For Your Astronomers: Voyager-1 Has Left The Solar System

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Link: BBC News - Voyager craft exits the Solar System

 

...Confirmation of the probe's exit from the heliosphere - the bubble of gas and magnetic fields originating from the Sun - was confirmed on Tuesday in a release by the American Geophysical Union...

 

Real time statistics: Where are the Voyagers - NASA Voyager

Edited March 20, 2013 by 6Foot2
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Link: Nasa's Voyager 2 probe 'leaves the Solar System' [BBC News]

 

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The Voyager 2 probe, which left Earth in 1977, has become the second human-made object to leave our Solar System.

 

It was launched 16 days before its twin craft, Voyager 1, but that probe's faster trajectory meant that it was in "the space between the stars" six years before Voyager 2.

 

The news was revealed at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in Washington.

 

And the chief scientist on the mission, Prof Edward Stone, confirmed it.

 

He said both probes had now "made it into interstellar space" and that Voyager 2's date of departure from the Solar System was 5 November 2018.

 

On that date, the steady stream of particles emitted from the Sun that were being detected by the probe suddenly dipped.

 

Voyager 2 present location is some 18 billion km (11 billion miles) from Earth. It is moving at roughly 54,000km/h (34,000mph; with respect to the Sun).

 

Voyager 1 is further and faster still, at 22 billion km and 61,000km/h...

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Link: Voyager 1 Is About to Reach One Light-day from Earth

 

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After nearly 50 years in space, NASA’s Voyager 1 is about to hit a historic milestone. By November 15, 2026, it will be 16.1 billion miles (25.9 billion km) away, meaning a radio signal will take a full 24 hours—a full light-day—to reach it. For context, a light-year is the distance light travels in a year, about 5.88 trillion miles (9.46 trillion km), so one light-day is just a tiny fraction of that.

 

Launched in 1977 to explore Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 1 entered interstellar space in 2012, becoming the most distant human-made object ever. [Travelling] at around 11 miles per second (17.7 km/s), it adds roughly 3.5 astronomical units (the distance from Earth to the Sun) each year. Even after decades in the harsh environment of space, Voyager 1 keeps sending data thanks to its radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which will last into the 2030s...