- #1
BadBrain
- 196
- 1
Per NASA's press release ( http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/voyager20120614.html ) of 14 June 2012, interstellar cosmic rays are striking the spacecraft at an increased rate. Voyager 1 has already encountered solar wind moving laterally with respect to the solar surface, and even in net retrograde motion with respect to the solar surface, which would mean that she's passed through the limit of solar influence capable of deflecting the interstellar medium, and has observed the interstellar medium deflecting solar influence. If the density of charged particles in the vicinity of the spacecraft has INCREASED, then this can only mean that she is currently in the "bow shock", which is where interstellar winds would tend to pile up in front of the solar system as it flies through interstellar space. (Think of a ship passing through the water: water is incompressible, so the energy of the ship passing through the water can only be expressed as a shift in the volume of the water immediately adjacent to the ship's bow (the "bow wave"). In a similar fashion, interstellar winds would tend to pile up in front of the solar system as an expression of aerodynamic pressure/aerodynamic drag.) If she's within the "bow shock", then she's within the interstellar medium, and no longer within the solar system.
Just think of that! An object crafted by human hands is now flying in interstellar space, outside the solar system! Elvis has truly left the building!
Three cheers for Voyager 1:
Hip! Hip! HOORAY!
Hip! Hip! HOORAY!
Hip! Hip! HOORAY!
Just think of that! An object crafted by human hands is now flying in interstellar space, outside the solar system! Elvis has truly left the building!
Three cheers for Voyager 1:
Hip! Hip! HOORAY!
Hip! Hip! HOORAY!
Hip! Hip! HOORAY!