Voyager 1 Confirmed to have Left Solar System Last Summer, New Reasearch Shows

Prior to this new research, scientist though that Voyager 1 was still in our solar system, because they were waiting for some hypothesized changes in the magnetic field in that part of space that they predicted would be there. This change in the filed is what they were waiting for before they would say "Voyager 1 has keft the solar system.

That change has not yet been detected, but even though the change was not detected, they think that Voyager DID cross the boundary into Interstellar Space (as they would define the boundary). They are still a bit baffled why there was not the predicted change in the magnetic field:

Scientists have been waiting for Voyager to detect a magnetic field that flows in a different direction than the solar system's magnetic field. But the new research shows that scenario is not accurate.

"We think that the magnetic field within the solar system and in the interstellar are aligned enough that you can actually pass through without seeing a huge change in direction," University of Maryland physicist Marc Swisdak said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday.

That would mean that Voyager actually reached interstellar space last summer when it detected a sudden drop in the number of particles coming from the sun and a corresponding rise in the number of galactic cosmic rays coming from interstellar space.

However, some other scientists are not convinced Voyager 1 has actually crossed over into interstellar space.

Voyager lead scientist Edward Stone, now retired from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said Swisdak's research is interesting but different computer models are portraying different scenarios to explain the Voyager data.

"We know where Voyager is in terms of distance and we know what it is observing. The challenge is relating that to these complex models of the interaction between the interstellar medium and the heliosphere," Stone said, referring to the bubble of space that falls under the sun's influence.

Stone and other scientists believe Voyager is in a previously unknown region, dubbed a "magnetic highway," that exists between the heliosphere and interstellar space.

Source: Voyager is first man-made object to leave solar system


It seems to me that it is really tough to know what the boundary is between "inside" and "outside" of the solar system. Without any specific line of demarcation, and with differing definitions of the edge of the Solar System, I suppose there will still be questions as to whether or not Voyager has truly left.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


S+F

Love the Voyager Story always have...

The original theory made allot of sense yet it appears it was wrong by these findings...or maybe to soon to tell? Whatever thanks for posting S&F

I'd bet that the magnetic field they're so eagerly awaiting changes in doesn't really change much. It's to me like analyzing asphalt at the junction between the road & the highway, and trying to figure out where in that asphalt alone the highway starts and road ends. It could be that the magnetic field is more a foundation (if you will) than they think, and therefore is relatively unchanging.

I wonder if we're simply dealing with 1970's technology a bit too limited in capability to actually tell them what they need to know here? By the confusion, it sounds like it's guess work beyond the normal levels to even state where Voyager I is at the moment.

It seems passe' these days with NASA being the punch line to a joke more than an agency to fund but perhaps a Voyager I and II mission using modern technology for the look we'd have now would be a good idea. I wonder what that same position would look like to people on Earth using equipment the people that built Voyager couldn't even have imagined at the time?

Originally posted by wrabbit2000
I wonder if we're simply dealing with 1970's technology a bit too limited in capability to actually tell them what they need to know here? By the confusion, it sounds like it's guess work beyond the normal levels to even state where Voyager I is at the moment....

I don't think it is guess work in knowing where Voyager 1 is. The guesswork is in determining what the definition of "outside the Solar System" is. They don't really know whet the conditions are supposed to be like in interstellar space, so they may not be able to recognize interstellar space when they are in it.

The boundary may be a fuzzy one, instead of being well-defined, well-understood, and easy to recognize.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


I wouldn't be so quick to use the term guesswork ...except for clearly remembering their surprise at the nature and size of the bubble surrounding our Solar System or it's even existing in that form. in the first place.

It's no slight against them. We're exploring and learning. No one makes fun of Columbus for finding America by pure accident and bad assumptions for even worse navigational skill. He wanted India, not this new land with nothing to buy. lol.....

It just makes the argument all the stronger for following the Voyagers with modern versions. Heck, I was shocked myself to learn our Solar System is literally within a Bubble that seems to be 360 degrees. Although, we can't know that because only 2 probes have been fired off to find it.

I'd like to see them work on low cost. high production probes to launch off in all directions and see what comes back as the years go on. Heck, there must be some way to make them so they could launch in groups to save money and launch into deep space from orbit. That would at least make it feasible where 20 launches for 1 per probe would break the bank for a fishing expedition, right?

reply to post by wrabbit2000


Science is mostly guesswork.

Science uses real solid data -- data which is presumably factual, but interpreting and applying that data in such a way to support (or not support, as the case may be) a hypothesis is mostly guesswork. Science may be about taking educated guesses, but they are guesses nevertheless.

And I agree that it is not a slight against science. It is simply the nature of the beast.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


Thanks for the post

If i can recall correctly, Voyager still has enough power for about 15 more years of travel. I am sure as the distances increases from earth and now, potentially our solar system, we should in theory get more accurate data back on these magnetic/radiation thresholds. Voyager will be effectively getting a larger and larger view of the system as it travels.

In any case, I hope it doesn't return to earth like in the star trek film. Err actually I hope it does! I am off to watch the movie now!

reply to post by wrabbit2000


Actually they have launched a more modern probe: New Horizons

After doing it's flyby of Pluto in July 2015, the probe will be headed to find some Kuiper Belt objects to also investigate. That phase of operation is scheduled for 2016 - 2020.

