Voyager Satellites Find Magnetic Bubbles at Edge of Solar System
- Visualizations by:
- Walt Feimer
- View full credits
This discovery has prompted a complete revision of what the heliosheath region looks like. The smooth, streamlined look is gone, replaced with a bubbly, frothy outer layer.
More animations about the Voyager magnetic bubbles discovery are available.

Artist's interpretation depicting the new view of the heliosphere. The heliosheath is filled with "magnetic bubbles" (shown in the red pattern) that fill out the region ahead of the heliopause. In this new view, the heliopause is not a continuous shield that separates the solar domain from the interstellar medium, but a porous membrane with fingers and indentations.
Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/ CI Lab

Artist's interpretation of the "standard" old view of the heliosphere: the magnetic field lines in the heliosheath connect back to the sun everywhere (some field lines are shown in red and blue). In this view, scientists expected the heliopause, the boundary that separates where the solar wind dominates from where the interstellar wind dominates, to be smooth and the associated smooth magnetic field to shield us from the interstellar medium and galactic cosmic rays.
Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/ CI Lab
For More Information
See http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/heliosphere-surprise.html
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab
Animators
- Walt Feimer (KBRwyle) [Lead]
- Chris Smith (KBRwyle)
- Michael Lentz (KBRwyle)
- Tom Bridgman (GST)
Writers
- Karen Fox (ADNET)
- Scott Wiessinger (KBRwyle)
Video editor
- Scott Wiessinger (KBRwyle)
Scientist
- Merav Opher (Boston University)
Producer
- Scott Wiessinger (KBRwyle)
Narrator
- Scott Wiessinger (KBRwyle)
Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Tapes
This visualization originally appeared on the following tapes:- None