one of the panelists I have met before. Merav Opher used to be an assistant professor at my alma mater, George Mason University. She is wonderfully intelligent and I have found her work with the Voyager probes absolutely fascinating.

Read more »

Posted in Earth,Jupiter,Mars,Moon,Solar System,Voyager 33 comments

Top 12 Moons of The Solar System (THE MOON RULZ #1 )

Here is Part 1 and Part 2.

The winner of this from the start has clearly been the Moon. Not just any other moon, it is our Moon. Life as we know it would not exist without the Moon. On top of that it is the only astronomical body humans have ever visited (a sad fact in my mind at this point). Even if it is a sad fact, it has been 50 years (Kennedy's speech was in 1961) since we started and the amazing technological feat is still jaw dropping and the is mouth watering for more.

Crater Daedalus from the far side of the Moon. (Apollo 11, Crater 308)

We all want more space. I know people who deny it and say we should focus on problems of the Earth. But, my training and understanding of the issue, I make my arguments. There are few people who deny my arguments. You cannot just count on government and politicians to focus on fixing problems. You have to make good. Make amazing events that WOW the world. There is so much greed in the United States government, NASA is one of those few groups that remain selfless and suffer for it. Their budget reflects it, they are always one of the first on cutting block. I hate it when anyone says that it isn't part of the American future or dream. Space is clearly the Human future and dream. To say you disagree is to hinder yourself and your culture.

Read more »

Posted in Moon,Solar System,THE BEST 29 comments

A 'Family Portrait'

NASA's MESSENGER probe is on a mission to study Mercury, the closest planet to our Sun. A month from now, on March 17th, it will enter orbit around Mercury. This will be the first mission to orbit Mercury, and will be the first time that we get some Hi-Res maps of the entire globe. We will be learning about a brand new planetary surface. MESSENGER has already done a few fly-bys of Mercury, with some stunning and revealing results.

On its long and epic journey their though, MESSENGER would look back out into space, taking images. What it came up with was a family portrait of our solar system.

Click to Enlarge. Credit: NASA

Read more »

Posted in Carl Sagan,MESSENGER,Solar System 32 comments

The Swedish Model

Sweden_Solar_System. That is just plain awesome. I wish the U.S. would do something like this. It would almost be worthy of an epic road trip.

In other news, today is a pretty nice day. I've been enjoying it, since we will be hit by coronal mass ejection (CME) late today (the 17th). A geomagnetic bomb that will destroy everything in a blast of subatomic particles... or not really. It should make for some awesome aurora for the northern brothers though. And probably people near the south pole too, the researchers in Antarctica. More on it at SpaceWeather.com and Bad Astronomy.

And actually, consulting the NOAA Auroral Activity site, auroras could be visible just on the northern horizon from my location. I'll have to go take a look. I suggest looking at the site to see where you are in relation to the activity.

*UPDATE* It was cloudy when I went out tonight, so no aurora here. I would love to hear if anyone does get to see it. I have never seen them myself that I can remember. But I did get an award and a pin from the astronomical society and the Night Sky Network for all my outreach help, recognition is always good. Since the NSN is a part of NASA, its like a thank you from NASA.

Read more »

Posted in Aurora,Solar System 27 comments