Our solar system has a tail. The tail is a stream of solar wind plasma — charged particles — and magnetic field, trailing off behind the heliosphere. The heliosphere is a magnetic bubble that surrounds our solar system, as well as the solar wind and our sun’s magnetic field. This bubble doesn’t stop at the planets — it extends at least 8 billion miles beyond them.
Everything is so amazing and sometimes so impossible to imagine!
Ms. Nasreen,
Just a reminder for your readers that the Guardian Express website from Las Vegas is not The Guardian newspaper from the U.K. In fact, PZ Myers had a bone to pick with the Express’ Science Editor a few weeks ago: http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/06/23/stasia-bliss-disgraceful-phony-fraud-and-quack/
The link in the Guardian Express post is to Russia Today. Maybe the article from the Smithsonian’s blog would be better? http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2013/07/for-the-first-time-nasa-took-a-photo-of-the-suns-tail/
Thank you so many for the post – Our solar system has a tail. It is really too amazing to imagine.
that is what i used to be thinking ninth of nov wasn’t away from this entire world
It was a long time ago, but I remember being taught that our solar system is in motion. Moons orbit planets; planets orbit stars; stars may or may not orbit, but are in motion. So, a tailed star fits with this idea.
Thanks for this. Great clip here.
Incidentally our daytime star is not alone in this trait as for instance there’s also Mira ( aka Omicron Ceti with its proper name meaning the Wonderful) here :
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2007/08/15/the_wonderful.html
Via the Bad Astronomy blog.
@4. MaryL :
Absolutely true. Everything is in motion – and our Sun is orbiting the centre of Milky Way Galaxy.
And so far, the only metaphorical “boat” in all those “catherine wheels” that we used to call “island universes” that carries life and minds and love aboard it.
We are staggeringly small yet staggering rare and precious and would do well to keep both those things in mind.
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