Based on images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, the conception we have had of our heliosphere's for the past 50 years has proven to be incorrect. As the solar wind flows from the sun, it carves out a bubble in the interstellar medium. Models of the boundary region between the heliosphere and interstellar medium have been based on the assumption that the relative flow of the interstellar medium and its collision with the solar wind dominate the interaction. This would create a foreshortened “nose” in the direction of the solar system’s motion, and an elongated “tail” in the opposite direction. The INCA images suggest that the solar wind’s interaction with the interstellar medium is instead more significantly controlled by particle pressure and magnetic field energy density. It is wild to think that one image can turn our view on somthing after 50 years of a belief.
2 comments:
3 Aspects:
1. The point of the article was clearly stated
2. Concise points throughout the explanation
3. Good closing sentence re-iterating the articles thesis
2 Suggestions:
1. Have the overall response be longer
2. Don’t summarize too much; possibly add a connection to another current event
1 Thing Learned:
1. That our previous view on the heliosphere is wrong; I didn’t know that particle pressure and magnetic field energy density dominate the heliosphere-interstellar medium interactions, versus the relative flow of the interstellar medium and its collision with the solar wind
A. 1. it is interesting that this was proven incorrect after half of a century
2. the main point is presented in the blurb with only the critical details
3. has proof of why- the images
B. 1. it wasn't about forensics
2. should have defined some of the terms such as interstellar medium
C. With some of the smartest minds in the world working on this, it took 50 years for something to be proven false
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