Interstellar winds appear to have changed direction, and scientists aren't certain why. (NASA/Goddard/Adler/University of Chicago/Wesleyan University / September 6, 2013)
"This result is really stunning," said Dave McComas, study coauthor and principal investigator for NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft.
"Previously we thought the very local interstellar medium was very constant, but these results show just how dynamic the solar system's interaction is," McComas said in a statement. Our heliosphere, which is inflated like a balloon by the sun's solar winds, deflects powerful cosmic rays, much the way the earth's magnetic field shields us from much of the sun's radiation. But the heliosphere doesn't block everything. Certain uncharged particles from interstellar space, such helium atoms, can enter and be tracked by spacecraft.
The heliosphere is currently moving through a vast interstellar cloud that is formally called the "local interstellar cloud" but has also been dubbed the "local fluff."
