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Voyager 2 probe reaches solar system boundary
by New Scientist - Space
Reposted from:
http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn13029-voyager-2-probe-reaches-solar-system-boundary.html?feedId=online-news_rss20
18:25 10 December 2007
NewScientist.com news service
David Shiga
The termination shock lies at a boundary where the solar wind – made of charged particles from the Sun – suddenly falters as it feels pressure from gas in the interstellar medium (Illustration: NASA/Feimer)
The Voyager 2 spacecraft has crossed an important space frontier called the termination shock, and in a few years may become the first object made by humans to travel outside the solar system.
NASA's two Voyager spacecraft were launched in 1977 to tour the outer solar system. They are now far beyond the orbits of the outermost planets and heading towards interstellar space.
In 2004, the faster of the two spacecraft, Voyager 1, became the first human-made object to reach a boundary called the termination shock. There, the solar wind – made of charged particles from the Sun – suddenly falters as it feels pressure from gas in the interstellar medium lying outside the solar system.
But scientists missed observing the crucial moment because the sensitive radio dishes on Earth needed to hear the spacecraft's transmissions did not happen to be listening at the time.
That's because the dishes are in high demand for other missions, such as Cassini, and therefore cannot listen to the Voyagers around the clock. The Voyagers cannot store their observations onboard, so they are lost forever if they are not relayed to Earth as they are made.
Now, Voyager 2 has crossed the same boundary, and this time scientists were lucky enough to be listening when it happened.
Pushing the boundary
The spacecraft crossed the boundary on 30 August 2007 at a distance of 84 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun (1 AU is the distance between the Earth and Sun). By comparison, Pluto is now about 32 AU from the Sun.
"We were very lucky this time," Voyager chief scientist Edward Stone of Caltech in Pasadena, California, US, told New Scientist. "We have the first direct measure of the shock."
Voyager 2 actually crossed the boundary five times (and was directly observed making the passage three of those times). That is because the location of the termination shock is constantly changing in response to the Sun's activity. Plasma burps from the Sun called coronal mass ejections (CMEs) temporarily push the boundary outwards, for example, so that it washes back and forth over the spacecraft like a wave on the beach.
An instrument on the spacecraft measured the abrupt slowdown of the solar wind that defines the termination shock.
Sapped energy
But the shock did not look the way it was expected to. Instead of seeing a very abrupt drop, the spacecraft saw a gradual slowing of the solar wind ahead of each crossing, followed by a relatively small drop at the termination shock itself.
Mission scientists are not sure how to explain the gradual slowdown preceding the shock. But Stone says neutral atoms from beyond the termination shock may be interacting with the solar wind to produce speedy charged particles called cosmic rays, thereby sapping some of the wind's energy.
Voyager 1 and 2 are now both in a region of slower solar wind lying past the termination shock called the heliosheath. That region ends at the heliopause, which is where the solar wind ends and interstellar space begins.
One or the other of the spacecraft will become the first probe to reach interstellar space after a travel period Stone estimates to be about 7 to 10 years long. It is not clear which spacecraft will be first, even though Voyager 1 is about 20 AU farther from the Sun than its sister spacecraft.
Squashed solar system
Now, scientists know that the termination shock is 84 AU from the Sun in the direction Voyager 2 has traveled – 10 AU closer than in Voyager 1's direction. This confirms earlier measurements that suggested the solar system's boundaries are squashed in one direction because of the influence of the interstellar magnetic field. Depending on how squashed the heliopause is, Voyager 2 could leave the solar system first.
On the way, the Voyagers could help determine the source of mysterious radio emissions from the edge of the solar system, which may be the result of CMEs from the Sun crashing into the interstellar medium.
Gary Zank of the University of California in Riverside, US, who is not a member of the team, says the distant Voyagers are providing a unique opportunity to study the interaction of the solar wind with the interstellar medium.
