Where to, Voyagers? Checking out for interstellar space!
Mar 17, 2005 17: 11 EST
If you studied Pythom's expeditions list, you've noticed the Voyager Interstellar Mission. Voyager 1 is now the furthest human-made object from the Sun. For the past two years or so, Voyager 1 has detected phenomena unlike any encountered before in all its years of exploration, probably entering the "termination shock" - the solar system's final frontier.
Hot checkpoint
This darkness of interstellar space is a vast expanse where wind from the Sun blows hot against thin gas between the stars.
The heliopause boundary marks the outer limits of the Sun's magnetic field and outward flow of the solar wind. Penetration of the heliopause boundary will be a first, as it has never been reached by any spacecraft before.
Getting out no easy task
It is thought to exist somewhere from 8 to 14 billion miles from the Sun, and the Voyagers should near it sometime in the next 5 years, crossing an area known as the termination shock. The Voyagers should cross the heliopause 10 to 20 years after reaching the termination shock.
Launched in 1977 a few weeks apart and now heading out of the solar system, the two probes Voyager 1 and 2 are expected to continue to operate and send back data until at least to the year 2020.
With some luck, by then they will have told us exactly how bad the shock is, and what to expect when crossing our border to outer space.
Weird plasma and forget the compass
At first, scientists suspect the supersonic solar wind will be held back from further expansion by the interstellar wind. The first feature to be encountered by a spacecraft as a result of this will be the termination shock where the solar wind slows from supersonic to subsonic speed and large changes in plasma flow direction and magnetic field orientation occur.
Smooth sailing in Interstellar tradewinds awaits the brave
Passage through the heliopause begins the interstellar exploration phase with the spacecraft operating in an interstellar wind dominated environment. This interstellar exploration is the ultimate goal of the Voyager Interstellar Mission.
Never-ending journey
Eventually, the Voyagers will pass other stars. In about 40,000 years, Voyager 1 will drift within 1.6 light years (9.3 trillion miles) of AC+79 3888, a star in the constellation of Camelopardalis. In some 296,000 years, Voyager 2 will pass 4.3 light years (25 trillion miles) from Sirius, the brightest star in the sky . The Voyagers are destined - perhaps eternally - to wander the Milky Way.
But that will be a different story.
Image courtesy of JPL.
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