heliosphere
NASA Turns Off One of Voyager 2's Science Instruments
The two Voyager spacecraft have been speeding through space since 1977, powered by decaying chunks of plutonium that produce less…
High-Resolution Images of the Sun Show How Flares Impact the Solar Atmosphere
Solar flares are a fascinating thing and have a profound effect on what astronomers refer to as "space weather." These…
Was Earth’s Climate Affected by Interstellar Clouds?
Scientists scour the Earth and the sky for clues to our planet's climate history. Powerful and sustained volcanic eruptions can…
Stellar Winds Coming From Other Stars Measured for the First Time
An international research team led by the University of Vienna has made a major breakthrough. In a study recently published…
Want to Leave the Solar System? Here’s a Route to Take
The edge of the Solar System is defined by the heliosphere and its heliopause. The heliopause marks the region where…
A 2022 Gamma Ray Burst Was So Powerful, it was Detected by Spacecraft Across the Solar System
Gamma-ray bursts are some of the most powerful explosions ever detected, emitting more radiation than the rest of their host…
NASA Restores a Spacecraft by Turning it Off and Then On Again
When faced with a potentially mission-ending problem with NASA’s 15-year-old Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft, engineers performed a time-honored procedure…
This is What the Solar System Really Looks Like
At first glance, it looks like something from an alien autopsy. A strange organ cut from a xenomorph's thorax, under…
The heliosphere looks a lot weirder than we originally thought
Every second of every day, our sun spits out a stream of tiny high-energy particles, known as the solar wind.…
What Voyager 2 Learned After Spending a Year in Interstellar Space
Only two of humanity's spacecraft have left the Solar System: NASA's Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Voyager 1 left the…