Giant Ribbon Discovered at Edge of Solar System

[flyingcloud]

Mysterious 'Ribbon' of Energy and Particles That Wrap Around Solar System's Heliosphere Isolated

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 114935.htm

ScienceDaily (Mar. 31, 2011) — In a paper to be published in the April 10, 2011, issue of The Astrophysical Journal, scientists on NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission, including lead author Nathan Schwadron and others from the University of New Hampshire, isolate and resolve the mysterious "ribbon" of energy and particles the spacecraft discovered in the heliosphere -- the huge bubble that surrounds our solar system and protects us from galactic cosmic rays.

The finding, which overturns 40 years of theory, provides insight into the fundamental structure of the heliosphere, which in turn helps scientists understand similar structures or "astrospheres" that surround other star systems throughout the cosmos.

The ribbon of energy was captured using ultra-high sensitive cameras that image energetic neutral atoms (instead of photons of light) to create maps of the boundary region between our solar system and the rest of our galaxy.

Notes Schwadron, an associate professor at UNH's Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space and department of physics, "Isolating and separating the ribbon from the IBEX maps was like pulling the drapes from our window to discover the landscape at the edge of the solar system."

Of the singular images the IBEX mission has been able to achieve, lead scientist David McComas of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) says, "These maps are very rich scientifically and are critical in helping scientists understand how our space environment is controlled by the galactic medium. They provide the first images of our solar system's boundaries, which control the access to potentially harmful galactic cosmic rays as well as all other matter from deep space."

The most energetic galactic cosmic rays penetrate even the powerful magnetic fields closest to Earth and eventually collide and interact with Earth's atmosphere. The direct or indirect effects of these cosmic rays on Earth system, including our biosphere, remain poorly understood and are often highly controversial.

The IBEX team is using the maps to learn how the heliosphere is shaped and what its physical properties are. This detailed information about our solar system's boundaries will allow scientists to better understand how galactic cosmic rays evolve in our space environment, which in turn will provide fundamental information about the radiation environment on Earth and its implications on the evolution of life.

The IBEX scientists analyzed data from the mission's first year of observations and, after developing an effective separation method, were able to isolate and resolve the unanticipated energetic ribbon feature. The ribbon appears to be wrapped like a belt on top of the globally distributed emissions of the broader sky, and by separating it from the background emissions scientists can now see what's underneath the ribbon.

Says Schwadron, "There are many theories about how the ribbon is created, and we don't understand exactly what we're seeing but it seems to be telling us something about how the local galactic magnetic field interacts with the heliosphere."

Additional evidence for that interaction was the discovery of a "tail" of emissions in the underlying boundary landscape, which is apparently deflected in the direction of the galactic magnetic field as the ribbon seems to indicate.

"This galactic magnetic field may be a missing key to understanding how the heliosphere protects the solar system from galactic cosmic rays,"says Schwadron.

Also seen in the maps is the expected feature of the "nose" of the heliosphere. The nose represents the direction in which the solar system moves through the local part of the galaxy nearest to our Sun and that Schwadron compares to the "bow wave in front of a ship, which shows us how our motion through the galaxy compresses and deflects the material of the local galactic medium around our heliosphere."

The IBEX maps differ so radically from what was expected prior to the mission that the scientists have been struggling to untangle the vast amount of information the maps contain. The team notes that getting emissions from the nose of the heliosphere has been an important "lamp post" towards understanding how the global heliosphere is controlled by the interaction of the Sun with the local galactic medium.

Says McComas, "Prior to IBEX, most scientists believed that the global boundaries of our solar system were controlled mainly by the motion of our solar system through the galaxy and the solar wind, an extremely fast flow of electrically charged matter that flows out from the Sun. The IBEX maps reveal the galactic magnetic field is also a critical part of the Sun's interaction with the galaxy."

The mission launched October 19, 2008 and carries two ultra-high sensitivity cameras containing important components designed and built at UNH. In addition, the mission's Science Operations Center is headquartered at UNH.

I'd bet we look like a comet... fractally speaking of course

[rduke]

I like those IBEX fellas...

[allynh]

Here's the image that goes with the article.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 114935.htm

[Dotini]

I like those IBEX fellas...

