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

Discussion in 'Other Off Topic Forum' started by Ryan S., May 26, 2005.

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  1. Ryan S.

    Ryan S. Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #1 Ryan S., May 26, 2005
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    Voyager 1 reaches solar system's final frontier Wed May 25,12:00 PM ET



    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.

    More information and images can be found online at http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe...voyager_agu.htm l
     
  2. TexasF355F1

    TexasF355F1 Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    #2 TexasF355F1, May 26, 2005
    That's pretty interesting.
     
  3. wax

    wax Five Time F1 World Champ
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    #3 wax, May 26, 2005
    As much as I'd prefer our oceans be explored over space any day of the week - that's stellar er, interstellar. At what point does theory end and hypotheses begin for this craft?
     
  4. Sfumato

    Sfumato F1 World Champ

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    #4 Sfumato, May 26, 2005
    I think they swapped parts between V1 and V2, and Piper must be involved somehow.
    At least there are rings around Uranus....
     
  5. DGS

    DGS Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    #5 DGS, May 27, 2005
    Most of the particles flying around the solar system run a leisurely 50kps or so, relative to the sun. In theory, interstellar junk travels at all sorts of random velocities. An examination of the boundary layer between the two will be interesting.

    But odds are, if the theory is correct, that once in "real" interstellar space, Voyager's electronics will have the lifespan of a bunny rabbit in a shotgun blast, as interstellar particles slam through it at relativistic speeds.
     
  6. WILLIAM H

    WILLIAM H Three Time F1 World Champ

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    #6 WILLIAM H, May 27, 2005
    Thats very cool :) Our 1st Interstellar adventure :)

    I wish the NASA of the 21st C was at least 1/2 as ambitious as the Nasa of the 1960's
     
  7. ryalex

    ryalex Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #7 ryalex, May 27, 2005
    Have they launched anything else with updated technology on a similar cross-system mission?

    It would be interesting to see what we could get back now with modern cameras and measurement instruments.
     
  8. MikeC

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    #8 MikeC, May 27, 2005
    DG, sounds like you know what you are talking about; any reading you could recommend in this area (boundary layer theories) for an interested layperson?

    (What a neat place FerrariChat is! What a collection of people!)
     
  9. Horsefly

    Horsefly F1 Veteran

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    #9 Horsefly, May 27, 2005
    The latest message received from the Voyager 1 spacecraft just arrived and reads as follows:

    HAVE SEARCHED ENTIRE KNOWN GALAXY STOP AM STARTING SEARCH OF INTERSTELLAR SPACE STOP HAVE NOT YET DISCOVERED REAL KILLERS OF OJS WIFE STOP RUNNING OUT OF SUSPECTS AND SEARCHABLE TERRITORY STOP PLEASE ADVISE STOP END TRANSMISSION
     
  10. DGS

    DGS Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    #10 DGS, May 28, 2005
    None that aren't in boxes at the moment. I don't really remember where I picked up some of this stuff. Maybe PBS Nova ;) I did pick up a few books at the university bookstore on a vacation in Amsterdam a while back.

    (Now that's a real nerd: goes to Amsterdam on holliday, sits in a sidewalk cafe, sipping Heinekin, and reading up on superconductor physics. ;) ("Who threw the first punch, Scotty?") :D)

    These days, I'd suggest http://www.google.com/

    But then, I'm a nerd. :D
     
  11. jsa330

    jsa330 F1 World Champ
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    #11 jsa330, May 28, 2005
    William...remember "V'ger" from the first, 1979-vintage Star Trek movie?
     
  12. WILLIAM H

    WILLIAM H Three Time F1 World Champ

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    #12 WILLIAM H, May 28, 2005
    of course, that was a cool movie, Only Wrath of Khan was better
     
  13. jsa330

    jsa330 F1 World Champ
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    #13 jsa330, May 28, 2005
    Of the movies starring the original cast, I liked "Star Trek 4--The Voyage Home".
     
  14. MikeC

    MikeC Rookie

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    #14 MikeC, May 31, 2005
    I understand completely; I'm a proto-nerd; I just ordered from Amazon my beach reading this year - a new copy of "Godel, Escher, Bach" to replace my old battered one that I gave to somebody a few years back. GUARANTEED to draw curious stares from your fellow beach denizens. ;) Past years' selections included "Search for Schrodinger's Cat" and "Flatland." Oddly enough, none of the Hawaiian Tropic contestants come up to me and say "Theoretical physics? How cool!"
     

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