There could be a glowing wall of hydrogen edge to our solar system

There's a "hydrogen wall" at the edge of our solar system, and NASA scientists think their New Horizons spacecraft can see it. That hydrogen wall is the outer boundary of our home system, the place where our sun's bubble of solar wind ends and where a mass of interstellar matter too small to bust through that wind builds up, pressing inward. Our host star's powerful jets of matter and energy flow outward for a long stretch after leaving the sun — far beyond the orbit of Pluto. But at a certain point, they peter out, and their ability to push back the bits of dust and other matter — the thin, mysterious stuff floating within our galaxy's walls — wanes. A visible boundary forms. On one side are the last vestiges of solar wind. And on the other side, in the direction of the Sun's movement through the galaxy, there's a buildup of interstellar matter, including hydrogen.

New Horizon and the 2 Voyager probes seem to see this signal.

However, the researchers cautioned, that signal isn't a sure sign that New Horizons has seen the hydrogen wall, or that Voyager did. All three probes could have actually detected the ultraviolet light from some other source, emanating from much deeper in the galaxy, the researchers wrote.

From this link.

www.space.com...

A short abstract of the research letters can be found here agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com...

"If the ultraviolet light drops off at some point, then New Horizons may have left the wall in its rearview mirror," the researchers explained in an accompanying statement. "But if the light never fades, then its source could be farther ahead — coming from somewhere deeper in space."

Accompanying statement www.sciencenews.org...

If there's a wall, then there's an edge. If there's an edge, then there's something beyond the edge. If there's something beyond the edge, then life as we know it will be redefined forever, a complete paradigm shift of reality. All religion will be null, and all theories of ET will be forever different.

originally posted by: blackcrowe

There's a "hydrogen wall" at the edge of our solar system, and NASA scientists think their New Horizons spacecraft can see it. That hydrogen wall is the outer boundary of our home system, the place where our sun's bubble of solar wind ends and where a mass of interstellar matter too small to bust through that wind builds up, pressing inward. Our host star's powerful jets of matter and energy flow outward for a long stretch after leaving the sun — far beyond the orbit of Pluto. But at a certain point, they peter out, and their ability to push back the bits of dust and other matter — the thin, mysterious stuff floating within our galaxy's walls — wanes. A visible boundary forms. On one side are the last vestiges of solar wind. And on the other side, in the direction of the Sun's movement through the galaxy, there's a buildup of interstellar matter, including hydrogen.

New Horizon and the 2 Voyager probes seem to see this signal.

However, the researchers cautioned, that signal isn't a sure sign that New Horizons has seen the hydrogen wall, or that Voyager did. All three probes could have actually detected the ultraviolet light from some other source, emanating from much deeper in the galaxy, the researchers wrote.

From this link.

www.space.com...

A short abstract of the research letters can be found here agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com...

"If the ultraviolet light drops off at some point, then New Horizons may have left the wall in its rearview mirror," the researchers explained in an accompanying statement. "But if the light never fades, then its source could be farther ahead — coming from somewhere deeper in space."

Accompanying statement www.sciencenews.org...

Interesting...very interesting. Even more interesting is the fact that information from Voyager is still relevant. Are the Voyager probes still sending information back.? If so shouldn't the probe(S) be farther out than New Horizons? I thought the Voyager probes are null and void because they are too far away.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
If there's a wall, then there's an edge. If there's an edge, then there's something beyond the edge. If there's something beyond the edge, then life as we know it will be redefined forever, a complete paradigm shift of reality. All religion will be null, and all theories of ET will be forever different.

It's a wall in a sense that there's hydrogen all the way beyond it. Interstellar hydrogen, that makes up most of interstellar space in our galaxy.

a reply to: lostbook

Voyager 1 and 2 will operate until about 2020 when they will begin shutting down to conserve power. By about 2032 they will have exhausted all of their power reserves to communicate and will fall silent forever.

50+ years, not a bad run...especially considering they were only designed to last a few years.

ETA - Oh and yes, the Voyager spacecraft are the farthest man made objects away from Earth, by a LONG ways too.

Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar", every "supreme leader", every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.


The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.


To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

-Carl Sagan

a reply to: wildespace

Forgive me, I misread. I thought the implication was the "universe", not the "solar system".

My apologies.

I read about this the other day. I've always found it fascinating that the solar system is protected by a sort of "shield" of solar energy. It's like the Earth's magnetosphere, just way bigger. I wonder what would happen to the planets without this kind of protection?

a reply to: blackcrowe

A new firmament to contend with!

