The Shape of Our Solar System
Our solar system isn't the good old circle or oval you might have thought it is. According to research reported on this week by National Geographic News, it is bullet-shaped.Our solar system isn’t the good old circle or oval you might have thought it is. According to research reported on this week by National Geographic News, it is bullet-shaped.
Wait, before you go…National Geographic:
The system travels within a bubble of solar wind — made of charged particles from the sun — called the heliosphere.
The edge of this bubble collides with the Milky Way galaxy’s magnetic field at a distance some 200 times farther from the sun than Earth is.
A research team led by Merav Opher at Virginia’s George Mason University found that, just outside the solar system, this interstellar magnetic field is inclined at a 60-degree angle relative to the plane of the Milky Way.
The solar system takes on its streamlined shape as it strikes the magnetic field at this angle, Opher explained.
If you're reading this, you probably already know that non-profit, independent journalism is under threat worldwide. Independent news sites are overshadowed by larger heavily funded mainstream media that inundate us with hype and noise that barely scratch the surface. We believe that our readers deserve to know the full story. Truthdig writers bravely dig beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that tells you what’s really happening and who’s rolling up their sleeves to do something about it.
Like you, we believe a well-informed public that doesn’t have blind faith in the status quo can help change the world. Your contribution of as little as $5 monthly or $35 annually will make you a groundbreaking member and lays the foundation of our work.
Support Truthdig
The next such event for the solar system's smallest, innermost planet isn't until 2032, and North America won't get another shot until 2049.
The spread of the human horde means under a quarter of the world’s habitable land now counts as wilderness.
Researchers think there may be an ancient link between catastrophic climate change and the forces that build mountains: plate tectonics.
On the winter solstice, a Truthdig review of the year's environmental stories finds cause for hope in our poison-riddled world.
He already thinks he hung it, so Donald Trump would be a natural leader for Jeb Bush's future moon colony.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.