The Interstellar Wind Changed Direction Over The Last 40 Years

Friday, September 6, 2013 - 15:50 in Astronomy & Space

In the classic story "Mary Poppins", the lead character told the children she was caring for that she would stay until the wind changed. Things are a little different in Britain. In many parts of the US, the wind changes every five minutes, but she meant that there was a season (and a reason) she would remain and the wind would be a harbinger that her job was done and she would move on.  We might like to think that on a cosmic scale, things are more predictable than the weather in Kentucky but, if they are, it is only slightly. Researchers benefiting from data gathered by 11 spacecraft over four decades have determined that even the interstellar wind - the particles streaming into the solar system from interstellar space - changes direction. read more

Read the whole article on

More from

Latest Science Newsletter

Get the latest and most popular science news articles of the week in your Inbox! It's free!

Check out our next project, Biology.Net