Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, has reached a new milestone in its quest to leave the Solar System.
Now 17.4bn km (10.8bn miles) from home, the veteran probe has detected a distinct change in the flow of particles that surround it.
These particles, which emanate from the Sun, are no longer travelling outwards but are moving sideways.
It means Voyager must be very close to making the jump to interstellar space - the space between the stars.
Edward Stone, the Voyager project scientist, lauded the explorer and the fascinating science it continues to return 33 years after launch.
"When Voyager was launched, the space age itself was only 20 years old, so there was no basis to know that spacecraft could last so long,"
"We had no idea how far we would have to travel to get outside the Solar System. We now know that in roughly five years, we should be outside for the first time."
Dr Stone was speaking here at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, the largest gathering of Earth scientists in the world.
Particle bubble
Voyager 1 was launched on 5 September 1977, and its sister spacecraft, Voyager 2, on 20 August 1977.
The Nasa probes' initial goal was to survey the outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, a task completed in 1989.
They were then despatched towards deep space, in the general direction of the centre of our Milky Way Galaxy.
Sustained by their radioactive power packs, the probes' instruments continue to function well and return data to Earth, although the vast distance between them and Earth means a radio message now has a travel time of about 16 hours.
The newly reported observation comes from Voyager 1's Low-Energy Charged Particle Instrument, which has been monitoring the velocity of the solar wind.
This stream of charged particles forms a bubble around our Solar System known as the heliosphere. The wind travels at "supersonic" speed until it crosses a shockwave called the termination shock.
At this point, the wind then slows dramatically and heats up in a region termed the heliosheath. Voyager has determined the velocity of the wind at its location has now slowed to zero.
Racing onwards
"We have gotten to the point where the wind from the Sun, which until now has always had an outward motion, is no longer moving outward; it is only moving sideways so that it can end up going down the tail of the heliosphere, which is a comet-shaped-like object," said Dr Stone, who is based at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California.
This phenomenon is a consequence of the wind pushing up against the matter coming from other stars. The boundary between the two is the "official" edge of the Solar System - the heliopause. Once Voyager crosses over, it will be in interstellar space.
First hints that Voyager had encountered something new came in June. Several months of further data were required to confirm the observation.
"When I realized that we were getting solid zeroes, I was amazed," said Rob Decker, a Voyager Low-Energy Charged Particle Instrument co-investigator from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
"Here was Voyager, a spacecraft that has been a workhorse for 33 years, showing us something completely new again."
Voyager 1 is racing on towards the heliopause at 17km/s. Dr Stone expects the cross-over to occur within the next few years.
Although launched first, Voyager 2 was put on a slower path and is currently just over 14bn km from Earth.
QuoteSustained by their radioactive power packs, the probes' instruments continue to function well and return data to Earth, although the vast distance between them and Earth means a radio message now has a travel time of about 16 hours.
Hell of a way to go for an upgrade!!
Bet Domino Pizza's still deliver there tho,
but the guarantee of delivery time might just suffer a little. :D
Yeah, thats 16 Light Hours !
Quote from: Twisteruk on Dec 15, 06:09 AM 2010
Yeah, thats 16 Light Hours !
.............and going against the tide!!
Sun's rays coming one way, radio transmitt going the other- jeessss, amazing technology, and 20+ years old too.
i wonder if it will ever 'bump' into something out there?
Yep 33 Years old !!
We will "bump" into something one day
There are Earth type Planets out there that are over 1 Billion Years older than Earth..........Life has come and gone on them many times
And I bet there was a Jordan on everyone of them too!! he he.
Wicked aren't eye. :P
(great post mate)
Twisters Riddle for Xmas eh? ?
I miss them- :'(
WOW...
Just wow...
Space...
The final frontier...
Amazing.
But of course we know the ultimate fate of Vger.
Quote from: Mikeo on Dec 15, 12:32 PM 2010
Amazing.
But of course we know the ultimate fate of Vger.
Yep...Sadly, the same as ours...
Fascinating post, Twister. Thanks for posting it.
Like you, I believe there's intelligent life 'out there'.
The ones 'out there' have yet to find intelligent life on this planet...Look at what we're doing to it...
Quote from: esoito on Dec 16, 03:35 AM 2010
Fascinating post, Twister. Thanks for posting it.
Like you, I believe there's intelligent like 'out there'.
The ones 'out there' have yet to find intelligent life on this planet...Look at what we're doing to it...
Thank you :)
Yes, there has to be life out there somewhere ! I would love to meet it in my Life Time....... I always said I was born 2000 Years too soon :D
It means Voyager must be very close to making the jump to interstellar space - the space between the stars
Yep, there she goes !!!
Quote from: esoito on Dec 16, 03:35 AM 2010
Fascinating post, Twister. Thanks for posting it.
Like you, I believe there's intelligent life 'out there'.
The ones 'out there' have yet to find intelligent life on this planet...Look at what we're doing to it...
Don't worry u won't meet those guys. they do exist but they are so far away from us. And there lots of them, and there could be even lots of planets which are just copies our our Earth with all the same people and the same languages and the same destinies. And some are partially the same and partially different. That's universe, it has no end, so there is no end of possibilities what's really going on there. Maybe there is some monster out there milliards of milliards of milliards kilometers from here playing Martingale in roulette and he finally meets 50 red in a row, maybe first or second time in the history of the Universe, and he says to himself: "O-o, today is not my day"
In Infinity everything is possible
not everything. there are always strict rules like probability or gravity. i don't believe that on any planet in universe heavy things just fly in the air or roulette gives them every day 100 blacks in a row, then 120 reds. unless it is very biased of course. ;D
Well I disagree.
i agree
to disagree ;D
Thats Cool :)
yeah...winter is here...
So is Summer
i thought u are in UK, but u r in Australia? where everything is upside down? ;D
everything is upsidedown back to front insideout, it doesn't stop. A bit like Infinity Lol
Quote from: iggiv on Jan 14, 11:02 AM 2011
Not everything. there are always strict rules like probability or gravity. I don't believe that on any planet in universe heavy things just fly in the air or roulette gives them every day 100 blacks in a row, then 120 reds. unless it is very biased of course. ;D
Beliefs. We all have them. I even believe the opposite to you. Here're some of the reasons why:
It was originally thought that, aerodynamically, the bumblebee should not be able to fly. But nobody told the bumblebee -- it flies perfectly well.
In fact, these days, there's a better understanding of the 'lift' caused by different types of airflow.
And, of course, on some planets there might well be life but not 'air'as we understand it.
The alternative might be denser and better able to support 'heavy things' (bearing in mind the word 'heavy' is a function of whatever gravity exists on that planet.)
So talking in black and white categorical statements and absolutes is often quite risky.
So whereas I believe you to be wrong I also believe that I am quite likely wrong, too! ;)
link:://:.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090507194511.htm (link:://:.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090507194511.htm)
And I disagree, too.