"It's taken the Voyagers 30-odd years to get to this region of space," he told New Scientist. "It's a completely new regime. For the very first time we're really beginning to study how winds interact with the interstellar medium, and we're doing it in situ."
http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn13029-voyager-2-probe-reaches-solar-system-boundary.html?feedId=online-news_rss20
18:25 10 December 2007
NewScientist.com news service
David Shiga
The termination shock lies at a boundary where the solar wind – made of charged particles from the Sun – suddenly falters as it feels pressure from gas in the interstellar medium (Illustration: NASA/Feimer)
The Voyager 2 spacecraft has crossed an important space frontier called the termination shock, and in a few years may become the first object made by humans to travel outside the solar system.
NASA's two Voyager spacecraft were launched in 1977 to tour the outer solar system. They are now far beyond the orbits of the outermost planets and heading towards interstellar space.
In 2004, the faster of the two spacecraft, Voyager 1, became the first human-made object to reach a boundary called the termination shock. There, the solar wind – made of charged particles from the Sun – suddenly falters as it feels pressure from gas in the interstellar medium lying outside the solar system.
But scientists missed observing the crucial moment because the sensitive radio dishes on Earth needed to hear the spacecraft's transmissions did not happen to be listening at the time.
That's because the dishes are in high demand for other missions, such as Cassini, and therefore cannot listen to the Voyagers around the clock. The Voyagers cannot store their observations onboard, so they are lost forever if they are not relayed to Earth as they are made.
Now, Voyager 2 has crossed the same boundary, and this time scientists were lucky enough to be listening when it happened.
Pushing the boundary
The spacecraft crossed the boundary on 30 August 2007 at a distance of 84 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun (1 AU is the distance between the Earth and Sun). By comparison, Pluto is now about 32 AU from the Sun.
"We were very lucky this time," Voyager chief scientist Edward Stone of Caltech in Pasadena, California, US, told New Scientist. "We have the first direct measure of the shock."
Voyager 2 actually crossed the boundary five times (and was directly observed making the passage three of those times). That is because the location of the termination shock is constantly changing in response to the Sun's activity. Plasma burps from the Sun called coronal mass ejections (CMEs) temporarily push the boundary outwards, for example, so that it washes back and forth over the spacecraft like a wave on the beach.
An instrument on the spacecraft measured the abrupt slowdown of the solar wind that defines the termination shock.
Sapped energy
But the shock did not look the way it was expected to. Instead of seeing a very abrupt drop, the spacecraft saw a gradual slowing of the solar wind ahead of each crossing, followed by a relatively small drop at the termination shock itself.
Mission scientists are not sure how to explain the gradual slowdown preceding the shock. But Stone says neutral atoms from beyond the termination shock may be interacting with the solar wind to produce speedy charged particles called cosmic rays, thereby sapping some of the wind's energy.
Voyager 1 and 2 are now both in a region of slower solar wind lying past the termination shock called the heliosheath. That region ends at the heliopause, which is where the solar wind ends and interstellar space begins.
One or the other of the spacecraft will become the first probe to reach interstellar space after a travel period Stone estimates to be about 7 to 10 years long. It is not clear which spacecraft will be first, even though Voyager 1 is about 20 AU farther from the Sun than its sister spacecraft.
Squashed solar system
Now, scientists know that the termination shock is 84 AU from the Sun in the direction Voyager 2 has traveled – 10 AU closer than in Voyager 1's direction. This confirms earlier measurements that suggested the solar system's boundaries are squashed in one direction because of the influence of the interstellar magnetic field. Depending on how squashed the heliopause is, Voyager 2 could leave the solar system first.
On the way, the Voyagers could help determine the source of mysterious radio emissions from the edge of the solar system, which may be the result of CMEs from the Sun crashing into the interstellar medium.
Gary Zank of the University of California in Riverside, US, who is not a member of the team, says the distant Voyagers are providing a unique opportunity to study the interaction of the solar wind with the interstellar medium.
"It's taken the Voyagers 30-odd years to get to this region of space," he told New Scientist. "It's a completely new regime. For the very first time we're really beginning to study how winds interact with the interstellar medium, and we're doing it in situ."
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Posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 | PermalinkComments 1 - 42 of 42 |
Reload Comments | Back to Top | Page Numbers2. Comment #97869 by Diacanu on December 12, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Oh wow, I thought it had left when it passed Pluto.How long ago was that, 10, 15 years?
Who knew there was that much more solar system left? Damn.
