The heliosphere is like a personal shield for our solar system, protecting it from galactic cosmic rays. These highly energetic particles, which come from events like supernovas, would cause significant damage if the heliosphere didn’t mostly absorb them.
A study led by the University of Michigan and published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences offers recommendations for maximizing scientific measurements to better understand the size and shape of our home within the heliosphere from an external perspective.
“Without such a mission, we are like goldfish trying to understand the fishbowl from the inside,” said Sarah A. Spitzer, a postdoctoral research fellow at U-M and the study’s first author.
“We want to know how the heliosphere protects astronauts and life in general from harmful galactic radiation, but that is difficult to do when we still don’t even know the shape of our shield,” said Marc Kornbleuth, a research scientist at Boston University and co-author of the study.
The study suggests that the best possible exit route is through the side of the heliosphere’s tail end.
2024-03-30 11:51:07
Article from phys.org