The tail of our solar system: illustration based on data from the IBEX satellite
NASA's IBEX (Interstellar Boundary Explorer - Interstellar Boundary Explorer) satellite was able to capture evidence of what astronomers around the world had long been aware of, but had never seen before - our tail. Yes, you read it right. Our solar system definitely has it too.
In shape, the tail can resemble the numerous petals of a four-leaf three-dimensional clover, which are formed by a combination of slowly and rapidly moving particles traveling after the system and fluttering by the solar wind of the heliosphere.
Map of the heliosphere (Image: NASA)
Scientists have already noted the presence of a tail around some stellar systems.
Star tails (starting from the top left): LLOrionis, Mira and BZ Cam systems.
The particles that make up the heliotail do not shine, so capturing them was quite difficult. For this, IBEX used a camera to register energetically neutral atoms - capturing neutral particles that were formed as a result of a collision of atoms and particles at the boundary of the heliosphere.
“At this point, many scientists were offering models of how our heliotail actually looks, but there was no visual evidence for this. Therefore, in some situations, it was necessary to draw images in which he seemed to go beyond the boundaries of the work area, ”says David McComas, IBEX Project Principal Investigator.
Despite the discovery, scientists are still not sure how long the tail is in our solar system.
The article is based on materials .
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