Giant Ribbon Discovered at the Edge of the Solar System

[jus_the_facts]

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/15oct_ibex.htm

October 15, 2009: For years, researchers have known that the solar system is surrounded by a vast bubble of magnetism. Called the "heliosphere," it springs from the sun and extends far beyond the orbit of Pluto, providing a first line of defense against cosmic rays and interstellar clouds that try to enter our local space. Although the heliosphere is huge and literally fills the sky, it emits no light and no one has actually seen it.

Until now.

This ribbon winds between the two Voyager spacecraft and was not observed by either of them," notes Eric Christian, IBEX deputy mission scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "It's like having two weather stations, but missing the big storm that runs between them."

The ribbon also has fine structure--small filaments of ENA emission no more than a few degrees wide: image. The fine structure is as much of a mystery as the ribbon itself, researchers say.

[niyad]

1. like the ribbon in star trek? seriously, this is fascinating, and thanks.

[Deja Q]

8. I am so there!!

[Systematic Chaos]

2. Maybe it's a Vib-Ribbon!

[Hekate]

3. That's fascinating. I'm still trying to visualize it

Yeah I know you provided a picture, but still...

Very, very interesting.

Hekate

[jus_the_facts]

10. I know what you mean.... wish the Hubble could *see* it and show us.

[Ozymanithrax]

4. It's a strange strange universe we live in, master jus_the_facts.

Makes me wish I were a mathmatician and could understand this stuff on a more fundamental level.

[jus_the_facts]

5. It sure is...and I do too.....

[villager]

6. wow -- punning off fairly obscure 60's ditties today, are we?

[MurrayDelph]

7. Maybe it's an alarm

waiting for something living to cross it.

[redqueen]

9. Ooooh... neat! I love this part:

One important clue: The ribbon runs perpendicular to the direction of the galactic magnetic field just outside the heliosphere, as shown in the illustration at right.

"That cannot be a coincidence," says McComas. But what does it mean? No one knows. "We're missing some fundamental aspect of the interaction between the heliosphere and the rest of the galaxy. Theorists are working like crazy to figure this out."

Heh, that last part reminds me of a scene from this week's Big Bang Theory.

[jus_the_facts]

11. I loved that show...

...when I still watched TV.

[redqueen]

12. In this week's episode, Sheldon gives Koothrappali a job.

The scene the text reminded me of is one in which they're trying to come up with an experiment to test Sheldon's theory:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5oc-70Fby4

[jus_the_facts]

13. LOL....

...I miss them!

[conscious evolution]

14. Crime scene tape?