Like a comet, the solar system has a tail. NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) has for the first time mapped out the structure of this tail, which is shaped like a four-leaf clover.
Credit: NASA
Scientists describe the tail, called the heliotail, based on the first three years of IBEX imagery in a paper published in the July 10 edition of the Astrophysical Journal.
While telescopes have spotted such tails around other stars, it has been difficult to see whether our star produced one. The particles found in the tail — and throughout the entire heliosphere, the region of space influenced by our sun — do not shine, so they cannot be seen with conventional instruments.
The clover shape does not align perfectly with the solar system. The entire shape is rotated slightly, indicating that as it moves further away from the sun and its magnetic influence, the charged particles begin to be nudged into a new orientation, aligning with the magnetic fields from the local galaxy.
Read more - with videos - at : http://www.ascensionnow.co.uk/our-solar-systems-tail-observed-for-the-first-time.html
While telescopes have spotted such tails around other stars, it has been difficult to see whether our star produced one. The particles found in the tail — and throughout the entire heliosphere, the region of space influenced by our sun — do not shine, so they cannot be seen with conventional instruments.
The clover shape does not align perfectly with the solar system. The entire shape is rotated slightly, indicating that as it moves further away from the sun and its magnetic influence, the charged particles begin to be nudged into a new orientation, aligning with the magnetic fields from the local galaxy.
Read more - with videos - at : http://www.ascensionnow.co.uk/our-solar-systems-tail-observed-for-the-first-time.html
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