For the last few years, we’ve heard report after report that
Voyager 1, launched from Earth in 1977 to explore the Solar System, had left
the heliosphere, the invisible magnetic and charged particle bubble in space
dominated by the Sun, and had encountered the heliopause, the point in space
where the Sun’s influence ends and interstellar space begins.
That may have finally actually happened, thanks to data
recorded by the probe in 2012 and 2013:
Per the folks at Space.com:
The density of the particles around Voyager 1 was 40 times
higher than scientists had previously observed when the space probe was still
in the outer layers of the heliosphere, the giant bubble of charged particles
and magnetic fields that surrounds the sun and the planets in our solar system.
Voyager 1 team members concluded that the spacecraft had exited the heliosphere
and entered a new cosmic realm. After researchers went back and looked at old
data, they concluded that Voyager 1 crossed into interstellar space on August
25, 2012.
Cool stuff.
Also, consider this: The data coming back to us from Voyager
1 is recorded on old-fashioned magnetic tape, then relayed to Earth. Magnetic
tape, capable of recording up to 64 megabytes of data. How robust must that
little probe be? Damn robust. The recorder is set to shut down in 2015, leaving
only direct communication with Earth possible – until the probe’s plutonium
power source dies out in about 2025.
It’s part of a small club of man-made objects that have
either left the Solar System or will within my lifetime.
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