N2NH
06-28-2013, 12:19 AM
Voyager 1 is still inside the Solar System, but according to NASA, on it's outer fringes...
Data from Voyager 1, now more than 11 billion miles from the sun, suggest the spacecraft is closer to becoming the first human-made object to reach interstellar space.
Research using Voyager 1 data and published in the journal Science Thursday provides new detail on the last region the spacecraft will cross before it leaves the heliosphere, or the bubble around our sun, and enters interstellar space. Three papers describe how Voyager 1's entry into a region called the magnetic highway resulted in simultaneous observations of the highest rate so far of charged particles from outside heliosphere and the disappearance of charged particles from inside the heliosphere.
Scientists have seen two of the three signs of interstellar arrival they expected to see: charged particles disappearing as they zoom out along the solar magnetic field and cosmic rays from far outside zooming in. Scientists have not yet seen the third sign, an abrupt change in the direction of the magnetic field, which would indicate the presence of the interstellar magnetic field.
I hope that I live long enough to see how this turns out. It is excruciatingly slow to see how long this is taking.
Voyager 1 Explores Final Frontier of Our 'Solar Bubble' (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/voyager20130627.html)
NASA's Voyager Page (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/index.html)
Data from Voyager 1, now more than 11 billion miles from the sun, suggest the spacecraft is closer to becoming the first human-made object to reach interstellar space.
Research using Voyager 1 data and published in the journal Science Thursday provides new detail on the last region the spacecraft will cross before it leaves the heliosphere, or the bubble around our sun, and enters interstellar space. Three papers describe how Voyager 1's entry into a region called the magnetic highway resulted in simultaneous observations of the highest rate so far of charged particles from outside heliosphere and the disappearance of charged particles from inside the heliosphere.
Scientists have seen two of the three signs of interstellar arrival they expected to see: charged particles disappearing as they zoom out along the solar magnetic field and cosmic rays from far outside zooming in. Scientists have not yet seen the third sign, an abrupt change in the direction of the magnetic field, which would indicate the presence of the interstellar magnetic field.
I hope that I live long enough to see how this turns out. It is excruciatingly slow to see how long this is taking.
Voyager 1 Explores Final Frontier of Our 'Solar Bubble' (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/voyager20130627.html)
NASA's Voyager Page (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/index.html)