Get Ready, Because Voyager I Is *This Close* to Leaving Our Solar System

The Atlantic ^ | June 13, 2012 | Rebecca J. Rosen

[C19fan]

ast week, in the corners of the Internet devoted to outer space, things started to get a little, well, hot. Voyager 1, the man-made object farthest away from Earth, was encountering a sharp uptick in the number of a certain kind of energetic particles around it. Had the spacecraft become the first human creation to "officially" leave the solar system?

It's hard to overstate how wild an accomplishment this would be: A machine, built here on Earth by the brain- and handiwork of humans, has sailed from Florida, out of Earth's orbit, beyond Mars, beyond the gas giants of Jupiter and Saturn, and may now have left the heliosphere -- tiny dot in the universe beholden to our sun. Had it really happened? How would we know?

[C19fan]

Looking forward to Voyager's return as V'Ger.

[Army Air Corps]

Space Ping.

[cripplecreek]

I say it hasn’t left the solar system till it passes the Ort cloud which it won’t even reach for thousands of years.

[Charles Henrickson]

beyond the gas giants of Jupiter and Saturn. . . .

Beyond the gas giant of Uranus?

[massgopguy]

Here’s hoping it doesn’t come back.

[Roccus]

Ping

[Lazamataz]

I'm looking forward to the bald chick.

[ctdonath2]

Yup, just as the headline says. *this close* = thousands of years.

:-)

[cripplecreek]

I don't think its even reached the outer extent of Pluto's orbit yet.

[Dead Corpse]

Pretty cool. I say we build another ship, even faster, and see if we can catch up to it.

[Doc Savage]

Wolowitz isn’t far behind!

[cripplecreek]

Current location.

[Cowman]

Pretty cool. I say we build another ship, even faster, and see if we can catch up to it.

OK, But only if we paint it orange and put a Confederate battle flag on top and "01" on the sides.

[Jack Hydrazine]

It’ll be interesting to see what happens to Voyager 1 when it leaves the heliopause. Will the interstellar medium/stellar wind have an adverse effect on it?

[cripplecreek]

As of yesterday the New Horizons craft is less than 9 AU from its Pluto flyby. In August the Curiosity rover is due to land on mars.

[fishtank]

This is awful.

It does absolutely nothing to make the Muslim planet feel better about itself.

/sarc
planet = “world”

[762X51]

Looking forward to Voyager's return as V'Ger

Or as V'Giny

[P.O.E.]

The solar system is just an elaborate sound stage the CIA zapped with a shrink ray and stores in a mason jar at Area 51.

[martin_fierro]

Get Ready, Because Voyager I Is *This Close* to Leaving Our Solar System

She's been saying this for years. Drama queen. Talk about an opus!

[Mich Patriot]

"I'm looking forward to the bald chick."

Yeah, but for all you know, she may EAT you (and not in a good way). Also, exactly how bald is she I wonder?