Other Comments by Diacanu
3. Comment #97954 by Dr Benway on December 12, 2007 at 9:52 pm
But scientists missed observing the crucial moment because the sensitive radio dishes on Earth needed to hear the spacecraft's transmissions did not happen to be listening at the time.
Oops.
scientist1: Didn't you call the guy about the thing?
scientist2: No I thought you were going to do that.
Hey, how come an electronic gadget made in 1977 is still going without any maintenance and in an extremely harsh enviroment, yet the 8 month old hard drive in my laptop has bad sectors, and cell phones only last about a year or so?
Other Comments by Dr Benway
4. Comment #97957 by Don_Quix on December 12, 2007 at 10:00 pm
Sweet! Termination Shock! That's going to be the name of my new metal band ;)Go Voyager Go! Or should I say, V'GER. heheh.
Other Comments by Don_Quix
5. Comment #97960 by Russell's Teapot on December 12, 2007 at 10:05 pm
But scientists missed observing the crucial moment because the sensitive radio dishes on Earth needed to hear the spacecraft's transmissions did not happen to be listening at the time.
That's because the dishes are in high demand for other missions, such as Cassini, and therefore cannot listen to the Voyagers around the clock. The Voyagers cannot store their observations onboard, so they are lost forever if they are not relayed to Earth as they are made.
Next step: develop faster than light travel so that we can catch up with those signals ;)
Other Comments by Russell's Teapot
6. Comment #97961 by Don_Quix on December 12, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Seriously, this is really cool. I like how the Bow Shock looks like it is some fiery nuclear death blast in the graphic for the article. heheh. I imagine when Voyager gets there in the next few hundred years or so (actually I don't know how long it will take for it to get there) it won't be nearly as dramatic. And like Russell's Teapot said we will have hopefully caught up to it by then :)
We truly live in enlightened times, despite the ancient metaphysical bullshit we deal with daily. Jesus never sent shit to the edge of the solar system :D
Other Comments by Don_Quix
7. Comment #97971 by Cartomancer on December 12, 2007 at 11:08 pm
Maybe it will discover Russell's Teapot orbiting quietly around the sun some time in the next ten years... Other Comments by Cartomancer
8. Comment #97979 by clodhopper on December 13, 2007 at 12:14 am
If the Vgers are going into the heliopause, do you suppose they will get hot flushes? Other Comments by clodhopper
9. Comment #97989 by Quetzalcoatl on December 13, 2007 at 12:53 am
It may sound a little pretentious, but the fact that we're capable of sending things out there makes me very proud to be human.Dr B- I know you were joking, but even so- they built those probes to LAST. The conditions out there are unimaginably harsh. Those Nasa boys know what they're doing. Now if only they could fix the space shuttle...
Other Comments by Quetzalcoatl
10. Comment #97994 by Philip1978 on December 13, 2007 at 1:11 am
I am with Dr B on this one, my parents had a fridge that they bought in 1976 I think it packed up earlier this year - they dont make em like they used to!Seriously, this is an amazing achievement and I am also very proud to be human - from the amazing photos we get from Hubble to the outstanding distance the Voyager probes have gone, just a testimony to the things the NASA boys and girls are great at!
BRAVO!
Philip
Other Comments by Philip1978
11. Comment #97997 by Quetzalcoatl on December 13, 2007 at 1:18 am
Philip-I've already nabbed the link for my blog.
Without the Voyagers, there wouldn't have been missions like Cassini-Huygens, which has told us so much about Saturn and its moons. Not to mention the pictures!
Other Comments by Quetzalcoatl
12. Comment #98002 by Rational Thinking on December 13, 2007 at 1:28 am
Flipping fantastic - this made my morning. The NASA guys who designed Voyager should be extremely proud of themselves and the probes. Other Comments by Rational Thinking
13. Comment #98032 by alfonso on December 13, 2007 at 2:29 am
Awesome, makes one feel big and small at the same time. So much unlike religion, which makes people feel insignificant all the time.Other Comments by alfonso
14. Comment #98036 by BAEOZ on December 13, 2007 at 2:43 am
Now if only they could fix the space shuttle...
