In the year 2009, a ship was saved from being destroyed by the Heliosphere. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 went into space to research how the Heliosphere is formed.
Mysterious thing that create our Sun
In the year 2009, a flight of Qantas Airways was travelling from Singapore to Australia, when suddenly in the middle of the journey, all the flight control system of the aircraft malt functioned and the aircraft at an altitude of thousands of feet started rapidly descending. And since the flight was in midair, most of the passengers had not even for fastened their seatbelt at that today which resulted in serious injuries to more than 100 people.
Now the pilots couldn’t understand what had happened to the electronics suddenly in the plane, but after free falling for 10 minutes all the electronic suddenly started working again. After that, the pilots quickly regained control of the plane and managed to avoid a flight crash.
When the investigation of this accident was conducted. It was revealed that there was no human error behind this incident, but rather a mistake of our star, the sun. Now you might be wondering how? How can there be any relationship between the malfunctioning of an aeroplane’s electronics and the Sun? So in the investigation, it was found that behind the Strange behavior of the flight control system there were at alien particles that collided with the earth during that time. Which bridge from outside our solar system to Earth, are called cosmic rays in scientific language.
Voyager Spacecraft Send Formation about Cosmic Rays.
Now the interesting thing is that preventing these cosmic rays from entering the solar system and protecting the Earth in the job of our sun high charged particles and magnetic fields emerging from within every second. Traps and create a protecting shield around the solar system which is called heliosphere.
We first became aware of it in 1950, but its confirmation was received through the voyager spacecraft which, according to NASA, officially crossed the Heliosphere and entered interstellar Space.
Now both of these spacecraft have also provided scientist with valuable information about this cosmic bubble present throughout our solar system.
Mars and Earth Difference
Mars, where there is no form of life presently anyway. On its left side, we have our Earth, where more than 8 billion humans exist, and besides that there are also thousands of other species of plants and animals. But have you ever wondered what is the difference that make Mars so different from Earth? Which is that Earth possesses a strong magnetic field.
This is partially correct, but let me tell you that the magnetic field of earth alone is not the sole reason for the existence of life on Earth. It’s also receives protection from the Sun also. That create such a strong field throughout. Did you see is the presence of cosmic rays inside the solar system by up to 70% compared to the cosmic rays present outside the solar system.
If there were no heliosphere shield around the entire solar system, despite the presence of a magnetic field, it would have been almost impossible for life to exist. And I am saying this to understand why let’s understand.
What Cosmic Rays
What cosmic rays are and how they can harm life. Cosmic rays are such alpha-beta gamma particles, helium nuclei, and subatomic particles like electrons and protons, which are generated by powerful explosions like supernova explosions in the deep universe. Now, if this type of radiation falls on humans, it can damage ourselves and can also mutate them, which we called cancer disease. Which is deadly disease, and if this type of radiation continues to fall on Earth continuously, it can destroy the entire human civilization and all forms of life present on Earth with in a few years.
Rays Impact on Electronic
In addition to that, cosmic radiation also has a power to damage our electronics. And one example of it was then we had already mentioned it in the beginning of this article. It is a quite serious matter in that case if that heliosphere does not prevent cosmic rays from entering the solar system then every electronic device, president on Earth will be damaged within a short period of time.
If Heliosphere disappear
And if suddenly heliosphere completely disappears, even imagining that situation seems terrifying. Just imagine a scenario where suddenly are the airplanes flying in the air start coming down and crashing on the ground. If a fire breaks out in the battery of your smart phone in your hand, all the electronics are .suddenly gets damaged, and all the data available on the Internet also gets destroyed.
And I am not exaggerating this, because without the heliosphere the condition of earth would indeed be like that due to cosmic rays. Not only that, but continues collisions of cosmic rays with earth’s atmospheres will eventually damage our atmosphere as well and you will be forced to stay in your homes indefinitely.
In simple words the heliosphere is quite important for the protection it provides. But the question arises, how does the Sun create this shield?
How Sun Create Heliosphere Shield?
The formation of the hemisphere as we know the Sun continuously emits billions of high energy particles outward, which we call solar, storms or solar wind. That extends in all direction from the Sun within the solar system, reaching up to almost 120 astronomical unit. But it covers that region up to the Kuiper Belt with all eight planets in an almost spherical shape, creating a bubble known as the heliosphere.
The sun’s magnetic field also plays an important role in this. In certain area of the solar system, the cosmic bubble can be larger or smaller, and we will learn more about it in the future. And Because the Sun is constantly moving at the speed of 828,000 km/hr in orbit around the Milky Way, the heliosphere bubble continuously collides with high speed cosmic radiation coming from Interstellar Space in the direction of the sun’s motion.
This forms a hot plasma region at the boundary of the solar system, which scientists have named the heliopause. It is the main boundary that separate the solar system from Interstellar space and is also referred to as the wall of plasma.
Voyager 1 enter in Interstellar Space
In the year 2012 Voyager 1 became the first human made spacecraft to close it and enter interstellar Space followed by Voyager 2, which also crossed it entered interstellar space in 2018, a few years later.
Where, using the data from the instruments, scientists observing that as soon as it reached near the heliopause, there was a suddenly change in the density of the surrounding space, and the temperature increased, reaching up to 30,000 °C to 50,000°C.
In addition to this, the magnetic field detectors on Voyager 2 have recorded a very high-density magnetic field here, which you can probably see the graph.
In this graph, you can see how voyager 2 encounters significantly more dramatic changes in the magnetic field as it enters interstellar space.
Voyager 1 enter in Interstellar Space
By the way, I find it quite fascinating that the young scientists research by collecting valuable data from the Voyager probes. If you noticed that voyager 1 crossed the heliosphere first and almost six years later, in 2018 Voyager 2 entered interstellar space. This 6 Years difference between the two is not a sign of aging for this 46 year old spacecraft.
In fact, both of them were launched in the same year 1977. So what is the reason behind this huge six years difference between the two? There are two main reason behind it.
- First one is simple: Voyager 1 is faster than Voyager 2. While Voyager 1 is travelling in space at the speed of 61,5000 kilometer per hour, Voyager 2 is travelling at approximately 56,327 kilometer per hour.
- But an even bigger reason is that these two probes have crossed the boundary of the solar system from different directions.
Research about this Confusion
According to research, the radius of the heliosphere is different in every direction within the solar system, which naturally decrease or increase our time. In other words, Voyager 1 crossed the heliosphere at a time and location where the diameter was smaller. Due to this., it was able to cross it more quickly.
But why do these changes occur in the diameter of the heliosphere bubble? According to scientists that changes in the diameter of heliosphere bubble are attributed to the solar cycle, which can be considered as the weather of the Sun in a way. In which every 11 years period, the Sun fluctuates in intensity, accompanied by occasional changes in the solar wind and the magnetic field of the Sun.
And because where is suddenly realized that the heliosphere is formed by the solar wind and the Sun’s magnetic field. That is why changes occurring in them also result in changes in his diameter.
An example, it is somewhat similar to the Sun breathing where sometimes it’s magnetic field and solar waves become significantly stronger, expanding the heliosphere to greater distances, while at other times due to the low energy, this heliosphere bubble shrinks.