By 2020, New Horizon's "Dwarf Planet" program will be done, and if all is still functioning on board, it will be heading out to investigate the Heliosphere and by December 2038 will be 100 AUs from the sun.

Voyager 1 is currently at about 125 AUs from the sun, so it is being followed by a more "modern" probe.

The problem is distance / time / velocity. We can build a very modern probe with the latest advanced equipment on it, which is what they did for Voyager 1 when they launched in back in 1977.

Over 36 years has passed for it to get where it is, and of course in that 36 years, the equipment it has on board is no where near as advanced as what we have now.

New Horizons was built with the latest and greatest too, and launched in 2006. But by the time it will get to 100 AUs out, 32 years will have gone by, and what it has on board will not be as up to date as whatever equipment we'll have in another 25 years.

reply to post by eriktheawful


Thanks for the update and clarification on what is also headed out to open space. Lets hope it's package gives more data and help. Voyager told us there is something definitely worth seeing ..now it's just getting there with the right equipment to see what there is to see.

How is that thing still in contact with Earth as a piece of 70's tech when I can barely get cell reception from inside a Hospital?

Originally posted by yourmaker
How is that thing still in contact with Earth as a piece of 70's tech when I can barely get cell reception from inside a Hospital?

edit on 18-8-2013 by yourmaker because: (no reason given)

It brings all new truth to 'They don't make 'em like they used to!'.

(couldn't resist... That almost writes itself ..and you're sooo right. The 21st century was supposed to be buck rogers. )

I can't wait to see these missions through. The radioisotope thermionic generators on these will support at least a small amount of function till 2025. Voyager 2 has three G.E. -RTGs and will support its more demanding instruments a little longer.
Three year old article on the power limits

I have always wondered why we don't send more satellites out, in different angled relations to the sun. Would be interesting the effect of our movement, from multiple sides of solar system.


Last year when voyager entered a possible magnetic highway.


The numbers.

It's cool to think that "mankind" is now floating way out there, beyond the edge of the solar system. Part of me is out there to as I was live when the two spaceships were built. I can almost "see" Voyager 1 flying in the vast darkness, cold, alone. It's awesome.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


wow it's been 36yrs next month since voyager 1's launch, there has been a fair amount of tech knowlege discovered and created since then, It's a pity it takes so long to traverse these regions of space around us. It would be great if we could master space travel on a much faster scale, planet hopping or whatever the term is, If we launch more probes right now and then have to wait for this amount of time to pass before we are even on the border of inner and outer space, is a bit exasperating. maybe we should try and discover and master fast travel, say going to the moon and back in something like 3 hours, we need that kind of speed and that is still not astounding... anyway I feel we need to accomplish how to travel with some smart acceletation through space before we send something on such a long journey... but saying all of that, we have to start somewhere, so it's a bit of a two headed coin as to when where and how I guess. nice post though.

This topic will due..

link

Nasa confirms that voyager left in outer space, but again its a wrong article, why nasa does that.

They say, because the magnetic field becomes more dense, thats a proof that the voyager left from our solar system... Well NOOO..

It becomes more dense, because it goes nearer to our solar bubble (heliosphere), logical to become more dense... The only way to know if voyager moved out, is the direction of the magnetic field, not because it becomes more dense... And we know, that it havent changed. Why nasa says fairytales to the people... People must know, they teach people false science.

Nasa plays a propaganda game, but its so, science for rookies that they humiliate them selves. Its like an egg, voyager goes nearer to the outer cell, that is very very dense and that means, it will keep increasing and eventually, it will BOOOOM.

a reply to: Ploutonas


First of all, the article you linked was not from NASA -- it was from a non-NASA news agency.

Secondly, it is not the magnetic field that is denser in interstellar space, but ionized gas particles -- or "plasma".

The density of the plasma in interstellar space (outside the heliosphere) will be greater than the density of plasma inside the heliosphere. that's because the plasma outside the heliosphere (in interstellar space) would be from interstellar sources, such as supernovae. Inside the heliosphere, the voyager spacecraft would be protected from this plasma be the magnetic field of our Sun, so the density of the plasma would be less.

The story is about how NASA used coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the Sun to gauge the plasma density around the voyager spacecraft (the CME helped excite the plasma, making it able to be detected). From this, scientists learned that the plasma is as dense as they expect it to be in interstellar space -- therefore they can confirm that voyager is in interstellar space.

It should be noted that the CMEs were only used to help detect the plasma. As one scientist said, the CME made the plasma "ring like a bell" (figuratively), which allowed NASA to measure the plasma density.


By the way, here is a link to the NASA article about this:
Sun Sends More 'Tsunami Waves' to Voyager 1

and what happens if it keeps becoming more densier? Also what uve said, proves that the magnetic field didnt changed direction, so it didnt moved out. And as the article states, they will meet the comet ring in 14000 years? Lets say in 10 years from now, it will become 5-10 times more densier. They will keep believing they will make it out?

So next year, in the same topic, we will post the new data from NASA, if they say that the dense of the plasma is increasing, then.... I dont think

So the hypothetical Oort cloud is located in the interstellar medium, as opposed to being part of the Solar System? I don't consider the Voyager to have left the Solar System until it passes through the Oort cloud.