God, if he existed couldn't fix the space shuttle. It's the very definition of design by commitee (Camel runs close second.) From my understanding, the Air Force, Nasa and a few other agencies wanted different things from the shuttle, making it rather unwieldy. Not unlike the LEO space station. But when politics has it's way, science is an easy biatch......
Other Comments by BAEOZ
15. Comment #98049 by quill on December 13, 2007 at 3:02 am
God, if he existed couldn't fix the space shuttle. It's the very definition of design by commitee (Camel runs close second.)The space shuttles may be clumsy and unreliable, but decommissioning them to be replaced by the disposable, Apollo-esque Orion capsules still feels like a step backward. In my opinion, we should be designing better shuttles, not falling back on those antiquated machines.
Other Comments by quill
16. Comment #98091 by stephenray on December 13, 2007 at 4:19 am
The whole rocket thing is unbelievably antiquated. It would be like running railways on steam ... erAnyway, NASA should be using a linear accelerator. Cheaper, safer, greener...
Other Comments by stephenray
17. Comment #98101 by Alter_GX on December 13, 2007 at 4:35 am
Built well and powered by nuclear batteries.For more on the mission
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/mission.html
Other Comments by Alter_GX
18. Comment #98171 by Alkal on December 13, 2007 at 7:20 am
I wrote a poem ..on my blog
http://virtualityforreal.blogspot.com
Other Comments by Alkal
19. Comment #98178 by gcdavis on December 13, 2007 at 7:58 am
Nice poems Alkal Other Comments by gcdavis
20. Comment #98181 by USA_Limey on December 13, 2007 at 8:14 am
You can't beat a good Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator for durability, relability and power ouput. If it wasn't for the nuts who who would use the radioactive material to build a dirty bomb we could make much more commercial use of this superb technology.
What a shame.
Other Comments by USA_Limey
21. Comment #98236 by Nero on December 13, 2007 at 10:29 am
Some interesting facts below to put things in perspective:Voyager 1 is currently travelling at a speed of 62,000 km/h (39,000 mph).
There are about 400,000,000,000 (4 hundred billion) stars in our galaxy. The closest to us is about 4 light years away (Proxima Centauri).
At the current break neck speed of 62,000 km/h, Voyager will reach our nearest neighbor in just over... 70,000 years!
I enjoy using these stats to show my friends how huge the universe really is and how isolated we are.
Other Comments by Nero
22. Comment #98239 by USA_Limey on December 13, 2007 at 10:39 am
Comment 98236 by Nero:"I enjoy using these stats to show my friends how huge the universe really is and how isolated we are."
Yes,
This is why christianity is so ridiculous and the most vulnerable of all faiths when put along side this kind of perspective.
The claim is that the god who created, ALL THAT sent his ONLY son to save some jews 2,000 years ago in Palestine?
How egocentric can you get?
Other Comments by USA_Limey
23. Comment #98241 by Vaal on December 13, 2007 at 10:41 am
Have they spotted God yet? Maybe he is surfing in the termination shock? Other Comments by Vaal
24. Comment #98244 by Nero on December 13, 2007 at 10:49 am
Haha, well said USA_Limey.I'll use that line on one of my bible friends next time.
Thanks,
Nero
Other Comments by Nero
25. Comment #98245 by USA_Limey on December 13, 2007 at 10:50 am
Comment #98241 by Vaal:Have they spotted God yet?
That's my point Vaal. If god is lurking in our neck of the woods then she must be a very provincial sort of god.
___OR___
If god is everywhere, why did we get his only son?
Convenient eh?
Other Comments by USA_Limey
26. Comment #98246 by Alkal on December 13, 2007 at 10:50 am
Thank you gcdavis.. I like your avatar.I also feel terribly proud to be human when see space craft crossing the final frontiers.... Gives me something to live for :D
Other Comments by Alkal
27. Comment #98247 by USA_Limey on December 13, 2007 at 10:53 am
I also feel terribly proud to be human when see space craft crossing the final frontiers
***Warning: Terrible joke coming up****
You know Captain Kirk had three ears? The left, the right and the final frontier?
Other Comments by USA_Limey
28. Comment #98253 by steve99 on December 13, 2007 at 11:25 am
Hey, how come an electronic gadget made in 1977 is still going without any maintenance and in an extremely harsh enviroment, yet the 8 month old hard drive in my laptop has bad sectors, and cell phones only last about a year or so?
