IBEX Shows a Slower Sun — And No Bow Shock

IBEX Shows a Slower Sun — And No Bow Shock: NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer has discovered that the Sun has no bow shock, overturning decades of scientific research.

(The heliosphere is a magnetic bubble that protects the solar system from interstellar space as the Sun plows its way through the galaxy. CREDIT: Southwest Research Institute)
“Scientists used to think that the Sun flies through space like a supersonic jet, which creates a pileup air in front of it called a bow shock. The result is a sonic boom heard on the ground below as the jet passes overhead. ”
“The Sun was thought to form a similar bow shock where the heliosphere, the vast magnetic bubble surrounding our planetary system, plows through the interstellar medium, the thin gas that floats between the stars. But a new study published online by Science this week turns that image on its head: now the Sun is looking less like a fighter jet and more like a tugboat.”
“So what does the new model look like? [Observations by NASA’s IBEX satellite] confirm that the Sun is still moving (albeit slowly) through the Local Interstellar Cloud, a fluff of higher density gas roughly 30 light-years ...