NASA Holds Teleconference About Conditions At Edge Of Solar System

Dwayne Brown

Headquarters, Washington                                    

WASHINGTON -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT on Thursday, June 9, to discuss a new computer model that shows the edge of our solar system is not smooth, but filled with a turbulent sea of magnetic bubbles.

Based on Voyager data, the finding suggests we need to revise our picture of this previously unexplored region so critical for understanding how cosmic rays are created and reach near-Earth space. Galactic cosmic rays are of concern for human space travel, in particular during the quiet periods called the solar minimum.

The teleconference panelists are:

-- Arik Posner, Voyager program scientist, Heliophysics Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington

-- Merav Opher, assistant professor, Astronomy Department, Boston University

-- James F. Drake, professor of physics, University of Maryland, College Park

-- Edward C. Stone, Voyager project scientist, professor of physics, Caltech, Pasadena, Calif.

-- Eugene Parker, professor emeritus, Department of Physics, University of Chicago

To participate in the teleconference, reporters must contact Dwayne Brown at 202-358-1726 or dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov by 9 a.m. EDT on June 9 for dial-in instructions.

Supporting information for the briefing will be posted at http://www.nasa.gov/sunearth.

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live on the Web at http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio.

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