Voyager 1 reaching the edge of solar system

[zippy]

The 33-year odyssey of NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has reached a distant point at the edge of our solar system where there is no outward motion of solar wind.

Now hurtling toward interstellar space some 17.4 billion kilometers (10.8 billion miles) from the sun, Voyager 1 has crossed into an area where the velocity of the hot ionized gas, or plasma, emanating directly outward from the sun has slowed to zero. Scientists suspect the solar wind has been turned sideways by the pressure from the interstellar wind in the region between stars.

The event is a major milestone in Voyager 1's passage through the heliosheath, the turbulent outer shell of the sun's sphere of influence, and the spacecraft's upcoming departure from our solar system."

The solar wind has turned the corner," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist based at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif. "Voyager 1 is getting close to interstellar space."

Our sun gives off a stream of charged particles that form a bubble known as the heliosphere around our solar system. The solar wind travels at supersonic speed until it crosses a shockwave called the termination shock. At this point, the solar wind dramatically slows down and heats up in the heliosheath

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/

 

[mercurial]

Nice.

 

[Ockie]

ONLY NOW??? Bleh!

When we getting warp drive ffs!

 

[Venomous]

interesting.

 

[CellBel]

Far, Far away.
Thx very interesting.

 

[Knyro]

ONLY NOW??? Bleh!

When we getting warp drive ffs!

There's just no pleasing some people lol.

When we finally do get warp drive I foresee a race to go get it. The golden record should be a priceless antique by then. Probably has some good pr0n on it too.

 

[Nothxkbi]

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/

Listen when you get to the edge of the solar system, tell those idiots on Jupiter I ordered that pizza 3 days ago and I expect a refund. Service delivery is not what it used to be pffft.

 

[Creag]

Listen when you get to the edge of the solar system, tell those idiots on Jupiter I ordered that pizza 3 days ago and I expect a refund. Service delivery is not what it used to be pffft.

If it took Voyager 1 thirty-three years to all the way out there, I reckon you've got a few years to wait yet. Hope you ain't too hungry.

 

[Thump3r]

And so ends the pre-prequel that ended with Captain Kirk and V'ger

 

[davemc]

Wait, there's a warm bubble-edge to our solar system?
How warm exactly, and how warm will it be entering a blue star's heliosheath?

 

[stopdonotwinddo]

Wait, there's a warm bubble-edge to our solar system?
How warm exactly, and how warm will it be entering a blue star's heliosheath?

Really good question..

 

[davemc]

Apparently: Average temperature of the affected ions is 181,000 Kelvin at the outer edge of the heliosheath. Which is 180727 degrees Celsius.
Sauce: ftp://space.mit.edu/pub/plasma/publications/jdr_hshtemp/jdr_hshtemp.pdf

Makes you wonder what exactly Voyager 1 and 2 are made from.

But, seriously, that massive heat is the temperature of a heated ion that collided with incoming matter, and the ions are spaced quite far apart, so the ship is in a sea of these superheated ions, where one will impact on the ship every now and then, releasing it's heat energy almost instantly, doing little damage, kind of like heating the tip of a needle till it's red and then tapping that tip onto the head of a 4 pound hammer.

Well, that's what I can make out from wading through the confusing facts.

 

[satanboy]

In 1998, the speed of the Voyager I was 39,000 miles per hour or 3.5 AU per year. In 2003 the outward speed of Voyager 1 was about 38,500 miles per hour.

http://www.astronomycafe.net/qadir/q1698.html

I'm trying to find out it's current speed.

 

[satanboy]

A sister spacecraft, Voyager 2, was launched in Aug. 20, 1977 and has reached a position 14.2 billion kilometers (8.8 billion miles) from the sun. Both spacecraft have been traveling along different trajectories and at different speeds. Voyager 1 is traveling faster, at a speed of about 17 kilometers per second (38,000 mph), compared to Voyager 2's velocity of 15 kilometers per second (35,000 mph). In the next few years, scientists expect Voyager 2 to encounter the same kind of phenomenon as Voyager 1.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/voyager20101213.html

Pretty fast.

 

[Bismuth]

Listen when you get to the edge of the solar system, tell those idiots on Jupiter I ordered that pizza 3 days ago and I expect a refund. Service delivery is not what it used to be pffft.

You think that's bad, what about the icecream I ordered online from plutoisnotaplanet.com 23 years ago, damn stuff must be melted by now, must be the imperialists (or Empire's?) fault!

B

 

[wrathex]

I love it. Our bots and probes are serving us very well, they travel on our behalf, carrying with them the best of our human endeavour in technology.

Our bots go where we cannot go, we're so clever.

 

[seventhson]

ONLY NOW??? Bleh!

When we getting warp drive ffs!

You know warp drives in theory will create a black hole And besides the way is to use worm holes