Voyager Leaves Solar System

A team of researchers has made the call that the Voyager I space probe has finally left the solar system (actually crossing over last summer) based on the disappearance of solar particle counts even though the local magnetic field has not changed, describing the irregular and ill-defined boundary as a "heliosheath depletion region."

New Region of Space Discovered

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has encountered a previously unknown region of space at the edge of the heliosphere described as a "magnetic highway," an area where the Sun's magnetic field lines are connected to interstellar magnetic field lines allowing for greater traffic of lower-charged particles in both directions.

Sun's Perfectly Round Shape

With new data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite, astronomers have found the Sun to have an almost mathematically perfect spherical shape that barely varies at all over time instead of a characteristic rotational bulge along the equator, a surprising result that cannot be explained by current models.

Active Sun Clears Space Junk

The recent increase in solar activity has had the byproduct of helping to clear away some millions of pieces of man-made space junk left in orbit around Earth, with the increased solar radiation causing the thermosphere to swell and increase the drag on objects in orbit.

Predicting Sunspots

Astronomers can now use acoustic waves generated deep within the Sun to predict the appearance of sunspots days in advance by measuring their speed of travel through the Sun in a method similar to seismic waves through Earth.

"Magnetic Ropes" on the Sun

Astronomers have confirmed the existence of "magnetic ropes" on the surface of the Sun, a massive electromagnetic phenomenon that is thought to trigger solar storms producing violent eruptions of plasma outward.

Rare "Hibernation" of Sunspots

Astronomers are predicting that instead of the eleven-year sunspot cycle approaching a maximum, observations of a missing jet stream and lower activity at the Sun's poles may indicate a rare sunspot "hibernation" period lasting decades called the Maunder Minimum, not seen since the 17th century.

Solar System's "Nose" Found

Data from the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) satellite has produced a map of our heliosphere, the bubble produced by the solar wind expanding against the interstellar medium, and shown the heliosphere's "nose" or apparent direction our system is moving as it points toward the zodiacal constellation Scorpius.

Magnetic "Sausage Waves"

Astronomers studying the Sun have observed so-called magnetic "sausage waves" channeling energy from the core to the surface through coronal holes called pores that periodically increase and decrease in size, providing insight into various processes of coronal heating.

Whole Sun Imaged

NASA's twin STEREO probes have moved into their final positions in orbits on polar opposite sides of the Sun, beginning an eight-year mission and allowing real-time imaging of the star as a whole for the first time.

Plasma Jets Explain Corona

Plasma jets erupting from within the Sun cause hot coronal temperature fronts ahead of them, explaining the mystery of why the corona is orders of magnitude hotter than the chromosphere itself.

Unpredictability of Heliosphere

Data from NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) craft reveal the unpredictable boundary of the heliosphere where the solar wind meets the interstellar medium, shrinking significantly within six months and reacting apart from the Sun's eleven-year cycle of activity.

Sunspots Affect Length of Day

Geophysicists have discovered a correlation between the 11-year cycle of sunspot activity and the effect it has on the length of Earth's rotation, with a still unknown mechanism able to alter the length of a day by milliseconds.

Music from the Sun

Astronomers have discovered longitudinal vibrations within the outermost layer of the Sun's atmosphere that produce harmonious audible-wavelength sounds, providing a new insight into the physics of the solar corona.

Shape of Solar System

Instruments aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft have revealed the relative shape of the heliosphere to be almost spherical instead of the predicted comet-shaped as it moves through the interstellar medium, forcing revisions of decades-old theoretical models.

Edge of the Heliosphere

Data from NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) has produced a sky map at the edge of our heliosphere, revealing a bright ribbon of detail or emissions not previously detected by either of the Voyager probes and not consistent with any current theory of this boundary with the local interstellar medium.

Lack of Sunspot Activity Explained

The recent minimum in sunspot activity over the past two years has been explained by the use of helioseismology to discover a slow-moving jet stream 7000 km below the Sun's surface.