The Solar System Is Sideways

Our solar system is hurtling through space while angled nearly perpendicular to the plane of the Milky Way, new computer models suggest.

"It's almost like we're sailing through the galaxy sideways," said study team leader Merav Opher, an astrophysicist at George Mason University in Virginia.

The findings, detailed in the May 11 issue of the journal Science, suggest the magnetic field in the galactic environment surrounding our solar system is pitched at a sharp angle and not oriented parallel to the plane of the Milky Way as previously thought.

Data recently received from the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft reveal the heliosphere's shape is deformed in another way: the northern hemisphere bulges outward while the southern hemisphere is pressed inward.
Using computer simulations, Opher and her team concluded that this asymmetry is best explained if the local galactic magnetic field, located just outside our solar system, is angled some 60 to 90 degrees to the plane of the Milky Way.


SOURCE:
Space.com

This is interesting, and pretty unexpected to me, I always figured we were slightly slanted,
but never suspected we were sideways.


Comments, Opinions?

[edit on 5/15/2007 by iori_komei]

another paradigm broken.
We assume so much....we know so little.
I love astronomy, thanks for this post....its very interesting.

The planets do not rotate on one plane. How then can we assume what is sideways and what is not?

Originally posted by SteveR
The planets do not rotate on one plane.

No, they do not, at least not all of them.

How then can we assume what is sideways and what is not?

Well that's the thing, space exists in three spatial dimensions, and up and down,
which are needed to determine what is sideways, are different depending on what the
closest massive gravitational object is.

Well us humans thought the world was flat and then we found out it's round. We thought the earth was the center of our solar system and that the sun and all the planets revolved around us. Now we're sideways in the MilkyWay. Well we've been wrong before so hopefully we'll find out that we're really upside down and the MilkyWay is really a starburst
Had to say that. But really, it's a big MilkyWay and Universe out there. I just don't see how we really know up from down and sideways from level. Pretty cool artical and if we really are going sideways in our Galaxy then that must be why the Aliens has spotted us so easily.

they believe we look like Andromada.
If thats correct....then there is a gravitational vertical and horizontal.
you can see what I mean
you not in line with the spiral galaxy formation as it spins...but rather 90 degrees to that.

Originally posted by SteveR
The planets do not rotate on one plane. How then can we assume what is sideways and what is not?

Actually all orbit with very little planar separation except for Pluto. IIRC it has a angular separation from the ecliptic plane by ~20deg.

EDIT: Link

[edit on 16-5-2007 by Daedalus3]

Couldn't this have been easily determined just by looking up?

I've always lived in cities so I've never had much time to see the visible part of the Milky Way. But looking at it you know you're seeing it edge-on. And you know where Earth is in relation to the sun, and you can see the orbital plane across the sky. So if the plane is perpendicular to the Milky Way... well there you go. Am I wrong?

Originally posted by apc
Couldn't this have been easily determined just by looking up?

I've always lived in cities so I've never had much time to see the visible part of the Milky Way. But looking at it you know you're seeing it edge-on. And you know where Earth is in relation to the sun, and you can see the orbital plane across the sky. So if the plane is perpendicular to the Milky Way... well there you go. Am I wrong?

Not really. You might be looking at it edge-on, but you cannot be certain that your line of sight falls in the galactic plane.
You could be above or below the galactic plane and still see the arm of the milky way edge-on.

Same with the center of the Galaxy; you could look at it from absolutely anywhere and never be sure that your line of sight is in the galactic plane.

Now you could presume that:
1)the arm of milky way that you are viewing(assume it to be a straight line)
2)and the center of the galaxy(assume it to be a point)
together define the galactic plane, i.e. and line and a point are sufficient to define a plane in space.

This presumption would also require the presumption that the galactic arms lie on the galactic plane.

If you can assume that the arm we can see and the center of the galaxy are co-planar, and also assume that you can detect the two(arm and especially center) with resonable accuracy, then you can determine whether the ecliptic plane of th Solar System is angled with the galactic plane.

So yea.. with a few assumptions and accurate observations one could figure this out!

The planets do not rotate on one plane. How then can we assume what is sideways and what is not?

The orbital planes of all eight major planets are close enough to each other as to make no sensible difference. Therefore, we can determine whether the Solar System is "sideways" or not.


[edit on 18-5-2007 by Mogget]