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2018-12-11 Science & Technology
NASA’s Voyager 2 reaches interstellar space
[PRESSTV] NASA's Voyager 2 probe has left the protective bubble around the Sun and is flying through interstellar space, becoming the second human-made object to travel so far, the US space agency says.

The announcement came six years after its twin spacecraft, Voyager 1, broke the outer boundary of the heliopause, where the hot solar wind meets the cold, dense space between stars, known as the interstellar medium.

Voyager 2 is now more than 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) from Earth, having passed the boundary on November 5.

"This time is even better for us," said Nicky Fox, director of the heliophysics division at NASA, noting that one instrument, called the Plasma Science Experiment (PLS), is still functioning on Voyager 2.

"To have the Voyagers sending back information about the edge of the Sun's influence gives us an unprecedented glimpse of truly uncharted territory."

The same instrument on Voyager 1 stopped working in 1980.

The two spacecraft, which look like a combination of a satellite dish and an old television set with rabbit ear antennas, were launched in 1977 on a mission to explore planets in our solar system.

The twin probes have left the heliosphere, but have not yet left the solar system, "and won't be leaving anytime soon," NASA said in a statement.

"The boundary of the solar system is considered to be beyond the outer edge of the Oort Cloud, a collection of small objects that are still under the influence of the Sun's gravity."

NASA says it will take about 300 years for Voyager 2 to reach the inner edge of the Oort Cloud, and possibly 30,000 years to fly beyond it.

"We're looking forward to what we'll be able to learn from having both probes outside the heliopause," said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,.

Voyager 2 is officially NASA's longest-running mission.

The two spacecraft were designed to last five years and study Jupiter and Saturn.

"Both spacecraft are very healthy, if you consider them senior citizens," said Suzanne Dodd, director for the Interplanetary Network Directorate, as the science results were unveiled at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in the US capital.

Posted by Fred 2018-12-11 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11134 views ]  Top

#1 "The boundary of the solar system is considered to be beyond the outer edge of the Oort Cloud, a collection of small objects that are still under the influence of the Sun's gravity."

I guess the Chinese offered up that definition.
Posted by Procopius2k 2018-12-11 13:20||   2018-12-11 13:20|| Front Page Top

#2 Sometime about 2025 the nuclear batteries will stop providing enough power for the Voyagers to function. But still it is impressive that they have lasted this long.
Posted by magpie 2018-12-11 13:32||   2018-12-11 13:32|| Front Page Top

#3 Auf wiedersehen!

Posted by Vast Right Wing Conspiracy 2018-12-11 14:14||   2018-12-11 14:14|| Front Page Top

#4 Ah... the voyager craft. Carrying nudes with instructions how to get to our house.

Posted by DarthVader 2018-12-11 14:57||   2018-12-11 14:57|| Front Page Top

#5 ...you're going to need a bigger fence.
Posted by Procopius2k 2018-12-11 15:26||   2018-12-11 15:26|| Front Page Top

#6 ^ Dammit, all above, can't you see I'm trying to haz a SADs over here?

Twas Christmas, and all through the system...
A whisper, a hiss: "Pax vobiscum."
I put on My cap
For a long winter's nap,
Drifted off in the dark, and dismissed 'em.
Posted by Zenobia Floger6220 2018-12-11 16:29||   2018-12-11 16:29|| Front Page Top

#7 Ah... the voyager craft. Carrying nudes with instructions how to get to our house.

Sort of the original dicpics.
Posted by swksvolFF 2018-12-11 19:26||   2018-12-11 19:26|| Front Page Top

18:32 technochitlin
18:19 Angstrom
17:48 49 Pan
17:38 Lord Garth
17:29 alanc
17:09 BrerRabbit
16:13 Pancho Poodle8452
16:08 Beavis
16:08 Lord Garth
15:52 Lord Garth
15:28 trailing wife
15:26 Pancho Poodle8452
15:26 trailing wife
14:34 Frank G
14:28 Melancholic
14:27 NoMoreBS
14:14 swksvolFF
14:12 swksvolFF
13:54 mossomo
13:51 mossomo
13:50 NoMoreBS
13:50 Abu Uluque
13:44 Abu Uluque
13:41 NoMoreBS









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