Scientists used to think the bubble of space blocking cosmic rays, or heliosphere, was shaped like a long-tailed comet. Now, researchers say it actually looks like a "deflated croissant."
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00:00 (music)
00:04 This blob may look like an organ from an alien creature,
00:07 but it's actually surrounding our solar system.
00:10 Far beyond our solar system's edge lies a bubble of space
00:14 made by the sun called the heliosphere.
00:16 It blocks cosmic rays, and for years,
00:19 scientists believed it was shaped like a long-tailed comet.
00:22 But using data from NASA missions, a research team found
00:25 it's shaped like a deflated croissant.
00:27 The 3D model showed two jets shooting out of the croissant center
00:30 caused by the solar magnetic field.
00:32 The team analyzed data from NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer mission,
00:36 which studied energetic neutral atoms.
00:39 As cosmic rays travel from the sun and towards the theoretical boundary,
00:43 a solar wind's can't penetrate called heliopause.
00:46 They also examined data from NASA's Cassini and New Horizons mission
00:50 and found solar wind interacted more with material from interstellar space
00:54 the further it was from the sun.
00:56 The findings could help seek out life on other worlds
00:59 by determining if other star systems have a similar bubble.
01:03 This study was published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
01:06 (upbeat music)
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