The twin Voyager probes have officially entered the space between the stars
In short: After decades of traveling through our solar system, NASA's Voyager 2 has crossed the heliopause. This boundary marks the end of the Sun's protective bubble and the beginning of the interstellar medium, making the probe only the second human-made object to ever reach this frontier.
The heliosphere is a protective bubble of magnetic fields and particles created by the solar wind. At its outer edge, the heliopause, this hot solar wind meets the cold, dense interstellar medium. While Voyager 1 famously crossed this boundary on August 25, 2012, mission scientists confirmed that Voyager 2 exited the heliosphere on November 5.
The evidence for this transition came primarily from Voyager 2's Plasma Science Experiment (PLS). This instrument, which ceased functioning on Voyager 1 in 1980, detected a sharp decline in the speed of solar wind particles. Since the November 5 transition, the PLS has observed no solar wind flow around the spacecraft. Additional data from the magnetometer, the low energy charged particle instrument, and the cosmic ray subsystem all support the conclusion that the probe has entered interstellar space.
The journey of these twin probes is a feat of extreme longevity. Launched in 1977—just 16 days apart—the spacecrafts were originally designed for a five-year mission. Today, they have operated for nearly 4 decades. Voyager 2 is currently more than 11 billion kilometers from Earth, and because signals travel at the speed of light, it takes approximately 16.5 hours for information to reach mission operators. As the probes continue to escape the solar system at speeds exceeding 3 astronomical units per year, NASA engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory continue to manage power levels to extend the mission's scientific life.
Opens the Intellect+ feed with this card first. Swipe up for the next one.
Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Voyager in Interstellar Space! On This Week @NASA
- Also: NASA Science — Voyager - NASA Science
- Also: NASA’s Voyager 2 Probe Enters Interstellar Space - NASA
- Also: The Little Probe That Could: Why Voyager 1 Matters, and Why NASA Just Switched Part of It Off
To cite this card, link to https://intellectplus.co.uk/app/space-voyager-in-interstellar-space-on-this-week-nasa.
How we source, check and correct cards: Editorial standards.
General information, not professional advice. Spotted an error? Flag the card or see corrections and complaints.
Intellect Plus is a visual educational discovery platform for exploring fascinating facts and ideas. Brain Food, Not Brain Rot. What is Intellect Plus?
Related
More in Space agencies · More in Space · Latest · A–Z · All topics