We did not even get rid of the last one that long ago. LoL

Ah well, as below so above, and vice-versa i imagine.

Flyingclaydisk. Yes. solar system. Thanks wildespace. Also. Those Voyager probes have exceeded expectations.

Interesting...very interesting. Even more interesting is the fact that information from Voyager is still relevant. Are the Voyager probes still sending information back.? If so shouldn't the probe(S) be farther out than New Horizons? I thought the Voyager probes are null and void because they are too far away.

Thanks lostbook.

NASA's farthest-traveling probes, which launched in the late 1970s — spotted all the way back in 1992. [Images: Dust Grains from Interstellar Space]

It's a wall in a sense that there's hydrogen all the way beyond it. Interstellar hydrogen, that makes up most of interstellar space in our galaxy.

Thanks wildspace.

That's a deep statement by Carl Sagan. Thanks for sharing flyingclaydisk.

I read about this the other day. I've always found it fascinating that the solar system is protected by a sort of "shield" of solar energy. It's like the Earth's magnetosphere, just way bigger. I wonder what would happen to the planets without this kind of protection?

Thanks oriondc. Maybe it does protect the solar system. That might make some sense.

A new firmament to contend with! We did not even get rid of the last one that long ago. LoL Ah well, as below so above, and vice-versa i imagine.

LOL. I thought that might be mentioned. Thanks andy06shake. Still doing comedy i see.

originally posted by: oriondc
I read about this the other day. I've always found it fascinating that the solar system is protected by a sort of "shield" of solar energy. It's like the Earth's magnetosphere, just way bigger. I wonder what would happen to the planets without this kind of protection?

Amazing. Is like a planet and this rock is just another island on that bigger planet.
Makes you think.

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: blackcrowe

A new firmament to contend with!

We did not even get rid of the last one that long ago. LoL

Ah well, as below so above, and vice-versa i imagine.

Genesis 1:6
6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so.”

That text takes another dimension now.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: lostbook

Voyager 1 and 2 will operate until about 2020 when they will begin shutting down to conserve power. By about 2032 they will have exhausted all of their power reserves to communicate and will fall silent forever.

50+ years, not a bad run...especially considering they were only designed to last a few years.

ETA - Oh and yes, the Voyager spacecraft are the farthest man made objects away from Earth, by a LONG ways too.

And in our galaxy its like turning the handle to open the door. At its current speed its the fastest thing man has ever made. And yet it would take 40000 years to reach another solar system. At least we don't have to worry about losing it of we ever invent faster than light travel. Imagine it will be on a tour 1000 years from now. With little kids asking why it was so slow .

a reply to: dragonridr
There's a story (probably more than one) about that. A "generation ship" traveling at sublight speed arrives at its destination to find a thriving civilization founded by those who took a shortcut.

Can recall neither the title or author.

a reply to: Abednego

I was taking the proverbial vagina.

It's a beautiful book sometimes, full of humor, horror, and tragedy.

Even a modicum of wisdom to be had now and again, but wholly a product of Man with all his fear and fallibility at play.

Earth is not flat and there is no dome else, discoveries such as this "glowing wall of hydrogen" at the boundary of our star system could never be observed New Horizon nor the Voyager probes.

This makes me imagine the complexity of the compounding layers of the "vacuum" of space. Its as if we are on a bubble, in a bubble, within a another bubble and so on. I wonder what "wall" might be found at the edge of our local cluster, or what kind of material is being held at bay by the electromagnetic bubble of our entire galaxy.

This discover also only deepens my affinity for the "electrical universe" model of our universes structure and space landscape. As opposed to the mass and gravity dominated model.

a reply to: JRedBeard

Well if multiverse theory turns out to hold any weight its all bubbles really.

a reply to: blackcrowe

The long-proposed 'heliopause' where the outside pressure is equal to that exerted by sol forming a bubble in which our solar system dwells?

For brighter minds than mine... Or for those always wondering...


Is it possible that before matter, before all other elements, only Hydrogen existed? Like an endless, bottomless sea of hydrogen. Somewhere it became dense, causing a chain reaction with one star that expelled other elements, as we understand stars do... A giant reactor of elemental creation...


I know.. It has too many questions like were did the hydrogen come from and why did it form a sun at only one point in time as a source. What caused it to condense in that one spot.. Just letting the imagination run wild.

a reply to: StallionDuck

In order:

Yes.
Yes.
Yes.

Gravity.