Posted on 11/04/2019 1:03:51 PM PST by BenLurkin
Voyager 2 has entered the interstellar medium (ISM), the region of space outside the bubble-shaped boundary produced by wind streaming outward from the sun. Voyager 2, thus, becomes the second human-made object to journey out of our sun's influence, following Voyager 1's solar exit in 2012.
[R]esearchers confirm Voyager 2's passage on Nov. 5, 2018, into the ISM by noting a definitive jump in plasma density detected by an Iowa-led plasma wave instrument on the spacecraft. The marked increase in plasma density is evidence of Voyager 2 journeying from the hot, lower-density plasma characteristic of the solar wind to the cool, higher-density plasma of interstellar space. It's also similar to the plasma density jump experienced by Voyager 1 when it crossed into interstellar space.
"In a historical sense, the old idea that the solar wind will just be gradually whittled away as you go further into interstellar space is simply not true," says Iowa's Don Gurnett, corresponding author on the study, published in the journal Nature Astronomy. "We show with Voyager 2—and previously with Voyager 1—that there's a distinct boundary out there. It's just astonishing how fluids, including plasmas, form boundaries."
Data from the Iowa instrument on Voyager 2 also gives additional clues to the thickness of the heliosheath, the outer region of the heliosphere and the point where the solar wind piles up against the approaching wind in interstellar space, which Gurnett likens to the effect of a snowplow on a city street.
The Iowa researchers say the heliosheath has varied thickness, based on data showing Voyager 1 sailed 10 AU farther than its twin to reach the heliopause, a boundary where the solar wind and the interstellar wind are in balance and considered the crossing point to interstellar space. Some had thought Voyager 2 would make tha
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
Ping.
A trip which would have been impossible without nuclear power.
It's ribbed, for our pleasure.
Vger will be coming back soon...
Nature loves BOUNDARIES, it seems, even on the interstellar level.
It seems to make a proper border wall the NATURAL Choice.
Is this all that I am.
Pretty impressive engineering to produce something electronic with such a long life.
NASA has never been the same since before the Muslim outreach...
And HOW is NASA going to clean up the nuclear residue? Future space explorers will be in danger due to our irresponsible use of this dangerous technology!
If we could only get more Democrats elected to Congress and to take back the White House these technological wrongs could be corrected!
/sarc
That gif screams boobies.
Just WOW. Mind bogglingly WOW.
Well, there is Strong Power in those too....
“Voyager 2, thus, becomes the second human-made object to journey out of our sun’s influence”
Uh?? Gravity doesn’t exist out there?
What’s the density of matter out there? “Low”, yes, how low?
How long does it take a signal to get back to Earth?
Bye Voyager. Behave yourself and say nice things about us.
Probably so long that one doesn’t need duplex...
“Pretty impressive engineering to produce something electronic with such a long life.”
.....
Betcha it didn’t have a Windows operating system. :-D
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