Australian Politics Forum - Voyager spacecraft nears exit of solar system

Sprintcyclist

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Voyager spacecraft nears exit of solar system
Dec 16^th, 2010 at 8:37am

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has reached the outer edge of the solar system where wind from the Sun is no longer blowing outward, but sideways, the US space agency said.

The spacecraft was launched in 1977 and has since snapped images of Earth and other planets in the solar system and provided NASA with crucial information as it makes its long journey into outer space.

NASA researchers think Voyager 1 will leave the solar system and enter interstellar space, or the area in between the end of the Sun's influence and the next star system, in about four years.

For now, Voyager 1 is 17.4 billion kilometers from the Sun in "an area where the velocity of the hot ionised gas, or plasma, emanating directly outward from the sun has slowed to zero," the space agency said.

"Scientists suspect the solar wind has been turned sideways by the pressure from the interstellar wind in the region between stars."

NASA noticed that the solar wind's outward speed had slowed to zero back in June, but wanted to look at readings from Voyager 1 over the next four months to be sure.

The data was presented late yesterday at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco, California.

"When I realised that we were getting solid zeroes, I was amazed," said Rob Decker, a Voyager Low-Energy Charged Particle Instrument co-investigator and senior scientist at Johns Hopkins University.

"Here was Voyager, a spacecraft that has been a workhorse for 33 years, showing us something completely new again."

NASA described the finding as "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."

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Bobby.

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Re: Voyager spacecraft nears exit of solar system
Reply #1 - Dec 16^th, 2010 at 9:04pm

Good post sprint.

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/voyager-interstellar-terms.html

Quote:

Voyager 1:
Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object in the universe, At the beginning of 2005, the spacecraft was about 94 times as far from the Sun as is Earth. It was deflected northward above the plane of the planets' orbits when it swung by Saturn in 1980 and is now speeding outward from the Sun at nearly one million miles per day, a rate that would take it from Los Angeles to New York in less than four minutes. Long-lived nuclear batteries are expected to provide electrical power until at least 2020 when Voyager 1 will be more than 13 billion miles from Earth and may have reached interstellar space.

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Sir lastnail Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 30066 Gender:	Re: Voyager spacecraft nears exit of solar system Reply #2 - Dec 16^th, 2010 at 10:16pm I thought heaven was the most distant man made object in the universe
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Bobby.

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Re: Voyager spacecraft nears exit of solar system
Reply #3 - Dec 16^th, 2010 at 11:23pm

Just did some interesting calculations on Voyager 1.

Beta factor to allow for relativity = 1/(SQR (1 -(v2/c2 ))
At 1 million miles per day = 186 km/s

It would travel 4 times the distance from the earth to the moon every day.

The beta factor is 1.0003 = 0.03%
The relativistic effect would cause it's mass to increase by that ratio.
It's mass would change from say 1000Kg to 1000.3 Kg = an increase of 300 grams.
The frequency of it's microwave transmitter would go from 8415.000 MHz
to 8414.750 MHz - a decrease of 250 KHz. (as measured on Earth)

If it was heading towards our nearest star 4.2 light years away -
it would take 68,000 years to get there.

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« Last Edit: Dec 16^th, 2010 at 11:34pm by Bobby. »

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muso

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Re: Voyager spacecraft nears exit of solar system
Reply #4 - Dec 17^th, 2010 at 8:37am

Let's hope they survive to provide data when leaving the heliosheath. There is a site somewhere that indicates when they will finally lose functionality and contact.

The probe that will be really worth following is New Horizons. It's around about the orbit of Uranus at the moment, and going for a close encounter with the Pluto/ Charon system in 2015. It reached halfway mark earlier this year.