Poor design in 1977. They did not know enough about materials technology, and over-engineered. Do you realise the harm all those still-working products are doing to the economy?
Other Comments by steve99
29. Comment #98255 by USA_Limey on December 13, 2007 at 11:36 am
I was three years old in 1977.I remember, (just), being taken to see Star Wars which had just come out.
We are still quite some way from hyperspace travel amoungst the stars aren't we if our fastest spacecraft is just leaving our system after 30 odd years!
Fantastic achievement though. Robot explorers always were the way to go; all those billions to send fly boy test pilots to go take a piss on the moon.
:-)
Other Comments by USA_Limey
30. Comment #98257 by steveroot on December 13, 2007 at 11:36 am
3. Comment #97954 by Dr Benway on December 12, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Hey, how come an electronic gadget made in 1977 is still going without any maintenance and in an extremely harsh environment, yet the 8 month old hard drive in my laptop has bad sectors, and cell phones only last about a year or so?
Undoubtedly because the Voyager was made by True Christians (R), and god has been dipping his digital pen into your corrupt hard drive and wiping clean your cell phones of the blasphemous words transmitted thereon. Praise!
Steve
Other Comments by steveroot
31. Comment #98264 by Steve Wrathall on December 13, 2007 at 11:48 am
>> Diacanu "Oh wow, I thought it had left when it passed Pluto.How long ago was that, 10, 15 years?"
Neither Voyager passed Pluto. Voyager 1 only passed Jupiter ('79) and saturn ('80),
While Voyager 2 passed Jupiter ('79), Saturn ('81), Uranus ('86) and Neptune ('89).
The First spacecraft to visit the now non-planet pluto will be New Horizons in '15 (launched ('06).
Other Comments by Steve Wrathall
32. Comment #98267 by steve99 on December 13, 2007 at 11:50 am
Robot explorers always were the way to go; all those billions to send fly boy test pilots to go take a piss on the moon.
Shame on you, you cynic! If we don't actually go into space, what, in the long term, is the point?
Anyway, those missions were great! I remember watching the first moon landings live on TV. I shall never forget that experience. A vague shape moved around in a fuzzy picture of something grey, and that was apparently someone stepping on the moon. You just had to be there, I guess.
Other Comments by steve99
33. Comment #98313 by Et in Arcadia ego on December 13, 2007 at 1:13 pm
Funny thing is , we are going to catch up to those 2birds , perhaps in 50 or even 100 years and then put them in a museum .My chances of seeing them , I would say 30%.
Other Comments by Et in Arcadia ego
34. Comment #98317 by USA_Limey on December 13, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Comment #98267 by steve99:Shame on you, you cynic!
Ah, you're right of course. Probably I am just a) jealous I didn't get to experience 1969 and b) frustrated people my age haven't had our 'that's one small step' moment. When are we going to Mars!
Sigh.
Other Comments by USA_Limey
35. Comment #98320 by USA_Limey on December 13, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Comment #98313 by Et in Arcadia ego Funny thing is , we are going to catch up to those 2
birds , perhaps in 50 or even 100 years
I love your optimism, I really do. But in 50 years we will be at the end of the solar system?
In fifty years the USA will still be pissing around in Iraq and China will just be landing on Mars. Maybe.
Other Comments by USA_Limey
36. Comment #98399 by wilk1978 on December 13, 2007 at 2:47 pm
The thing that always amuses me when I read amazing articles such as this is that the scientifically illiterate, unimaginative believers do their fictional deity a profound disservice. The miracles of the bible are so trivial compared to the wonders of the universe, yet the believers gush over stuff like burning bushes and locust plagues. If they're going to believe in a fictional creator, they ought to at least give the creator credit for his creation by learning about the universe.Other Comments by wilk1978
37. Comment #98471 by Rational_G on December 13, 2007 at 5:26 pm
This stuff makes me proud to be human being also. And proud to be an engineer.I wouldn't be so hard on the shuttle. It was designed to be an all purpose space vehicle with the
inevitable tradeoffs. Comparing the space shuttle to Voyager is really comparing apples and oranges.
