NASA Space Probe Discovers a Huge Wall at The Edge of Our Solar System!

 

typically when a space agency sends a  probe  into interstellar space they'd be  expecting to get a better look at  something  they already know exists the voyager  probes for example  were sent up to take advantage of a  particular planetary alignment  that'll give a new perspective to the  outer solar system up close  however what nasa never expected to find  was a brutal hellscape  surrounding the outer reaches of our  solar system  welcome to fact nominal in today's article  we're going to take a look at just how  far  the big bang took us in nasa space probe  discovers a huge wall at the edge of our  solar system  what are the voyager probes  the voyager probes have a simple mission  to explore the outer limits of the solar  system  potentially beyond the limits of our  sun's sphere of influence  the main player in this discovery was  voyager 2  the second of the two probes to launch  since 1977  voyager 2 has been cruising through the  expanse just to get a good view  in 2018 it reached what is known as the  heliopause  a region that completely surrounds our  solar system  it was in this area that the probe found  evidence of a wall of interstellar  plasma  which manifests itself as a sort of  shield of fire made of solar wind  as intense as that may sound the sphere  of plasma  is actually relatively low density  meaning that voyager 2  can pass right through it without any  hiccups the minute we break through the  plasma wall  we go straight into interstellar space  where the cosmic radiation levels spike  considerably  if not for the heliospheres shielding  from solar winds  it's highly likely that all of that  solar radiation would hit us directly  on earth what is plasma anyway  to give us a bit of perspective on what  exactly it means to say  a wall of plasma it is important to  understand what plasma exactly is  and what plasma it has within both our  solar system and interstellar space  formally plasma occurs when a gas has  some of its atoms stripped of their  electrons  you may already be familiar with plasma  as the fourth fundamental state of  matter  a fact that you definitely used to flex  all over your science class when your  teacher claimed that there were only  three  if you were in fact that kid in school  then you may also know that plasma makes  up a staggering 99.9 percent of all  matter in the universe  and that's because it resides in the  great expanse of outer space  it's important to note that plasma could  come in a lot of different shapes and  sizes the plasma within the heliosphere  the area under the sun's influence is  especially hot and sparse  while the plasma you'll find in deep  interstellar space is cold and dense  plasma has the ability to protect us  from cosmic rays  high-energy protons and nuclei that move  through space at nearly the speed of  light  obviously these aren't the kinds of  things we want hitting us while working  on our tan  so it's lucky that we have our  heliosphere that  as voyager 1 has discovered protects us  from more than 70  of that radiation in essence this wall  of plasma that surrounds our solar  system is sort of a  transition zone between the plasma  within the heliosphere and the plasma  that dominates interstellar space  how hot is it in terms of temperature  the probe  measures the wall of hot plasma to be  between thirty thousand and fifty  thousand  kelvin which equates to roughly 53  000 to 89 000 degrees fahrenheit  what does this mean for us nasa is of  course curious and a little bit worried  as to how this literal firewall will  affect attempts for  interstellar travel however the fact  that the voyager probes are making it  through relatively unscathed  is a great sign they are over 40 years  old after all  unfortunately there's no way to know how  this kind of radiation would affect  biological beings  so we'll just have to send someone  through and hope they return with the  same number of limbs  where's the probe now although the probe  is relatively  unscathed from the hellscape nasa has  admitted that it currently is trapped  within the plasma wall  approximately 11 billion miles from  earth instead of making it through  completely to interstellar space  nasa reports that the probe is currently  in its transitional region  at the edge of the solar system there  are many more readings that the probe  will send back to nasa regarding the  wall  and so now the true nature of the plasma  zone awaits to be revealed  regardless it would be an understatement  to say that this discovery was  monumental  a man-made device has officially reached  the limits of our sun's influence  the borders of the solar system and the  transition zone between space that we're  familiar with in interstellar space  how was the wall discovered voyager 2  has predominantly  five operating scientific instruments a  magnetic field sensor  two instruments to detect energetic  particles in different energy ranges  and two instruments for studying plasma  fortunately all of these can provide  some incredibly useful data  on the exact nature of this plasma wall  and all five have had extensive research  papers published in regards to what  they've analyzed  it was one of these energetic particle  detectors in fact that tipped  scientists off on the idea that there  was  an anomalous object right as voyager 2  exited the heliosphere in 2018  some of the energetic particle detectors  noticed some pretty significant changes  the rate of heliospheric particles  detected by the instruments plummeted  while the rate of cosmic rays which  typically have higher energies as the  heliospheric particles  increased dramatically and remained high  from this  scientists at nasa concluded that the  probe  must have entered a new region of space  what part did voyager 1 have to play in  this  it's important to note that voyager 2  was not the first man-made object to  approach the edges of the heliosphere  its distant cousin voyager 1 reached the  edge of the heliosphere in 2012  providing scientists an exact number for  how far the sun  had its influence in space what's  interesting  is that the radius of the heliosphere is  actually inconsistent  similar to how a lung dramatically  increases  the heliosphere seems to be dependent on  the activity of the sun  over an approximate 11 year solar cycle  the sun goes through various highs and  lows of activity  that seem to have direct impact on the  radius of the heliosphere  this was confirmed when voyager 2  reached the edge of the heliosphere at a  different time and distance from the sun  than voyager 1  showing that the limits of the  heliosphere actually fluctuated over  time  the voyager probes are showing us how  our sun interacts with stuff that  fills most of the space between stars in  the milky way galaxy said ed stone  project scientist voyager and a  professor of physics at caltech  without this new data from voyager 2 we  wouldn't know if what we were seeing  with voyager 1 was characteristic of the  entire heliosphere  or specific just to the location and  time when it crossed  the ring of fire has a few holes if we  continue  with the analogy that this surrounding  transition zone of plasma is like a wall  then it appears that it's got a few  cracks  voyager 2's particle instruments have  provided  evidence that some of the particles  within the heliosphere are  actually leaking into the interstellar  space  keep in mind that the heliosphere is not  a static point in space  it's constantly moving so it may be the  case that different points on the  circumference experience  different levels of leakiness voyager 1  for example is  located at the bow of the heliosphere if  we think of it to be like a ship while  voyager 2 is located at the stern  and it appears that this region is more  porous than where voyager 1 is  positioned  the nature of space beyond the  heliosphere an interesting phenomenon  that has now been confirmed is that  the magnetic field beyond the heliopause  is in fact  parallel to the one contained within the  heliosphere  voyager 1 took a sample of these  magnetic  fields with it on board magnetic field  instrument previously  although it was unclear if it was simply  a coincidence at the time  now given that voyager 2 is at a  different point in space yet still  measured the same result it's clear that  these two magnetic fields are actually  parallel  there is still much to be explored  outside the reaches of the heliosphere  scientists around the world are curious  as to the nature of the space that lies  beyond the ring of fire  so apart from a giant radiation shield  what other uses do you think the  heliosphere has  let us know your theories in the  comments below