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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 7:39 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 7:54 pm to DavidTheGnome
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 8:50 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 9:26 pm to DavidTheGnome
And here we are stuck under the sun's thumb, with no access to any of those sweet galactic cosmic rays.
Posted on 12/10/18 at 9:32 pm to DavidTheGnome
One of the more intimidating take aways from the info you provided is that in all those years it is still only as far away as light travels in 16.5 hours.
Posted on 12/10/18 at 11:06 pm to DavidTheGnome
I just sent my offer to NASA volunteering my body to ride on the next trip. I’ll take a few million bucks a year until I’m about 70 or terminally ill. Freeze me and blast me off. Y’all need me to bring back anything from the other side of the Milky Way while I’m in the neighborhood?
Posted on 12/10/18 at 11:13 pm to DavidTheGnome
How is “data” sent from the probe back to earth when this probe is billions of miles away?
Posted on 12/10/18 at 11:22 pm to DavidTheGnome
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