Amazing to think that no matter what happens to us as species, something of us will exist out there essentially forever.
Or Nature writes
“This is a milestone,” says Ed Stone, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who has been the project scientist for the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft since 1972, five years before their launch. Voyager 1’s entry into interstellar space “ranks with circumnavigating the globe and the first steps on the Moon,” says Stone, who was not involved in the latest study.
The research is based on measurements of the ionized gas, or plasma, through which the spacecraft travels. The frequency at which the plasma vibrates is a sensitive indicator of its electron density, which is predicted to be about 100 times higher in the cold interstellar medium than it is within the warmer bubble of the heliosphere.
Gurnett and his collaborators calculate that recent increases in electron density found by Voyager 1 match the predicted density of the interstellar medium. The findings, combined with other spacecraft data, indicate that Voyager 1 left the heliosphere on or about 25 August 2012, when the craft was 121 astronomical units (18 billion kilometres) from the Sun.
Besides the incredible science behind the milestone, it is also great to think that William Shatner is one step closer to meeting Veger on its trip to Earth.
Or Nature writes
“This is a milestone,” says Ed Stone, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who has been the project scientist for the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft since 1972, five years before their launch. Voyager 1’s entry into interstellar space “ranks with circumnavigating the globe and the first steps on the Moon,” says Stone, who was not involved in the latest study.
The research is based on measurements of the ionized gas, or plasma, through which the spacecraft travels. The frequency at which the plasma vibrates is a sensitive indicator of its electron density, which is predicted to be about 100 times higher in the cold interstellar medium than it is within the warmer bubble of the heliosphere.
Gurnett and his collaborators calculate that recent increases in electron density found by Voyager 1 match the predicted density of the interstellar medium. The findings, combined with other spacecraft data, indicate that Voyager 1 left the heliosphere on or about 25 August 2012, when the craft was 121 astronomical units (18 billion kilometres) from the Sun.
Besides the incredible science behind the milestone, it is also great to think that William Shatner is one step closer to meeting Veger on its trip to Earth.
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