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Discrepancies found in the heliosphere!

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posted on May, 30 2006 @ 12:36 PM
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This article was brought to my attention by a fellow member of the boards. I found it really interesting, and quite thought provoking.



www.nasa.gov...

s the 28-year-old Voyagers 1 and 2 spacecraft approach the edge of interstellar space, they have found that the heliosphere, the "bubble" within which the sun dominates, bulges outward in the northern hemisphere and is pressed inward in the south. Voyager 1, flying about 34 degrees north of the equator, crossed the termination shock and entered the outermost layer of the heliosphere about 9 billion miles from the sun. Meanwhile Voyager 2, about 26 degrees south of the equator, finds that the shock may be nearly a billion miles closer to the sun.

Scientists believe that the observed discrepancies may be attributed to an interstellar magnetic field pressing inward on the southern hemisphere. Voyager 2 will determine the exact location of the shock in the south when it crosses it sometime before the end of next year. Then scientists will have a better idea of how strong the magnetic field is outside of the heliospheric bubble.

Voyager 2 is also finding that the shock in the south is a source of low energy ions as was discovered by Voyager 1 in the north. Contrary to earlier predictions, however, neither Voyager 1 nor 2 have found the source of higher energy anomalous cosmic rays.


What would cause such an indentation and accompanying bulge?

Well, I've never fully ruled out the idea of a distant red/brown dwarf star orbiting our Sun. Perhaps it could have a strong enough magnetic field to disturb things like that. Also, the low luminosity of such an object would make it hard to spot visually.

Though there is a major hole in that hypothesis, as such an object would still no doubt be putting out a lot of infrared, microwave, and radio waves, which would have been detected by now.



posted on May, 30 2006 @ 01:14 PM
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HUmmm.
Bubbled on top, and flatter on the bottom...

that must be where it rolls across the surface...


I get ya... but i would think that it is from a southern neighbor system, that is pressing on our sphere of sun influence... much as they theorize.

Very interesting though... might help explain some of the new quantum effect of dark matter.



posted on May, 30 2006 @ 01:24 PM
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Or perhaps there is a flow of energy particles of some kind that travel north-to-south through the heliosphere. This flow enters the heliosphere in the south and the force of it impinges the heliosphere. The particle flow travels through the heliosphere and exits on the north. As it does it pushes the heliosphere outward where it exits.



posted on May, 30 2006 @ 02:17 PM
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Perhaps the universe is of a more "lumpy" and discontiguous nature than some had thought, there's a bunch "missing", and much to learn... forgive my ignorance in advance but I find this stuff really interesting and I'm not always sure what 'it" means... ATS is great that way.

Hmmm. 90% or so dark matter, 10% or so in our field of "view", how many dimensions in Dr. Hawking's theory?... quantum entanglement. Be interesting to see what happens when Voyager 2 hits that "speed bump" or shock zone in the next year or so!

If the "Southern" half is more compressed or "pinched", won't this shock zone be of higher "pressure" than Voyager 1 experienced? A gravito-magnetic Max-Q?


Thanx,

Victor k.

[edit on 30-5-2006 by V Kaminski]



posted on May, 30 2006 @ 07:02 PM
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Well, it's always been something of an oddity. The vast majority of stars we can see are actually binary or larger star systems, with only a few having no companion star. However, it doesn't mean that there isn't another massive body out to the edge of our solar system - perhaps one larger than Jupiter, but one that failed to undergo nuclear fusion (aka, a Brown Dwarf).

At such a distance it would almost be impossible to detect, since it would reflect very little starlight or sunlight.

Another explanation is that we simply don't understand the sun good enough to accurately predict it - just as we have a very difficult time predicting the weather.


Oh, and Kaminski, don't worry - the problem of Dark Matter doesn't begin to surface until we hit truely cosmic scales (like structures of galaxy groups). Dark Matter's just matter that doesn't give off any information in the visible spectrum. You are dark matter, but so is the earth, and so is Jupiter, and so is a black hole, and so are neutrinos. There's not necessarily something special about them, it's just that there's a lot more to the universe that what, litterally, meets the eye.

And as for it being a speed-bump, no - it shouldn't affect V1 or V2 at all. They'll just keep on sailing, so to speak.



posted on May, 30 2006 @ 08:53 PM
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Thanx Yarium. No worries, one human lifetime is ephemeral in the big picture. I did want to find out some more so I went over to NASA and started poking around the NASA Missions site, Voyager 2 in fact and found some neat stuff that some folks might find of interest... here's a JPL link. they speak of "potholes" - I sort of image a dimple in the side of the heliosphere "balloon".

I also found a very cool public access info site over at Goddard called COHOWeb too, with many mission ephemeris listed and mag field and plasma details updated hourly and merged from all craft? Anyway, first I've heard of it and I follow NASA pretty closely, wouldn't be the first time, won't be the last. LOL.. Pretty slick site, check the link. Those who are into FTP will love this Voyager 2 public access directory at this link.

Thanx,

Victor K.



[edit on 30-5-2006 by V Kaminski]



posted on May, 30 2006 @ 10:30 PM
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Don't forget also they found voyager is slowing down when in fact it should be doing the opposite. Maybe these old relics will have one more major find up their sleeve yet.

In my mind it cannot be a brown dwarf (no radiation detected, not a strong enough magnetic field to affect the heliosphere to that degree).

possibly a black hole (which would almost fit the situation described, except where is the Hawking Radiation).



posted on May, 30 2006 @ 10:33 PM
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Originally posted by jtma508
Or perhaps there is a flow of energy particles of some kind that travel north-to-south through the heliosphere.


Hm... perhaps residue from the black hole at the centre of the galaxy or some other celestial body?



posted on May, 30 2006 @ 10:55 PM
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Originally posted by Yarium
At such a distance it would almost be impossible to detect, since it would reflect very little starlight or sunlight.


Yeah, a brown dwarf was what my first thought was too - For the very same reason that the vast majority of stars we've observed are multiples. Though, it wouldn't need to reflect light to be seen. The amounts of radiation in the infrared through radio waves would be enough to pick it out.


Originally posted by Darkpr0
Hm... perhaps residue from the black hole at the centre of the galaxy or some other celestial body?


The same would go for a black hole. And as TheHorseChestnut said, where is the Hawking Radiation?

You can hear recordings of what these, and other celestial objects, sound like here at spacesounds. For the best effect, turn off as much light as you can.



posted on May, 30 2006 @ 11:04 PM
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This just occured to me.

Could the heliopause discrepancies be caused by CME's?

Could this odd shape be a record of past solar activity?
If so, we might be able to glean data from further research on this phenomenon.
These could be fossils of solar activity, just as the granularity of the Cosmic background radiation is percieved to be a record of the Big Bang....hmmm..



posted on May, 30 2006 @ 11:37 PM
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Originally posted by cmdrkeenkid

You can hear recordings of what these, and other celestial objects, sound like here at spacesounds.



VERY cool sounds. Thanks.

btw - I'm thinking black hole based on (relatively) recent press. Seems that the impacts on our sun and planet may be a normal part of our solar system's orbit through the galaxy.







 
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