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Old 13-January-2007, 11:58 PM
ozark1 ozark1 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnD View Post
Apparently, we are now passing through an area of interstellar space that has a low density of gas hydrogen. If and when we go back into normal density, the effect on the heliopause may be to force it back in towards the Sun, and increase the flux of cosmic waves, with unkown effects.
This is the subject of the Innovative Interstellar Explorer project, written about in this week's New Scientist: http://space.newscientist.com/articl...tep-on-it.html
See also: http://interstellarexplorer.jhuapl.edu/

John
Yes, John. We are still 100,000 years from Loop 1 though, so the effects won't be seen for a while. The increases from unpredictable components of the local fluff are going to be minor.