IBEX is doing mind-boggling work, revolutionary work. They are on the verge of publishing in The Astrophysical Journal. This could really shake up things in the astrophysics world.

Respectfully submitted,
Dotini

[seasmith]

from allynh:



Well if the artist's image fits Birkeland's math, that just about nails it.

s

[mharratsc]

Don't think for one minute that they won't milk "researching" this for millions of dollars while they "discover the physics" behind it...

Was it Nereid whom argued that it was ludicrous to believe that scientists were not motived by the simple desire to uncover the truth, but rather held capital gain over scientific discovery?

Let this then be the litmus test- with all the documentation that has been presented by plasma cosmology over the past decades regarding helical currents in space, let us see if they choose to investigate the validity of the plasma model in the light of this new data, or whether they step off into their own flights of fantasy as they have always done.

I know where I'll put MY money... color me skeptical.

[psychegram]

Don't think for one minute that they won't milk "researching" this for millions of dollars while they "discover the physics" behind it...

Was it Nereid whom argued that it was ludicrous to believe that scientists were not motived by the simple desire to uncover the truth, but rather held capital gain over scientific discovery?

Let this then be the litmus test- with all the documentation that has been presented by plasma cosmology over the past decades regarding helical currents in space, let us see if they choose to investigate the validity of the plasma model in the light of this new data, or whether they step off into their own flights of fantasy as they have always done.

I know where I'll put MY money... color me skeptical.

Do keep in mind that scientists are people too: they need to eat, and their funding is not easy to come by. At the same time, being a scientist implies a certain conservatism: you never, ever want to go too far from the accepted state of knowledge in your field, at least if you want your colleagues to pay any attention to your work. And finally, there's also the aspect that scientists - being human - are embedded in a certain sociocultural matrix, which will have certain deep, axiomatic assumptions about the world, assumptions which may or may not be true but will inevitably color the metaphor-level explanations they tend to find plausible for this or that phenomenon (and of course, the metaphors EU lends itself to are wildly out of step with those our current civilization prefers ... which is why, in my view, it is the cosmology of the future, as it is very compatible with the emerging civilization). So it's not like they're deliberately venal creatures out to enrich themselves through the propagation of confabulations to the credulous public ... it's a little more nuanced than that.

[mharratsc]

Psychegram posted:

Do keep in mind that scientists are people too: they need to eat, and their funding is not easy to come by. At the same time, being a scientist implies a certain conservatism: you never, ever want to go too far from the accepted state of knowledge in your field, at least if you want your colleagues to pay any attention to your work. And finally, there's also the aspect that scientists - being human - are embedded in a certain sociocultural matrix, which will have certain deep, axiomatic assumptions about the world, assumptions which may or may not be true but will inevitably color the metaphor-level explanations they tend to find plausible for this or that phenomenon (and of course, the metaphors EU lends itself to are wildly out of step with those our current civilization prefers ... which is why, in my view, it is the cosmology of the future, as it is very compatible with the emerging civilization). So it's not like they're deliberately venal creatures out to enrich themselves through the propagation of confabulations to the credulous public ... it's a little more nuanced than that.

I am completely sympathetic in regards to anyone trying to bring home the butter.

Regarding scientific 'conservatism' and the 'accepted state of knowledge' comfort zone- are not discovery, observation, theory, and experiment axioms of scientific pursuit, though?

I have no idea what emerging civilization you've uncovered, as the only one that I see still appreciates entertainment over enlightenment.

Lastly, individual scientists I'm sure are not the issue- it is the paradigm that shelters them. At the highest eschelons is where the morass has its heart. :\

[Dotini]

I wondered what the bulged plasma ribbon found by IBEX might look like if it were excited to visible glow mode.

It occurred to me that it may resemble the mythical ouroboros, or axis mundi. Any chance of that?

Respectfully,
Dotini

[psychegram]

Psychegram posted:

Do keep in mind that scientists are people too: they need to eat, and their funding is not easy to come by. At the same time, being a scientist implies a certain conservatism: you never, ever want to go too far from the accepted state of knowledge in your field, at least if you want your colleagues to pay any attention to your work. And finally, there's also the aspect that scientists - being human - are embedded in a certain sociocultural matrix, which will have certain deep, axiomatic assumptions about the world, assumptions which may or may not be true but will inevitably color the metaphor-level explanations they tend to find plausible for this or that phenomenon (and of course, the metaphors EU lends itself to are wildly out of step with those our current civilization prefers ... which is why, in my view, it is the cosmology of the future, as it is very compatible with the emerging civilization). So it's not like they're deliberately venal creatures out to enrich themselves through the propagation of confabulations to the credulous public ... it's a little more nuanced than that.

