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Re:Solar System Has a Tail, Just Like a Comet by ihsw on Sunday July 14, 2013 @02:53PM (#6041756)
Planets also have 'tails' in that sense as well.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_Shock

Also, here is the original NASA.gov article that the article is quoting:

http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-s-ibex-provides-first-view-...

Re:Solar System Has a Tail, Just Like a Comet by qrybam on Sunday July 14, 2013 @02:50PM (#6041746)
I love hearing about new findings like this. Blows my mind how much there is to learn/discover every single time something like this comes out.
Re:Solar System Has a Tail, Just Like a Comet by mtgx on Sunday July 14, 2013 @02:00PM (#6041561)
If we're being spun by the super blackhole in the middle of the galaxy, then it kind of makes sense to have one.
Re:Solar System Has a Tail, Just Like a Comet by jemka on Sunday July 14, 2013 @03:07PM (#6041817)
>If we're being spun by the super blackhole in the middle of the galaxy, then it kind of makes sense to have one.

These 'tails' are not created by centrifugal forces, so the fact that solar system rotates around the center of the galaxy doesn't explain the tail.

Re:Solar System Has a Tail, Just Like a Comet by zspade on Sunday July 14, 2013 @03:27PM (#6041896)
Wouldn't it though, at least to a degree. If the solar system were moving through absolutely empty space there would be no external gravitational forces causing the exterior 'drag' resulting in a tail.
Re:Solar System Has a Tail, Just Like a Comet by archangel_one on Sunday July 14, 2013 @04:38PM (#6042149)
But wouldn't you expect these particles that we're moving through to be being spun by that black hole as well?
Re:Solar System Has a Tail, Just Like a Comet by leke on Sunday July 14, 2013 @06:11PM (#6042453)
Re:Solar System Has a Tail, Just Like a Comet by wfn on Sunday July 14, 2013 @06:58PM (#6042598)
While this is a nice video, it rests on a model that is not completely true to the point that the video which stands upon it is actually misleading. I refer you to the fine Bad Astronomy blog:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/03/04/vortex_m...

It is, of course, an interesting general perspective nonetheless.