The Big Boundary
Listen now
Description
Our Sun is embedded in a very thin hot medium of gas that is moving at ~56,000 mph with respect to it. A portion of this interstellar medium is composed of charged particles that interact with the solar wind to form a massive interaction region at a distance three times greater than that of Pluto. In this talk we'll discuss the characteristics of the solar wind and interstellar plasma, how we believe they interact, and some of the ways we have tried to measure the interaction with spacecraft and from the Earth.
More Episodes
It is now possible to directly detect and image planets around other stars. This presentation will describe the instruments and techniques used to separate planet light from starlight and discuss some of the recent and exciting discoveries that have been made.
Published 11/05/14
Comet Siding Spring will pass by Mars on Oct. 19, 2014 at a distance of about 84,000 miles. The comet will zoom by Mars at the incredible speed of 126,000 mph and the atmosphere of Mars will be bombarded by gas molecules and dust in the comet's coma, depositing significant amounts of energy and...
Published 09/10/14
The vast Southern Ocean region surrounding the Antarctic continent is the only place in the global ocean where water upwells from more than two kilometers to the surface before sinking again. The deep of the Southern Ocean holds the key to the rate of warming of our atmosphere, because enormous...
Published 11/13/13