Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Cosmic Rays at Voyager 1

NASA ^ | September 08, 2012 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: Launched on a grand tour of the outer planets in 1977, by good fortune the twin Voyager spacecraft were also headed in the general direction of the Sun's motion relative to nearby stars. Thirty five years later, Voyager 1 appears to be nearing the boundary of the Sun's heliosphere and interstellar space. Of course the heliosphere is the realm of the Sun defined by the influence of the solar wind and the Sun's magnetic field. But how can you tell when your spacecraft crosses the boundary into interstellar space? One clue would be a sudden increase in the detection of energetic cosmic rays. The high energy particles stream through interstellar space accelerated by distant supernovae in our galaxy, but are normally deflected or slowed by the heliosphere. Covering a 12 month period (September 2011 to 2012), this plot does show a dramatic increase in the rate of cosmic ray particle detection in past months by the Voyager 1 spacecraft. Voyager 1 is now 18 billion kilometers (17 light hours, 122 Astronomical Units) from the Sun and may soon be the first spacecraft from Earth to enter the realm of the stars.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit: Voyager Project, NASA]

[SunkenCiv]

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[JRandomFreeper]

We are getting our value out of that device, it's still making science. 16+ light hours out. Awesome.

/johnny

[Nowhere Man]

It’s just amazing that we have the ability to send probes into interstellar space.

[TheZMan]

:) And it’s only taken us 35 years to get there.

[SunkenCiv]

We could do it again, it'll just take a while to get there. :') The next one will be a direct attempt (Voyager I just happens to have lasted long enough to send data; the nuclear battery aboard both Voyagers have lifespan measured in a few decades), and use some other kind of propulsion, at least for the upper stage. Using an orbiting laser or very large reflective array (or series thereof) to boil off propellant might be tried, or plasma drive. And the trip to, say, the outer Solar system might take under ten years. Taking a stab at getting a ship to Proxima Centauri could be done, but would take a little longer. :')

2.4690309E13 miles... V1 is moving about 37 mi/sec... 667305648649 seconds... over 21,000 years... piece of cake...

[SunkenCiv]

Hey, it’s still against the whole Constitution so, go sit in the corner! ;’)

[JRandomFreeper]

General welfare clause, adding to human knowledge.

Besides, you don't want me in the corner, I always managed to find trouble there. ;)

/johnny

[JRandomFreeper]

over 21,000 years

Morning or evening? (old soviet joke)

/johnny

[EternalVigilance]

[sten]

wait.. we’re still receiving data from voyager 1 ?

[Terry L Smith]

In the time before Muslim-coddling became a duty of NASA, we really DID know how to build things right!

[ronnie raygun]

We all need to thank the muslims for thier technology.

[blueunicorn6]

Rocket scientists.....ha!......they left out every other month. How smart can you be if you don’t know the months of the year? I’ll bet they show up for work on Sunday. “You mean it’s not Monday?”