I am completely sympathetic in regards to anyone trying to bring home the butter.

Regarding scientific 'conservatism' and the 'accepted state of knowledge' comfort zone- are not discovery, observation, theory, and experiment axioms of scientific pursuit, though?

I have no idea what emerging civilization you've uncovered, as the only one that I see still appreciates entertainment over enlightenment.

Lastly, individual scientists I'm sure are not the issue- it is the paradigm that shelters them. At the highest eschelons is where the morass has its heart. :\

Well, those are axioms, yes ... but at the same time (with the exception of periods of Kuhnian paradigm shift) science tends to advance by inches, building very carefully on previous work and being careful not to overstep what can reasonably be claimed. In a perfect world. Astrophysics and cosmology are not perfect worlds

The emerging civilization is, I admit, very difficult to see against the obscuring glare of late capitalism's profusion of flickering screens. But you can see the outlines starting to emerge: a new consciousness, a new experience of being human in the world. Things like community, sustainability, connectivity, a respect for the subjectivity not just of other humans but of all things, animal, rock, what have you ... the rebirth of a kind of scientific animism, which sees the world not as a soulless, accidental machine but as a living being at least as intelligent, aware and creative as humans ... a world that measures its members not by what they can get for themselves (key metaphor: gravitational attraction) but rather, by what they can give (key metaphor: the dense plasma focus, which sucks in and spits out in equal measure.) The old world is all about atomistic isolation (stars burning up their own fuel); the new world, relational connection (stars powered by their environment).

Quite apart from the scientifically fascinating nature of the EU model, what really strikes me are the multiple, profound metaphor-level connections with the new paradigm ... the two are, to me, clearly made for one another. I would predict that EU will prosper to whatever degree the new paradigm takes its place ... and vice versa, because in the context of gravitational cosmology, the new paradigm finds itself fighting an uphill battle against the subconscious assumptions about the world embedded in the Big Bang narrative.

Sorry ... that was a bit of a thread-jack

[allynh]

Solar System's "Nose" Found; Aimed at Constellation Scorpius

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... ce-science

Solar System's "Nose" Found; Aimed at Constellation Scorpius

A NASA spacecraft has uncovered the solar system's "nose," which points in the direction our sun is moving through the Milky Way galaxy, astronomers say.

The finding is based on newly released data from the Interstellar Boundary Explorer satellite (IBEX), an Earth-orbiting probe that has been mapping the solar system's outer frontier since 2008.

As the sun travels through the galaxy, the solar wind—actually charged particles streaming from the sun—collides with interstellar gases, forming a cocoon around the solar system called the heliosphere.

The edge of this cocoon, the heliopause, lies more than 9 billion miles (14.5 billion kilometers) from the sun.

"The Voyager spacecrafts were the first to reach these outer boundaries, and [they] gave us very localized information," said study leader Nathan Schwadron of the University of New Hampshire. (See "Solar System Is 'Bullet Shaped.'")

"But IBEX now allows us to pull back and finally show us its global properties. We are now overturning 40 years of theories about this gigantic bubble which surrounds and protects our solar system from harmful galactic cosmic rays," high-energy particles that zip through the universe. (Related picture: "Cosmic Ray Mystery Solved?")

Cosmic rays constantly bombard our solar system, but the heliosphere shields us from most of the radiation. Still, the small amounts that leak through and reach Earth can fry satellite electronics and pose a health hazard for astronauts.

Sun Aimed at Cosmic Scorpion

In 2009 IBEX revealed a vast ribbon of atoms snaking its way along the solar system's edge. While intriguing, this ribbon was preventing astronomers from mapping the entire heliosphere.

Now Schwadron and his team have finally been able to digitally subtract the intense emissions given off by this mysterious ribbon, revealing the heliosphere's nose. This feature, like the bow of a ship, appears at the leading edge of the windsock-like heliosphere.

