# Voyager near Solar System's edge



## Brian G Turner (Dec 15, 2010)

Love the Voyager missions - personally count them as one of the modern wonders of the world for their ambition, challenge, and the way they have totally changed our worldview:

BBC News - Voyager near Solar System's edge



> 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.
> 
> ...


----------



## Parson (Dec 15, 2010)

Cool! Thanks for the link.


----------



## Nik (Dec 15, 2010)

Be interesting if the sun's influence expands again as we move towards next solar max...


----------



## sloweye (Dec 15, 2010)

I follow the missions via nasa's app, but you get a little more in these articals. cheers


----------



## Deathpool (Dec 16, 2010)

That's interesting. I could just image what it would be like if mankind achieved interstellar travel during my lifetime, but what's the chance of that happening?


----------



## Star Girl (Dec 17, 2010)

This is very interesting, I'd like to read more about when it leaves our Solar System.


----------



## Foxbat (Dec 17, 2010)

Frankly, I find this utterly amazing. We are finally _boldly going_ and hardly anybody takes any notice. This should be a major news item as far as I'm concerned. It's sad that such a major achievement both in travel and construction (it was built over 30 years ago) has caused nary a ripple.

They'll be sorry when V'Ger returns from the centre of the galaxy


----------



## thaddeus6th (Dec 17, 2010)

Don't be silly, Foxbat. That's about as likely as having two Lotus teams in F1 next season.

...wait a minute!

On topic: I read this with a lot of interest, and am surprised, somewhat, by the lack of coverage. It also serves to highlight why almost all sci-fi authors [with worlds far enough in the future] need a warp drive system.


----------



## mosaix (Jun 28, 2013)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23075332

_"It could be any day, but it could also be several more years."

         Ed Stone cannot say when the Voyager-1 spacecraft will leave the Solar System, but he believes the moment is close.

         The latest data from this extraordinary probe, reported in this week's Science journal, suggests it is surfing right on the very edge of our Sun's domain._


----------



## Vertigo (Jun 28, 2013)

mosaix said:


> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23075332
> 
> _"It could be any day, but it could also be several more years."_
> 
> ...


 
And that's just the point really isn't it? We don't actually know where our own 'borders' are but this little fella will hopefully tell us (so long as the batteries last).


----------



## Velocius quam lucem (Jun 28, 2013)

Check this out - from (here)

Article on the _IBEX_ (*Interstellar Boundary Explorer*)



> Initial data revealed a previously unpredicted "very narrow ribbon that  is two to three times brighter than anything else in the sky".  Initial interpretations suggest that "the interstellar environment has  far more influence on structuring the heliosphere than anyone previously  believed".http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_Boundary_Explorer#cite_note-McComas-10 "No one knows what is creating the ENA (energetic neutral atoms) ribbon, but everyone agrees that it means the textbook picture of the heliosphere—in  which the solar system's enveloping pocket filled with the solar wind's  charged particles is plowing through the onrushing 'galactic wind' of  the interstellar medium in the shape of a comet—*is wrong*".http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_Boundary_Explorer#cite_note-13 The Sun is currently traveling through the Local Interstellar Cloud, and the heliosphere's size and shape are key factors in determining its shielding power from cosmic rays. Should IBEX detect changes in the shape of the ribbon, that could show how the heliosphere is interacting with the Local Fluff.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_Boundary_Explorer#cite_note-14 It has also observed ENA's from the Earth's magnetosphere.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_Boundary_Explorer#cite_note-ibex-4



I wonder how they will synthesize the data from these two - very different - sources. ( Voyager and IBEX).


----------



## Gary Compton (Jun 28, 2013)

I always loved the early Star Trek film twist on the story - Vger is looking for the creator - marvellous!


----------

