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Voyager 2 Probe Enters Interstellar Space
Posted on 12/10/18 at 7:35 pm
Posted on 12/10/18 at 7:35 pm
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For the second time in history, a human-made object has reached the space between the stars. NASA’s Voyager 2 probe now has exited the heliosphere – the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun.
Comparing data from different instruments aboard the trailblazing spacecraft, mission scientists determined the probe crossed the outer edge of the heliosphere on Nov. 5. This boundary, called the heliopause, is where the tenuous, hot solar wind meets the cold, dense interstellar medium. Its twin, Voyager 1, crossed this boundary in 2012, but Voyager 2 carries a working instrument that will provide first-of-its-kind observations of the nature of this gateway into interstellar space.
Voyager 2 now is slightly more than 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) from Earth. Mission operators still can communicate with Voyager 2 as it enters this new phase of its journey, but information – moving at the speed of light – takes about 16.5 hours to travel from the spacecraft to Earth. By comparison, light traveling from the Sun takes about eight minutes to reach Earth.
The most compelling evidence of Voyager 2’s exit from the heliosphere came from its onboard Plasma Science Experiment (PLS), an instrument that stopped working on Voyager 1 in 1980, long before that probe crossed the heliopause. Until recently, the space surrounding Voyager 2 was filled predominantly with plasma flowing out from our Sun. This outflow, called the solar wind, creates a bubble – the heliosphere – that envelopes the planets in our solar system. The PLS uses the electrical current of the plasma to detect the speed, density, temperature, pressure and flux of the solar wind. The PLS aboard Voyager 2 observed a steep decline in the speed of the solar wind particles on Nov. 5. Since that date, the plasma instrument has observed no solar wind flow in the environment around Voyager 2, which makes mission scientists confident the probe has left the heliosphere
Heliosphere
The heliosphere is the vast bubble-like region of space surrounding and created by the Sun. In plasma physics terms, this is the cavity formed by the Sun in the surrounding interstellar medium. The plasma "blown" out from the outer layers of the Sun, known as the solar wind, creates this bubble, filling it and maintaining it against the outside pressure of interstellar plasma, which permeates our galaxy. The solar wind flows outward from the Sun for billions of kilometres, far beyond even the region of Pluto, until it encounters the termination shock, where its motion slows abruptly.
For the second time in history, a human-made object has reached the space between the stars. NASA’s Voyager 2 probe now has exited the heliosphere – the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun.
Comparing data from different instruments aboard the trailblazing spacecraft, mission scientists determined the probe crossed the outer edge of the heliosphere on Nov. 5. This boundary, called the heliopause, is where the tenuous, hot solar wind meets the cold, dense interstellar medium. Its twin, Voyager 1, crossed this boundary in 2012, but Voyager 2 carries a working instrument that will provide first-of-its-kind observations of the nature of this gateway into interstellar space.
Voyager 2 now is slightly more than 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) from Earth. Mission operators still can communicate with Voyager 2 as it enters this new phase of its journey, but information – moving at the speed of light – takes about 16.5 hours to travel from the spacecraft to Earth. By comparison, light traveling from the Sun takes about eight minutes to reach Earth.
The most compelling evidence of Voyager 2’s exit from the heliosphere came from its onboard Plasma Science Experiment (PLS), an instrument that stopped working on Voyager 1 in 1980, long before that probe crossed the heliopause. Until recently, the space surrounding Voyager 2 was filled predominantly with plasma flowing out from our Sun. This outflow, called the solar wind, creates a bubble – the heliosphere – that envelopes the planets in our solar system. The PLS uses the electrical current of the plasma to detect the speed, density, temperature, pressure and flux of the solar wind. The PLS aboard Voyager 2 observed a steep decline in the speed of the solar wind particles on Nov. 5. Since that date, the plasma instrument has observed no solar wind flow in the environment around Voyager 2, which makes mission scientists confident the probe has left the heliosphere
Heliosphere
The heliosphere is the vast bubble-like region of space surrounding and created by the Sun. In plasma physics terms, this is the cavity formed by the Sun in the surrounding interstellar medium. The plasma "blown" out from the outer layers of the Sun, known as the solar wind, creates this bubble, filling it and maintaining it against the outside pressure of interstellar plasma, which permeates our galaxy. The solar wind flows outward from the Sun for billions of kilometres, far beyond even the region of Pluto, until it encounters the termination shock, where its motion slows abruptly.
