Our sun emits powerful solar winds that wrap around the planets in our solar system like a giant bubble. This magnetic bubble, called the heliosphere, protects the planets from harmful cosmic radiation jettisoned out in the wake of powerful cosmic events like supernovae.
After conducting a series of simulations using data from various NASA missions, a team of astronomers now believes our solar system's heliosphere may be shaped like a "deflated croissant." Personally, we see a jumbo shrimp.
While you're here, how about this:
Is our solar system shaped like a deflated croissant? | Space
Scientists have traditionally posited that the heliosphere , the huge bubble of charged particles that the sun blows around itself, has a rounded leading edge, where the solar system barrels through space, with a long tail streaming behind it. But the heliosphere's true shape is weirder and more complex, a recent study suggests — something akin to a deflated croissant.
It's tough to map out the heliosphere, because its closest edge is still a whopping 10 billion miles (16 billion kilometers) from Earth. Just two spacecraft, NASA's Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes , have directly sampled the boundary, and two data points are far from sufficient to outline the heliosphere's contours.
A Faraway Solar System Looks Eerily Similar to Our Own - The Atlantic
Astronomers have a saying about how difficult it is to see a distant planet outside of our own solar system: It's like spotting a firefly next to a lighthouse.
Stars are so luminous that they block our view of planets that might be orbiting nearby, so astronomers have to work around them. They use special instruments on telescopes to block the light coming from these celestial beacons. With the glare gone, they can detect something else: heat radiating off of planets. In the resulting observations, the worlds are easier to spot—glowing orbs in the darkness, like fireflies hovering in the heat of a summer night.
Astronomers May Have Identified The Biggest Impact Structure in Our Solar System
It's the largest and most massive moon in the Solar System. It's the only Solar System moon that generates its own magnetic field . It has the most liquid water of any Solar System body. And now, scientists have discovered, it may have the largest impact structure ever identified.
Astronomers have found that the tectonic troughs known as furrows, thought to be the oldest geological features on Ganymede, form a series of concentric rings up to 7,800 kilometres (4,847 miles) across, as though something had slammed into the moon.
While you're here, how about this:
Shape of our solar system more like a deflated croissant than a comet's tail, NASA study shows-
Scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have developed a new prediction about the shape of the bubble the surrounds our solar system. The space agency has said all planets of our solar system are encased in a magnetic bubble that is created by the solar wind.
For years scientists have tried figuring out the shape of the bubble that travels through space as the Sun orbits the centre of the galaxy. While traditionally scientists thought that the heliosphere as a comet shape with a rounded leading edge and tail, new research has showed that the bubble is actually shaped like a deflated croissant, lacking a long tail.
NASA Smooths The Way For 'Lucy' Robot To Explore Time Capsules From The Birth Of Our Solar System
This artist's concept shows the Lucy spacecraft observing a Trojan asteroid. This NASA mission, led ... [+] by Southwest Research Institute, passed a major milestone in preparation for the spacecraft launch in 2021.
NASA has confirmed that it will build and launch the first-ever spacecraft to explore six of Jupiter's Trojan asteroids.
Ancient small bodies that share an orbit with Jupiter , it's thought that the Trojan asteroids could hold clues to understanding the early Solar System—and perhaps even give clues to the the origins of Earth's organic material.
Scientists reveal first-ever photo of a solar system like ours - CBS News
Scientists have captured the first direct image of a solar system that closely resembles our own. The new image is a family portrait of sorts, showing two giant exoplanets orbiting a young, sun-like star, roughly 300 light years away.
The star, known as TYC 8998-760-1 and located in the Southern constellation of Musca, is only 17 million years old, which researchers called a "very young version of our own sun." Comparatively, the sun is roughly 4.6 billion years old.
Animation reveals invisible center of solar system that's not the sun - Business Insider
It's common knowledge that the sun is the center of the solar system. Around it, the planets orbit — along with a thick belt of asteroids, some meteor fields, and a handful of far-traveling comets.
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That center of mass, called the barycenter, is the point of an object at which it can be balanced perfectly, with all its mass distributed evenly on all sides. In our solar system, that point rarely lines up with the center of the sun.
Happening on Twitter
Data from @NASASolarSystem's Cassini & New Horizons missions is helping us study the shape of our solar system's bu… https://t.co/QnIM467B4v NASASun (from NASA Goddard, Greenbelt, MD) Mon Aug 10 17:28:56 +0000 2020
🥐 Do we live in a bubble shaped like a deflated croissant? Scientists have developed a new puffy model for the sh… https://t.co/8yFeZRTSUC NASA Thu Aug 06 23:20:00 +0000 2020
All the planets of our solar system are encased in a magnetic bubble carved out by the Sun's outflowing material. A… https://t.co/aLgGEMWKOA NASASun (from NASA Goddard, Greenbelt, MD) Wed Aug 05 15:29:18 +0000 2020
My colleagues @NASA tell me we live in a bubble that looks like a croissant 🥐. I guess we in France have felt it fo… https://t.co/ABSYM1kzIt Thom_astro (from Houston, TX) Fri Aug 07 07:24:49 +0000 2020
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