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a big surprise from the edge of the

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solar system presented by science at

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nasa

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where no one has gone before gliding

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silently toward the stars nine billion

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miles from earth they are beaming back

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news from the most distant unexplored

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reaches of the solar system

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mission scientists say the probes have

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just sent back some very big news indeed

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it's bubbly out there

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the voyager probes have entered a

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strange realm of frothy magnetic bubbles

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says marav offer of boston university

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this is very surprising

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the bubbles are large about 100 million

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miles wide so it takes the speedy probes

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a whole year just across a few of them

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voyager 1 entered the foam zone in 2007

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and voyager 2 followed about a year

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later

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at first

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researchers didn't understand what the

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voyagers were sensing but now they have

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a good idea

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the sun's magnetic field extends all the

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way to the edge of the solar system

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explains offer

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because the sun spins its magnetic field

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becomes twisted and wrinkled

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a bit like a ballerina skirt

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far far away from the sun where the

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voyagers are now the folds of the skirt

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bunch up

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when a magnetic field gets severely

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folded like this interesting things can

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happen

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lines of magnetic force crisscross and

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reconnect

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the crowded folds of the skirt

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reorganize themselves sometimes

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explosively into foamy magnetic bubbles

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we never expected to find such a foam at

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the edge of the solar system but there

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it is says offers colleague astronomer

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jim drake of the university of maryland

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drake says they are still trying to wrap

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their minds around the implications of

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the finding

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one consequence has to do with cosmic

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rays

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accelerated to nearly light speed by

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distant black holes and supernova

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explosions when these microscopic

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cannonballs try to enter the solar

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system they have to fight through the

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sun's magnetic field to reach the inner

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planets

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the magnetic bubbles turn out to be our

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first line of defense against cosmic

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rays points out over we haven't figured

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out yet whether this is a good thing or

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not

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on one hand the bubbles would seem to be

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a very porous shield allowing many

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cosmic rays through the gaps

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on the other hand cosmic rays could get

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trapped inside the bubbles which would

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make them a very good shield indeed

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we'll probably discover which is correct

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as the voyagers proceed deeper into the

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froth says offer this is just the

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beginning and i predict more surprises

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ahead

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for more information about places no one