The final frontier: Voyager 1 at edge of solar system
A US spacecraft launched in 1977 has reached the final frontier at
the edge of the Solar System.
Scientists say Voyager 1 has entered a “new region” of the Solar
System which could be its gateway to interstellar space.
The border region is described as a “magnetic highway” for outgoing
charged particles from the sun and incoming particles from the stars.
“Although Voyager 1 still is inside the sun's environment, we now can
taste what it's like on the outside because the particles are zipping in
and out on this magnetic highway,” said project scientist Dr Edward
Stone, from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
“We believe this is the last leg of our journey to interstellar
space. Our best guess is it's likely just a few months to a couple of
years away. The new region isn't what we expected, but we've come to
expect the unexpected from Voyager.”
Scientists are still gathering data from two instruments aboard the
ancient spacecraft that measure charged particles.
Voyager 1 and 2 were launched 16 days apart in 1977 on a “grand tour”
of planets including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 1 is
now the most distant human-made object, 11 billion miles from the sun.
Signals from the probe take around 17 hours to reach Earth.
Voyager 2, lagging some way behind, is about nine billion miles from
the sun.
- PA
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