First Images of Solar System's Invisible Frontier 112
FiReaNGeL writes an unexpected side-effect from NASA's STEREO spacecraft has allowed scientists to see a much more well-defined picture of the boundary of our solar system. "The twin STEREO spacecraft were launched in 2006 into Earth's orbit about the sun to obtain stereo pictures of the sun's surface and to measure magnetic fields and ion fluxes associated with solar explosions. Between June and October 2007, however, the suprathermal electron sensor in the IMPACT (In-situ Measurements of Particles and CME Transients) suite of instruments on board each STEREO spacecraft detected neutral atoms originating from the same spot in the sky: the shock front and the heliosheath beyond, where the sun plunges through the interstellar medium."
Re:Acronym in an Acronym? (Score:5, Insightful)
Woooooosh (Score:2, Insightful)
Not the sound the Solar system makes as it travels through the galaxy, but the sound of this article going over my head.
So this boundry is what exactly? The limit to which the solar winds reach out from the Sun and the interaction that they have when they hit the expansive nothing out there?
Re:Woooooosh (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Sloar system's velocity (Score:0, Insightful)
Who's the dumbass who modded this as troll?
Re:Woooooosh (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Math Quiz (Score:5, Insightful)
c = (k p / Ï)^1/2
Put in the numbers and get your answer. The speed of sound in space works out to around 300 m/s in these parts.
Or were you under the impression that sound isn't transmitted in space? Sound we can hear isn't, but the ambient gas in space certainly does transmit disturbances, and will let you know if something passing through it exceeds the speed of sound by forming a shock wave.