00:03this blob may look like an organ from an alien creature but it's actually surrounding our solar
00:09system far beyond our solar system's edge lies a bubble of space made by the sun called the
00:15heliosphere it blocks cosmic rays and for years scientists believed it was shaped like a long
00:21tailed comet but using data from nasa missions a research team found it's shaped like a deflated
00:26croissant their 3d model showed two jets shooting out of the croissant center caused by the solar
00:31magnetic field the team analyzed data from nasa's interstellar boundary explorer mission which studied
00:37energetic neutral atoms as comic rays travel from the sun and towards the theoretical boundary
00:43that solar winds can't penetrate called heliopause they also examined data from nasa's cassini and
00:49new horizons mission and found solar wind interacted more with material from interstellar space the
00:54further it was from the sun the findings could help seek out life on other worlds by determining if
01:00other star systems have a similar bubble this study was published in the journal nature astronomy
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