Posted on 12/10/18 at 7:36 pm to DavidTheGnome
Far out. Would be unbelievable to get those views.
Posted on 12/10/18 at 7:37 pm to Honest Tune
You would see a lot of nothing
Posted on 12/10/18 at 7:38 pm to djangochained
We are talking space here, not Nebraska.
Posted on 12/10/18 at 7:39 pm to DavidTheGnome
I voyaged into your mom with my probe last night
Posted on 12/10/18 at 7:44 pm to DavidTheGnome
Don't care. I just want to visit Uranus.
Posted on 12/10/18 at 7:46 pm to DavidTheGnome
Crazy how there is technology like this and we bitch about simple things. Imagine how much would get done if we treated everyone the same and worked together.
Posted on 12/10/18 at 7:49 pm to DavidTheGnome
That “Oort Cloud” does not sound inviting.
quote:
Posted on 12/10/18 at 7:50 pm to DavidTheGnome
If you have time, there are videos out there explaining all what went into launching the Voyagers. They had to get them off at a certain time, because the Planets were lined up in a way they could use the gravity of the planets to swing around and shoot them farther into space. It’s like a 5 rail bumper shot in pool, but over millions of miles and the bumpers could destroy the ball.
This post was edited on 12/10/18 at 8:10 pm
Posted on 12/10/18 at 7:50 pm to Honest Tune
quote:
Would be unbelievable to get those views.
It wouldn't be much different from the view from the ISS looking away from the Sun and Earth when the station is in shadow. The main one would be that the Sun would be an unusually bright pinprick of light. You wouldn't be able to see any of the planets of course.
Posted on 12/10/18 at 7:53 pm to soccerfüt
quote:
That “Oort Cloud” does not sound inviting.
Don't worry. That diagram has distances on a logarithmic scale, so given that it took 30-ish years to get to 100AU it'll take another 300-400 years to get to the cloud. It won't exit the cloud for for 250,000 years or such.
Posted on 12/10/18 at 7:55 pm to soccerfüt
quote:
That “Oort Cloud” does not sound inviting.
She's a cold, mean bitch.
Posted on 12/10/18 at 7:58 pm to foshizzle
quote:
That diagram has distances on a logarithmic scale, so given that it took 30-ish years to get to 100AU it'll take another 300-400 years to get to the cloud. It won't exit the cloud for for 250,000 years or such.
Humans will be the only ones to see voyager. We will most likely develop interstellar travel before that thing leaves the OORT cloud.
Posted on 12/10/18 at 8:18 pm to CoachChappy
quote:
We will most likely develop interstellar travel before that thing leaves the OORT cloud.
That might actually be true - and I'm saying that understanding how incredibly unlikely practical interstellar travel actually is.
Posted on 12/10/18 at 8:25 pm to DavidTheGnome
Gonna be fun when we create a warp speed drives and catch up to those things in 10 minutes.
Posted on 12/10/18 at 8:47 pm to foshizzle
quote:
and I'm saying that understanding how incredibly unlikely practical interstellar travel actually is.
and mankind is more likely to bomb itself back to the fricking Stone Age before it ever cooperates enough to accomplish interstellar travel
Posted on 12/10/18 at 8:50 pm to DavidTheGnome
And none of this has anything to do with LSU's recruiting class so tell me why I should give a frick again?
Posted on 12/10/18 at 8:54 pm to DavidTheGnome
Alright, alright, alright
Posted on 12/10/18 at 9:15 pm to CoachChappy
This animation shows the trajectory that voyager 2 has taken through the solar system since it was launched in 1977.
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