(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-11 14:36

Scientists revealed on Monday that our solar system is dented by the interstellar magnetic field of deep space based on the data gathered by NASA's long-running Voyager 2 spacecraft on its 30-year journey into the edge of the solar system.

An image from the edge of the Sun's visible surface, obtained with Solar Optical Telescope aboard the Japanese satellite Hinode that is providing new insight into solar dynamics, is seen in this undated handout. [Agencies]

Researchers have long suspected the solar system was bent, but never had direct evidence until now, said Voyager mission scientist Edward Stone of the California Institute of Technology, Monday.

"Voyager 2 entered the termination shock almost 1 billion miles closer within the southern hemisphere of the heliosphere of the solar system than Voyager 1 previously had," said Stone.

The termination shock is a turbulent area far beyond Pluto's orbit where the solar winds emanating from the sun are significantly slowed as they run up against the thin gas of interstellar space.

Solar winds blow in all directions from our sun, and shape what was once thought to be a bubble around the solar system called the heliosphere.

Scientists believe the unevenness is caused by the interstellar magnetic field that is pitched at an angle to the plane of the Milky Way.

"The magnetic field is disturbing an otherwise spherical surface," Stone said.