"It turns out that the ribbon happens to go right through this region of the heliosphere, so we just had to pull back that curtain to reveal its signal," Schwadron said.

This nose appears to point in the general direction of the zodiacal constellation Scorpius. From our perspective, Scorpius follows the ecliptic, or the path of Earth's orbit around the sun. Scorpius rises during the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere.

The study authors are still puzzling out what this—and other IBEX data—tells us about the sun's overall trajectory. But it looks like the sun may be following a short, wavelike path that takes it above and below the galactic plane a few times during each orbit around the galaxy's center.

Overall, Schwadron believes IBEX's discoveries will boost our understanding of the heliosphere. For instance, this bubble can inflate and deflate with changes in solar activity and the pressure of interstellar gases—which may have implications for life on Earth and human space exploration.

(See "Surprise: Solar System 'Force Field' Shrinks Fast.")

"What we can start asking now is, how does this boundary essentially protect Earth from the harsh galactic cosmic radiation?" Schwadron said.

"In essence, we could be discovering the domain of habitability within our own heliosphere and even apply that understanding to other planetary systems."

The new IBEX data are described in a paper published online March 23 by the Astrophysical Journal.

One of the related links that is interesting.

Surprise: Solar System "Force Field" Shrinks Fast
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... ence-knot/

Surprise: Solar System "Force Field" Shrinks Fast
Graeme Stemp-Morlock

It's cold, dusty, and bereft of planets, but the outskirts of our solar system are anything but dull, according to increasing evidence from NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) craft.

As charged particles flow out from the sun, they eventually bump up against interstellar medium—the relatively empty areas between stars. These interactions "inflate" a protective bubble that shields Earth and the entire solar system from potentially harmful cosmic rays (solar system pictures).

Now IBEX has surprised astronomers by showing that this force field-like structure, the heliosphere, is an unexpectedly dynamic, unpredictable boundary.

"If we've learned anything from IBEX so far, it is that the models that we're using for interaction of the solar wind with the galaxy were just dead wrong," David McComas, principal investigator for the IBEX program, said during a NASA press conference Thursday.

Heliosphere Changes Fast

For starters, it's been assumed that the heliosphere's expansion and contraction follows the sun's roughly 11-year activity cycle, during which the flow rate of charged particles, or solar wind, fluctuates.

But when scientists compared IBEX maps of the heliosphere taken just six months apart, the researchers found that it had shrunk to a much greater extent than expected. (See "Sun's Power Hits New Low, May Endanger Earth?")

This quick shrinkage could be a concern for astronauts, said McComas, of the Southwest research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. That's because, as the heliosphere shrinks, it lets in more cosmic radiation, which can compromise the body's immune system.

(Related: "Solar System Is 'Bullet Shaped.'")

Among IBEX's other new surprises: a long, mysterious ribbon of uncharged particles found last year that has apparently lost its brightest, most energetic region since its 2009 discovery.

"What we're seeing is the knot pull apart as it spreads across a region of the ribbon," McComas said in a press statement.

"To this day the science team can't agree on exactly what causes the knot or the ribbon, but by comparing different sky maps, we find the surprising result that the region is changing over relatively short time periods. Now we have to figure out why."

IBEX's new cosmic-ribbon findings published September 29 in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

[mharratsc]

@Psychegram-

I won't bother trying to achieve eloquence on this reply as I have way too much blood in my caffeine stream right now, but I will simply say- I hope you're right, brother.

The human race needs a little social cognizance right now. :\

[Nitai]

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/sc ... gsurprise/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUt6mRDV5hY

Youtube video to go with it.

Sorry if this is posted elsewhere, I searched and did not find it.

[orrery]

My first response is bull rap based on the theories reliance on magnetic reconnection

[tolenio]

Hi,

What does EU theory say about this...?

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/sc ... gsurprise/

NASA

A Big Surprise from the Edge of the Solar System Play ScienceCast Video

June 9, 2011: NASA's Voyager probes are truly going where no one has gone before. Gliding silently toward the stars, 9 billion miles from Earth, they are beaming back news from the most distant, unexplored reaches of the solar system.

Mission scientists say the probes have just sent back some very big news indeed.

It's bubbly out there.

"The Voyager probes appear to have entered a strange realm of frothy magnetic bubbles," says astronomer Merav Opher of Boston University. "This is very surprising."