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Voyager 1 space probe on the boarder of interstellar space

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  • Voyager 1 space probe on the boarder of interstellar space

    Voyager 1 reaches solar system's final frontier Wed May 25,12:00 PM ET



    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NASA's Voyager 1 has reached the final frontier of our solar system, having traveled through a turbulent place where electrically charged particles from the Sun crash into thin gas from interstellar space.


    Astronomers tracking the little spaceship's 26-year journey from Earth believe Voyager 1 has gone through a region known as termination shock, some 8.7 billion miles from the Sun, and entered an area called the heliosheath.

    "Voyager 1 has entered the final lap on its race to the edge of interstellar space," Edward Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology, said in a statement released Tuesday.

    Voyager watchers theorized last November that the craft might be reaching this bumpy region of space when the charged solar particles known as the solar wind seemed to slow down from a top speed of 1.5 million miles per hour.

    This was expected at the area of termination shock, where the solar winds were expected to decelerate as they bump up against gas from the space beyond our solar system. It is more than twice as distant as Pluto, the furthest planet in our system.

    By monitoring the craft's speed and the increase in the force of the solar wind, Voyager scientists now believe the craft has made it through the shock and into the heliosheath.

    Predicting the location of the termination shock was hard because the precise conditions in interstellar space are unknown and the termination shock can expand, contract and ripple, depending on changes in the speed and pressure of the solar wind.

    "Voyager's observations over the past few years show the termination shock is far more complicated than anyone thought," said Eric Christian, a scientist with NASA's Sun-Solar System Connection program.

    Voyager 1 and its twin spacecraft Voyager 2 were launched in 1977 on a mission to explore the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn. The pair kept going, however, and the mission was extended.

    Voyager 2 went on to explore Uranus and Neptune, the only spacecraft to have visited these outer planets. Both Voyagers are now part of the Voyager Interstellar Mission to explore the outermost edge of the Sun's domain.

    Both Voyagers are capable of returning scientific data from a full range of instruments, with adequate electrical power and attitude control propellant to keep operating until 2020.

    Wherever they go, the Voyagers each carry a golden phonograph record which bears messages from Earth, including natural sounds of surf, wind, thunder and animals. There are also musical selections, spoken greetings in 55 languages, along with instructions and equipment on how to play the record.


    GO, VOYAGER, GO!

  • #2


    Indeed!

    -=Vel=-
    The list of published books grows. If you're curious to see what sort of stories I weave out, head to Amazon.com and do an author search for "Christopher Hartpence." Help support Candle'Bre, a game created by gamers FOR gamers. All proceeds from my published works go directly to the project.

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    • #3
      But anyone who saw the first Star Trek movie knows it will be back.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Zkribbler
        But anyone who saw the first Star Trek movie knows it will be back.

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        • #5
          NASA makes things to last...

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          • #6
            cool

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            • #7
              "I have been reading up on the universe and have come to the conclusion that the universe is a good thing." -- Dissident
              "I never had the need to have a boner." -- Dissident
              "I have never cut off my penis when I was upset over a girl." -- Dis

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              • #8
                Yet another plea for spellchecking in thread titles.....
                Only feebs vote.

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                • #9
                  Wherever they go, the Voyagers each carry a golden phonograph record which bears messages from Earth, including natural sounds of surf, wind, thunder and animals. There are also musical selections, spoken greetings in 55 languages, along with instructions and equipment on how to play the record.
                  Good thing there are instructions and 55 different languages worth of greetings. Wouldn't want those aliens to be perplexed, now would we?
                  I changed my signature

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                  • #10
                    The real problem is that if any alien species finds those things, they'll know exactly where to go for an easy conquest.
                    “It is no use trying to 'see through' first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To 'see through' all things is the same as not to see.”

                    ― C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

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                    • #11
                      If Star Trek is correct, Verger will be home in 200 years.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by pchang
                        The real problem is that if any alien species finds those things, they'll know exactly where to go for an easy conquest.
                        Canada?

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                        • #13
                          Does anyone know how fast it is now going?

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                          • #14
                            Fast...it has achieved 'Britney' speed.

                            I think it was a really stupid putting our address on the things. We have no idea who will end up with them.
                            Long time member @ Apolyton
                            Civilization player since the dawn of time

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                            • #15
                              Calling that the border of interstellar space is pretty much stupid, since the Outer Oort Cloud, home of comets, reaches a thousand times further out.

                              As for aliens, anyone within 50ly already know of our radio broadcasts.
                              Why can't you be a non-conformist just like everybody else?

                              It's no good (from an evolutionary point of view) to have the physique of Tarzan if you have the sex drive of a philosopher. -- Michael Ruse
                              The Nedaverse I can accept, but not the Berzaverse. There can only be so many alternate realities. -- Elok

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