Bob Yirka is a research scientist at Phys.org.

Data from Interstellar Boundary Explorer suggests there are rippled structures in the heliopause and termination shock
IBEX ENA fluxes and SW properties. a,b, IBEX ENA sky maps are shown for roughly 3–6 keV ENA fluxes. a, Ram maps correspond to times when observations are made in the spacecraft ram frame. b, Antiram (A-ram) maps are observations made in the antiram frame. Pixels in corresponding years between rows a and b are offset by 6 months. IBEX observations are corrected for the Compton–Getting effect when transforming from the spacecraft frame to the solar inertial frame and corrected for ENA losses between 100 and 1 au. c, SW dynamic pressure observed by ACE and Wind at 1 au in the ecliptic plane (black), smoothed over two CRs. Approximate time delays between SW and ENA observations are illustrated by the coloured grey bars. The running linear slope fit to SW pressure over ±3 CRs is shown in red. d, IPS observations cover the three CRs nearest to the peak change in SW dynamic pressure (CR 2,154–2,156, large black dots), centred on 2014.75. e, IPS-derived SW speeds as a function of heliolatitude during CR 2,154–2,156. Speeds are shifted uniformly to match OMNI at low latitudes during each CR (OMNI, coloured points). We use SW observations weight averaged over this period (black curve) to analyse IBEX observations. The grey contour represents the propagated standard deviation of the average. f, A large coronal hole in the southern hemisphere, visible in SDO/AIA observations as the dark colour spot, resulted in fast SW at mid-latitudes in CR 2,156 (image courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA science team). Credit: Nature Astronomy (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-022-01798-6

A group of researchers, including members from the Southwest Research Institute and the University of Texas at San Antonio, discovered ripples in the part of space at the boundary of the solar system.

At the edges of the solar system there is a point at which the solar wind slows to a speed at which sound can travel. The heliopause is a point where the solar wind can't push back against the pressure of space. The boundary of the space probes has been pushed into the other side of the universe. They sent the data back. The purpose of IBEX is to study the boundaries of the solar system.

The researchers used the relatively short time scale of the event to study the shape of the heliopause and terminated shock after analyzing data from all three sources. The neutral atoms were measured when the solar wind was colliding with the interstellar wind.

The researchers were able to use the data as a form of echolocation since some of the atoms escaped into space. The ripples were found in the boundary areas. Major shifts in the distance to the heliopause suggest that the shape is not uniform and that it is continually changing.

The researchers hope to learn more about the boundary of the solar system using data sent back to Earth from a new probe.

More information: Eric J. Zirnstein et al, Oblique and rippled heliosphere structures from the Interstellar Boundary Explorer, Nature Astronomy (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-022-01798-6 Journal information: Nature Astronomy

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Phys.org IBEX ENABob YirkaIBEX ENA fluxessolar system
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