Meantime, Opportunity has just arrived at Santa Maria. Grin

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« Last Edit: Dec 18^th, 2010 at 5:25pm by muso »

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Sprintcyclist Gold Member Offline OzPolitic Posts: 40700 Gender:	Re: Voyager spacecraft nears exit of solar system Reply #5 - Dec 17^th, 2010 at 8:50am bobby - i never thought of the microwave frequency changing !!!!!!!!
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muso Gold Member Offline Posts: 13151 Gladstone, Queensland Gender:	Re: Voyager spacecraft nears exit of solar system Reply #6 - Dec 17^th, 2010 at 9:01am Sprintcyclist wrote on Dec 17^th, 2010 at 8:50am: bobby - i never thought of the microwave frequency changing !!!!!!!! Yeah, doppler shift is common to all interplanetary probes.
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It_is_the_Darkness

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Re: Voyager spacecraft nears exit of solar system
Reply #7 - Dec 17^th, 2010 at 11:53am

Simply amazing stuff isn't it.
Although a Diver of the deep dark abyss myself,
I can't help but admire the North Americans for the gift that they give to us all by furthuring humanity up into the heavens via such things as NASA. If humanity were to ever venture forth into outer space, then USA can be especially thanked.

I like Europa personally, 100km deep totally surrounding ocean under a crust of ice. Ya gotta love it!!!

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Miss Anne Dryst

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Re: Voyager spacecraft nears exit of solar system
Reply #8 - Dec 18^th, 2010 at 7:07am

It_is_the_Darkness wrote on Dec 17^th, 2010 at 11:53am:

Simply amazing stuff isn't it.
Although a Diver of the deep dark abyss myself,
I can't help but admire the North Americans for the gift that they give to us all by furthuring humanity up into the heavens via such things as NASA. If humanity were to ever venture forth into outer space, then USA can be especially thanked.

I like Europa personally, 100km deep totally surrounding ocean under a crust of ice. Ya gotta love it!!!

Probably discover that our solar system is captured within a snow globe!

Wonder what's outside.

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It's hard to soar like an eagle when conversing with turkeys

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Miss Anne Dryst

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Re: Voyager spacecraft nears exit of solar system
Reply #9 - Dec 18^th, 2010 at 7:10am

Sprintcyclist wrote on Dec 16^th, 2010 at 8:37am:

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has reached the outer edge of the solar system where wind from the Sun is no longer blowing outward, but sideways, the US space agency said.

The spacecraft was launched in 1977 and has since snapped images of Earth and other planets in the solar system and provided NASA with crucial information as it makes its long journey into outer space.

NASA researchers think Voyager 1 will leave the solar system and enter interstellar space, or the area in between the end of the Sun's influence and the next star system, in about four years.

For now, Voyager 1 is 17.4 billion kilometers from the Sun in "an area where the velocity of the hot ionised gas, or plasma, emanating directly outward from the sun has slowed to zero," the space agency said.

"Scientists suspect the solar wind has been turned sideways by the pressure from the interstellar wind in the region between stars."

NASA noticed that the solar wind's outward speed had slowed to zero back in June, but wanted to look at readings from Voyager 1 over the next four months to be sure.

The data was presented late yesterday at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco, California.

"When I realised that we were getting solid zeroes, I was amazed," said Rob Decker, a Voyager Low-Energy Charged Particle Instrument co-investigator and senior scientist at Johns Hopkins University.

"Here was Voyager, a spacecraft that has been a workhorse for 33 years, showing us something completely new again."

NASA described the finding as "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."

Fascinating stuff.

Hope Voyager can say "hi" to Captain Kirk.

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Bobby.

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Re: Voyager spacecraft nears exit of solar system
Reply #10 - Dec 18^th, 2010 at 8:33am

Miss Anne Dryst wrote on Dec 18^th, 2010 at 7:07am:

It_is_the_Darkness wrote on Dec 17^th, 2010 at 11:53am:

Simply amazing stuff isn't it.
Although a Diver of the deep dark abyss myself,
I can't help but admire the North Americans for the gift that they give to us all by furthuring humanity up into the heavens via such things as NASA. If humanity were to ever venture forth into outer space, then USA can be especially thanked.

I like Europa personally, 100km deep totally surrounding ocean under a crust of ice. Ya gotta love it!!!

Probably discover that our solar system is captured within a snow globe!

Wonder what's outside.

