Posted on 12/10/2018 10:27:35 AM PST by ETL
Voyager 2 has entered interstellar space. The spacecraft slipped out of the huge bubble of particles that encircles the solar system on November 5, becoming the second ever human-made craft to cross the heliosphere, or the boundary between the sun and the stars.
Coming in second place is no mean achievement. Voyager 1 became the first spacecraft to exit the solar system in 2012. But that craft’s plasma instrument stopped working in 1980, leaving scientists without a direct view of the solar wind, hot charged particles constantly streaming from the sun (SN Online: 9/12/13). Voyager 2’s plasma sensors are still working, providing unprecedented views of the space between stars.
“We’ve been waiting with bated breath for the last couple of months for us to be able to see this,” NASA solar physicist Nicola Fox said at a Dec. 10 news conference at the American Geophysical Union meeting in Washington, D.C.
NASA launched the twin Voyager spacecraft in 1977 on a grand tour of the solar system’s planets (SN: 8/19/17, p. 26). After that initial tour was over, both spacecraft continued travelling through the bubble of plasma that originates at the sun.
“When Voyager was launched, we didn’t know how large the bubble was, how long it would take to get [to its edge] and whether the spacecraft could last long enough to get there,” said Voyager project scientist Edward Stone of Caltech.
For most of Voyager 2’s journey, the spacecraft’s Plasma Science Experiment measured the speed, density, temperature, pressure and other properties of the solar wind. But on November 5, the experiment saw a sharp drop in the speed and the number of solar wind particles that hit the detector each second. At the same time, another detector started picking up more high-energy particles called cosmic rays that originate elsewhere in the galaxy.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
I thought the Klingons used it as target practice in one if the movies .
It was in ST: TMP — http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Klingon_Fight_with_V%27ger
More like V’Ger swept them away with a backhand.
If the Klingons would have had a bald hot chick they would have fared much better.
(side mote: Persis Khambatta sadly died at age 49 of a massive heart attack).
Don't they mean 3.6° Kelvin?
Works good, lasts a long time. For sure, not made in China.
Meh - never mind; I did a little reading on hydrazine. I wonder though how they are keeping it at temperature for so long...
Actually a movie based on the return of Voyager I thought was pretty interesting.
Yes, so he could give NASA something else to do.
I saw this earlier on a European website which took the information from NASA but had "18 billion kilometers." They didn't read the fine print.
How many feet-per-second is that? ;)
etl,
thanks for the #3 posting graphic of Voyager2 facts.
So i guess it has traveled 16.5 ‘light-hours’ .....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.