NASA's Voyager Hits New Region at Solar System Edge
NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new region between our solar system and interstellar space. Data obtained from Voyager over the last year reveal this new region to be a kind of cosmic purgatory. In it, the wind of charged particles streaming out from our sun has calmed, our solar system's magnetic field is piled up, and higher-energy particles from inside our solar system appear to be leaking out into interstellar space. Read more
Voyager 1 was one of a pair of spacecraft launched to explore the planets of the outer solar system and the interplanetary environment. Each Voyager had as its major objectives at each planet to: (1) investigate the circulation, dynamics, structure, and composition of the planet's atmosphere; (2) characterise the morphology, geology, and physical state of the satellites of the planet; (3) provide improved values for the mass, size, and shape of the planet, its satellites, and any rings; and, (4) determine the magnetic field structure and characterize the composition and distribution of energetic trapped particles and plasma therein. Read more
Scientists analysing recent data from NASA's Voyager and Cassini spacecraft have calculated that Voyager 1 could cross over into the frontier of interstellar space at any time and much earlier than previously thought. The findings are detailed in this week's issue of the journal Nature. Data from Voyager's low-energy charged particle instrument, first reported in December 2010, have indicated that the outward speed of the charged particles streaming from the sun has slowed to zero. The stagnation of this solar wind has continued through at least February 2011, marking a thick, previously unpredicted "transition zone" at the edge of our solar system. Read more
The Welsh message hurtling through space 10 billion miles from its home
It has long been boasted that Welsh is one of the oldest living European languages as well as being "iaith y nefoedd", the language of heaven. Now thanks to a Nasa space mission, launched more than 30 years ago, the language has the potential to be heard, not only on another planet, but in a completely new solar system. Two spacecraft, part of the Voyager Space Mission, carrying a message in Welsh are approaching the edge of the solar system.
Two spacecraft launched in the 1970s are now approaching the edge of the solar system. The unmanned 'Voyagers' have already reached where no manmade objects ever have before, and will soon journey beyond the influence of the sun. Read more
More than 30 years after they left Earth, NASA's twin Voyager probes are now at the edge of the solar system. Not only that, they're still working. And with each passing day they are beaming back a message that, to scientists, is both unsettling and thrilling. The message is, "Expect the unexpected."