"The Voyager probes appear to have entered a strange realm of frothy magnetic bubbles"

[bananas]

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/09jun_bigsurprise/

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

June 9, 2011:
...
Mission scientists say the probes have just sent back some very big news indeed.
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"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."
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"The sun's magnetic field extends all the way to the edge of the solar system," explains Opher. "Because the sun spins, its magnetic field becomes twisted and wrinkled, a bit like a ballerina's skirt. Far, far away from the sun, where the Voyagers are now, the folds of the skirt bunch up."

When a magnetic field gets severely folded like this, interesting things can happen. Lines of magnetic force criss-cross and "reconnect". (Magnetic reconnection is the same energetic process underlying solar flares.) The crowded folds of the skirt reorganize themselves, sometimes explosively, into foamy magnetic bubbles.
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Theories dating back to the 1950s had predicted a very different scenario: The distant magnetic field of the sun was supposed to curve around in relatively graceful arcs, eventually folding back to rejoin the sun. The actual bubbles appear to be self-contained and substantially disconnected from the broader solar magnetic field.
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"The magnetic bubbles could be our first line of defense against cosmic rays," points out Opher. "We haven't figured out yet if this is a good thing or not."
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[razorman]

1. It is an alien intelligence that will kill anything wearing a red shirt.

[Ian David]

2. It's the Magnetic Santorum Zone. n/t

[sakabatou]

5. I was gonna say that

:rofl:

[saras]

6. me too - I saw the thread and came here just for that...

[Orrex]

3. Oh come on. Who *hasn't* entered a strange realm of frothy magnetic bubbles at one time or another?

Let them cast the first stone, I say.

[Newest Reality]

4. Sounds like where I live. - NT