Feeling the heat: Solar System set to enter hot galactic zone in maybe just a century

Quite interesting astronomical news today. Latest research suggests that the energetic neutral atoms' (ENA) Ribbon discovered last year interacting with the Heliosphere is at just a few hundred astronomical units (AUs), which is defined as the mean distance between the Earth and the Sun (roughly 8 light minutes or 150 million kilometers).

It seems that our Solar System will be entering that highly energetic area in the next century or so, with unclear implications. In principle it's something "normal" in the orbit of the Sun in the Milky Way but on the other hand it is something new for our experience and may also mean increased radiation.

More information at Science Daily.

Ref. S. Grzedzielski et al. A Possible Generation Mechanism For Theibexribbon From Outside The Heliosphere. The Astrophysical Journal, 2010. Pay per view.