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Old 01-22-2010, 01:37 PM   #33
idunno
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Join Date: Sep 2008
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Default Re: -do humans exist for the purpose of enabling water molecules to communicate? -

memes of the water....
Quote:
....dwell in timelessness,A further consideration may be: if we are as vast as the cosmos and we are all that is, how can we lose anything?
Jiddhu Krishnamurti - Memory has no life in itself Jiddhu Krishnamurti - 8 September Daily thought - Memory has no life in itself.
www.etresoi.ch/krishnamurti/0908.html - Cached

Memory is responding all the time | Daily Quotes Arquive - J ... It is the storehouse of memory, of the past. This memory is responding all the time, as like and dislike, justifying, condemning and so on; it is responding ...http://www.jkrishnamurti.com/krishna..../20090914.php - Cached



Voyager makes an interstellar discovery - Physorg | Eureka ... 26 Dec 2009 ... The solar system is passing through an interstellar cloud that ... Satellite reveals surprising cosmic 'weather' at edge of solar system ... Get the latest and most popular science news articles of the week in your Inbox ...
esciencenews.com/.../physorg/.../voyager.makes.interstellar.discovery - Cached

Remember that Ribbon at the Edge of our Solar System? --UPDATE!
Quote:

Full Circle
User ID: 864871
1/16/2010 8:26 AM


Report abusive post Remember that Ribbon at the Edge of our Solar System? --UPDATE!
Quote

January 15, 2010: Last year, when NASA's IBEX (Interstellar Boundary Explorer) spacecraft discovered a giant ribbon at the edge of the solar system, researchers were mystified. They called it a "shocking result" and puzzled over its origin. Now the mystery may have been solved.

"We believe the ribbon is a reflection," says Jacob Heerikhuisen, a NASA Heliophysics Guest Investigator from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. "It is where solar wind particles heading out into interstellar space are reflected back into the solar system by a galactic magnetic field."

Heerikhuisen is the lead author of a paper reporting the results in the Jan. 10th edition of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.


"This is an important finding," says Arik Posner, IBEX program scientist at NASA Headquarters. "Interstellar space just beyond the edge of the solar system is mostly unexplored territory. Now we know, there could be a strong, well-organized magnetic field sitting right on our doorstep."

The IBEX data fit in nicely with recent results from Voyager. Voyager 1 and 2 are near the edge of the solar system and they also have sensed strong* magnetism nearby. Voyager measurements are relatively local to the spacecraft, however. IBEX is filling in the "big picture." The ribbon it sees is vast and stretches almost all the way across the sky, suggesting that the magnetic field behind it must be equally vast.

Although maps of the ribbon seem to show a luminous body, the ribbon emits no light. Instead, it makes itself known via particles called "energetic neutral atoms" (ENAs)--mainly garden-variety hydrogen atoms. The ribbon emits these particles, which are picked up by IBEX in Earth orbit.


The reflection process posited by Heerikhuisen et al. is a bit complicated, involving multiple "charge exchange" reactions between protons and hydrogen atoms. The upshot, however, is simple. Particles from the solar wind that escape the solar system are met ~100 astronomical units (~15 billion kilometers) away by an interstellar magnetic field. Magnetic forces intercept the escaping particles and sling them right back where they came from.

"If this mechanism is correct--and not everyone agrees--then the shape of the ribbon is telling us a lot about the orientation of the magnetic field in our corner of the Milky Way galaxy," notes Heerikhuisen.

And upon this field, the future may hinge.

The solar system is passing through a region of the Milky Way filled with cosmic rays and interstellar clouds. The magnetic field of our own sun, inflated by the solar wind into a bubble called the "heliosphere," substantially protects us from these things. However, the bubble itself is vulnerable to external fields. A strong magnetic field just outside the solar system could press against the heliosphere and interact with it in unknown ways. Will this strengthen our natural shielding—or weaken it? No one can say.


"IBEX will monitor the ribbon closely in the months and years ahead," says Posner. "We could see the shape of the ribbon change—and that would show us how we are interacting with the galaxy beyond."

It seems we can learn a lot by looking in the mirror. Stay tuned to Science@NASA for updates.

[link to science.nasa.gov]

Last Edited by Full Circle on 1/16/2010 at 8:48 AM

_________________
In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself. --Krishnamurti



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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 866364
1/16/2010 8:35 AM Re: Remember that Ribbon at the Edge of our Solar System? --UPDATE! Quote


January 15, 2010: Last year, when NASA's IBEX (Interstellar Boundary Explorer) spacecraft discovered a giant ribbon at the edge of the solar system, researchers were mystified. They called it a "shocking result" and puzzled over its origin. Now the mystery may have been solved.
Quoting: Full Circle


At the edge of our Solar System, NOT the galaxy.

Anonymous Coward
User ID: 862183
1/16/2010 8:40 AM Re: Remember that Ribbon at the Edge of our Solar System? --UPDATE! Quote

AHA! Splains lots...

~
User ID: 844573
1/16/2010 8:44 AM Re: Remember that Ribbon at the Edge of our Solar System? --UPDATE! Quote

Spectacular find FC- I love this stuff!
What an exceptional age we find ourselves in...
Thank you
->+<-

Anonymous Coward
User ID: 864871 (OP)
1/16/2010 8:46 AM Re: Remember that Ribbon at the Edge of our Solar System? --UPDATE! Quote


January 15, 2010: Last year, when NASA's IBEX (Interstellar Boundary Explorer) spacecraft discovered a giant ribbon at the edge of the solar system, researchers were mystified. They called it a "shocking result" and puzzled over its origin. Now the mystery may have been solved.



At the edge of our Solar System, NOT the galaxy.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 866364



Oops> Thanks for the correction!


Full Circle
User ID: 864871
1/16/2010 8:50 AM
Re: Remember that Ribbon at the Edge of our Solar System? --UPDATE! Quote


AHA! Splains lots...

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 862183


Certainly helps!



Spectacular find FC- I love this stuff!
What an exceptional age we find ourselves in...
Thank you
->+<-

Quoting: ~ 844573



Adds to the intrigue doesn't it!

Giant Ribbon at the Edge of the Solar
System: Mystery Solved?



Last edited by idunno; 01-22-2010 at 01:55 PM.
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