Voyager is a wonderful bird and its record speaks for itself. It is a relatively simple reliable design with a
well defined mission. The shuttle is a large complex system which must exit and enter the atmosphere on
every flight, fly hundreds of times, be man rated and be capable of carrying huge payloads. It also has to carry
a huge cryogenic fuel tank to fuel the most sophisticated liquid fuel engines every built along with those giant
Roman candle solid rocket motors. It has to be an orbiter and airplane both.
The design chosen (orbiter/booster/external tank) was not optimal, and driven in part by the dollars available.
I have a friend who worked on the shuttle and he likes to say the shuttle is not old technology but rather ahead of its
time. It's so complicated that we struggle to maintain and operate it. And the accidents occurred due to bad
management -not system failures. It's really a hypersonic transatmospheric experimental space vehicle. It's kind of
amazing there' s only been two accidents, and again, they were preventable.
I believe we will miss the Shuttle when it's retired.
Think about it. Would you lament a B747 as tired old sixties technology? I think not. It's avionics and airframe
have been constantly upgraded over the decades. Ditto the shuttle.
But back to Voyager. It, along with other interplanetary craft will certainly "outlive" homo sapiens, since they will be around a long, long time.
We will have gone extinct or evolved into something else by then.
Pretty cool, huh?
Note 1: While Voyager did not "pass Pluto" as in perform a close flyby, it did "pass" the orbit of Pluto a long time ago.
Note 2: I doubt we'll catch up to Voyager in 50 to 100 years
Note 3: The plan is for the New Horizons spacecraft to visit the Kuiper Belt after its Pluto/ Charon encounter. Awesome!
Note 4: I think it is a noble and healthy quest for humanity to support BOTH a robust robot and human spaceflight program.
Note 5: I'm looking forward to the final Hubble maintenance mission next year. Now there's a Shuttle mission we can all be proud of.
Note 6: There ain't nothing antiquated about launching rockets off the Earth.
Other Comments by Rational_G
38. Comment #98781 by TheTrueScotsman on December 14, 2007 at 9:53 am
I wonder if the NASA scientists will be listening when one of the Voyager's make a loud ...THUNK!The next noise they'll hear will be a big beardy bloke going "Aaawww Shit!"
Other Comments by TheTrueScotsman
39. Comment #98820 by Kakashi_monkey on December 14, 2007 at 1:43 pm
It always makes me happy to hear about advancements in the astronomy field. It's about time we make a big step like sending a man-made object outside our solar system and cruising around in interstellar space. I have heard about new shuttle designs, some of which cost a lot less than current ones and are easier to use. I think one of them launches itelf and lands like a plane. It doesn't use the giant fuel tanks. (other people were mentioning shuttles, so I brought this up.) Other Comments by Kakashi_monkey
40. Comment #98821 by Kakashi_monkey on December 14, 2007 at 1:46 pm
BTW, that Captain Kirk joke was hilarious! Other Comments by Kakashi_monkey
41. Comment #98826 by USA_Limey on December 14, 2007 at 2:00 pm
BTW, that Captain Kirk joke was hilarious!
Thanks, I am here all weekend and am available for birthdays and Bar Mitzvahs
Other Comments by USA_Limey
42. Comment #100334 by The Schuermannator on December 18, 2007 at 1:59 pm
quill said:The space shuttles may be clumsy and unreliable, but decommissioning them to be replaced by the disposable, Apollo-esque Orion capsules still feels like a step backward. In my opinion, we should be designing better shuttles, not falling back on those antiquated machines.
-------------------------------------------------
Consider that those capsules used in the Apollo program took us to the moon whereas the shuttle was designed to simply orbit. Going back to using proven technology with big rockets isn't a step backward because the Constellation program will also be taking us (humans) to Mars.
Designing a better shuttle may one day be in the works, but it's intended for an entirely different reason than the old Saturn V's. The Shuttle's purpose was to have the ability to conduct experiments in zero G AND carry heavy payloads into orbit at the same time. Not to mention provide transit to and from future space stations.
Other Comments by The Schuermannator
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1. Comment #97868 by Matt7895 on December 12, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Other Comments by Matt7895