Voyager 1 at the edge of our solar system

[Coast]

The final frontier: Voyager 1 at edge of solar system

A US spacecraft launched in 1977 has reached the final frontier at the edge of the Solar System.

Scientists say Voyager 1 has entered a "new region" of the Solar System which could be its gateway to interstellar space. The border region is described as a "magnetic highway" for outgoing charged particles from the sun and incoming particles from the stars.

"Although Voyager 1 still is inside the sun's environment, we now can taste what it's like on the outside because the particles are zipping in and out on this magnetic highway," said project scientist Dr Edward Stone, from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "We believe this is the last leg of our journey to interstellar space. Our best guess is it's likely just a few months to a couple of years away. The new region isn't what we expected, but we've come to expect the unexpected from Voyager."

Scientists are still gathering data from two instruments aboard the ancient spacecraft that measure charged particles. Voyager 1 and 2 were launched 16 days apart in 1977 on a "grand tour" of planets including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 1 is now the most distant human-made object, 11 billion miles from the sun. Signals from the probe take around 17 hours to reach Earth.

Voyager 2, lagging some way behind, is about nine billion miles from the sun. Both craft carry pictures and messages for any intelligent aliens that might intercept them as they journey between the stars. New results from Voyager 1 were presented at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-final-frontier-voyager-1-at-edge-of-solar-system-8382086.html

More reading:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/index.html

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/

[A.J]

It's intersting to hear astronomers/physicists differing view points in their definition of the 'edge of the solar system'.....Some say it's where the voyager probes are now, ie where interstellar wind negates solar wind, known as the Heliopause......or as some define, the edge is in fact the outer boundary of the Oort Cloud which is an approx distance of 1.5 light years away from the sun, which given velocity would take the Voyager probes several thousand years to reach,

[Polar Maritime]

Voyager 1 Hits Rumble Strips At the Edge of the Solar System

NASA’s oldest interstellar spacecraft is suddenly measuring changes more dramatic than any it has seen during its 35 year journey

Something strange is happening to the Voyager 1 spacecraft.

After 35 years of travel, NASA’s oldest interstellar spacecraft is now some 20 billion kilometres from the Sun. It’s easy to imagine that conditions in this isolated region of space would be quiet and calm but on 25 August, the spacecraft’s instruments suddenly went haywire, recording changes unlike anything it has seen throughout its long journey.

http://www.technolog...e-solar-system/

http://arxiv.org/abs/1212.0883

[frogesque]

Voyager 1 Hits Rumble Strips At the Edge of the Solar System

NASA’s oldest interstellar spacecraft is suddenly measuring changes more dramatic than any it has seen during its 35 year journey

Something strange is happening to the Voyager 1 spacecraft.

After 35 years of travel, NASA’s oldest interstellar spacecraft is now some 20 billion kilometres from the Sun. It’s easy to imagine that conditions in this isolated region of space would be quiet and calm but on 25 August, the spacecraft’s instruments suddenly went haywire, recording changes unlike anything it has seen throughout its long journey.

http://www.technolog...e-solar-system/

http://arxiv.org/abs/1212.0883

I note that the graph is a logarithmic scale. Numerical deviations will apear much larger as the average level drops off. It does seem however that Voyager is indeed about to go where no man made Earth object has ever gone before. May the force go with you little one!