Actually the heliopause is full of charged particles from the sun.
I think it's mostly protons & electrons that have slowed right down.
It would be a strange environment & I'm not sure we could even create it on earth.
I'll have to find out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliosphere
Quote:

The heliopause is the theoretical boundary where the Sun's solar wind is stopped by the interstellar medium; where the solar wind's strength is no longer great enough to push back the stellar winds of the surrounding stars. Voyager 1 is expected to cross the heliopause by 2014. The crossing of the heliopause should be signaled by a sharp drop in the temperature of charged particles

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muso

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Re: Voyager spacecraft nears exit of solar system
Reply #11 - Dec 18^th, 2010 at 9:35am

Bobby. wrote on Dec 18^th, 2010 at 8:33am:

Miss Anne Dryst wrote on Dec 18^th, 2010 at 7:07am:

It_is_the_Darkness wrote on Dec 17^th, 2010 at 11:53am:

Simply amazing stuff isn't it.
Although a Diver of the deep dark abyss myself,
I can't help but admire the North Americans for the gift that they give to us all by furthuring humanity up into the heavens via such things as NASA. If humanity were to ever venture forth into outer space, then USA can be especially thanked.

I like Europa personally, 100km deep totally surrounding ocean under a crust of ice. Ya gotta love it!!!

Probably discover that our solar system is captured within a snow globe!

Wonder what's outside.

Actually the heliopause is full of charged particles from the sun.
I think it's mostly protons & electrons that have slowed right down.
It would be a strange environment & I'm not sure we could even create it on earth.
I'll have to find out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliosphere
Quote:

The heliopause is the theoretical boundary where the Sun's solar wind is stopped by the interstellar medium; where the solar wind's strength is no longer great enough to push back the stellar winds of the surrounding stars. Voyager 1 is expected to cross the heliopause by 2014. The crossing of the heliopause should be signaled by a sharp drop in the temperature of charged particles

They kind of turn the corner. The outward velocity component slows to zero. They are no longer travelling outwards from the sun, but at right angles. Then they go around and out the back like a comet's tail.

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Miss Anne Dryst

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Re: Voyager spacecraft nears exit of solar system
Reply #12 - Dec 18^th, 2010 at 9:57am

Bobby. wrote on Dec 18^th, 2010 at 8:33am:

Miss Anne Dryst wrote on Dec 18^th, 2010 at 7:07am:

It_is_the_Darkness wrote on Dec 17^th, 2010 at 11:53am:

Simply amazing stuff isn't it.
Although a Diver of the deep dark abyss myself,
I can't help but admire the North Americans for the gift that they give to us all by furthuring humanity up into the heavens via such things as NASA. If humanity were to ever venture forth into outer space, then USA can be especially thanked.

I like Europa personally, 100km deep totally surrounding ocean under a crust of ice. Ya gotta love it!!!

Probably discover that our solar system is captured within a snow globe!

Wonder what's outside.

Actually the heliopause is full of charged particles from the sun.
I think it's mostly protons & electrons that have slowed right down.
It would be a strange environment & I'm not sure we could even create it on earth.
I'll have to find out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliosphere
Quote:

The heliopause is the theoretical boundary where the Sun's solar wind is stopped by the interstellar medium; where the solar wind's strength is no longer great enough to push back the stellar winds of the surrounding stars. Voyager 1 is expected to cross the heliopause by 2014. The crossing of the heliopause should be signaled by a sharp drop in the temperature of charged particles

Sounds like you know your stuff there bobbythebat.
Would you class yourself as a science buff?

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Bobby. Gold Member Online Australian Politics Posts: 103092 Melbourne Gender:	Re: Voyager spacecraft nears exit of solar system Reply #13 - Dec 18^th, 2010 at 10:42am Anne. Quote: Sounds like you know your stuff there bobbythebat. Would you class yourself as a science buff? No - I would class my self as an amateur astronomer.
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tallowood Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 5807	Re: Voyager spacecraft nears exit of solar system Reply #14 - Dec 18^th, 2010 at 8:28pm Looks like an eye.
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