Voyager 2 entered the heliosheath just last August (following Voyager 1 which entered it in 2004) and what did the PLS instrument find? The "bubble" formed by solar wind is not perfectly round, rather it's "squished".
The other interesting bit is that the data we have retrieved does not show what was expected. Scientists thought that the entry point to the termination shock would be more dense and a lot hotter.
2008 will be an interesting year because we can use this data as a starting point and compare it with data from next year's Interstellar Boundary Explorer.
Either way, cool stuff!
QuoteVoyager 2 Proves Solar System is Squashed
December 10, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. ? NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft has followed its twin, Voyager 1, into the solar system's final frontier, a vast region at the edge of our solar system where the solar wind runs up against the thin gas between the stars.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2007-143
Neat stuff.
I think so, I'm really quite fascinated by the fact that the solar wind termination shock is not nearly as hot as science thought it would be.
Squashed? Not round? *shock* (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Weird+Al+Everything+You+Know+Is+Wrong&search=Search)
Not only squashed, but its not static either, The shape changes based on interior and exterior pressure. The probe itself went through the boundary several times. Or really, the boundary went by the probe several times.
Perhaps it's of an undeterminable (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_Principle#Uncertainty_principle_versus_observer_effect) size and shape? ;)
At this point I'd say its based on fluid dynamics (gasses and plasmas interacting), not Quantum Mechanics directly.
Exactly, think of it as an ebbing tide.
Quote from: Mr. Analog on December 14, 2007, 07:49:40 AM
Exactly, think of it as an ebbing tide.
Dammit you triggered yet another esoteric 80s TV series reference (http://images.google.com/images?q=Riptide) in my noggin!