Voyager 1 left the solar system (this time for sure)
It became the first starship in the history of mankind on August 25, 2012, but scientists were convinced of this only now.
Last August, the sensors of the device for the first time recorded a change in the intensity of the plasma flow around the ship. At that time there was too little data to talk about going beyond the limits of the heliopause - the border where the solar "bubble" of particles emanating from the Sun collides with a stream of interstellar particles. Scientists assumed that Voyager 1 is somewhere on the border.
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The new conditions in which the device was located since August 2012, in many respects, were suitable for those that could be called the interstellar medium, but there are no instruments on the probe that could be checked for sure.
The incident helped - an outbreak on the Sun, which occurred in March 2012. The solar wind can have a speed of 300 km / s to 1200 km / s, but its wave caught up with Voyager 1 only after 13 months. The solar plasma flow allowed us to check the environment in which the apparatus was moving, and it turned out that it was swimming in a plasma flow that was 40 times higher than the level that had ever been observed during its flight.
This case confirmed the assumptions of scientists that Voyager-1 was in interstellar space. And after all, really lucky that the gust of solar wind blew exactly "in the tail", then, when it was so necessary for rechecking.
It is assumed that the probe will be able to maintain the functionality even before 2020. Then he will continue the journey in eternal silence. After 40 thousand years he will fly at a distance of 1.6 light years past the star Gliese 445, his further path is difficult to predict.
I think the event on August 25, 2012 will be a date comparable in importance for humanity, from October 4, 1957
Publication in the journal Science
PS On the topic: " White cane caliber 7.62 millimeters "
Last August, the sensors of the device for the first time recorded a change in the intensity of the plasma flow around the ship. At that time there was too little data to talk about going beyond the limits of the heliopause - the border where the solar "bubble" of particles emanating from the Sun collides with a stream of interstellar particles. Scientists assumed that Voyager 1 is somewhere on the border.
')
The new conditions in which the device was located since August 2012, in many respects, were suitable for those that could be called the interstellar medium, but there are no instruments on the probe that could be checked for sure.
The incident helped - an outbreak on the Sun, which occurred in March 2012. The solar wind can have a speed of 300 km / s to 1200 km / s, but its wave caught up with Voyager 1 only after 13 months. The solar plasma flow allowed us to check the environment in which the apparatus was moving, and it turned out that it was swimming in a plasma flow that was 40 times higher than the level that had ever been observed during its flight.
This case confirmed the assumptions of scientists that Voyager-1 was in interstellar space. And after all, really lucky that the gust of solar wind blew exactly "in the tail", then, when it was so necessary for rechecking.
It is assumed that the probe will be able to maintain the functionality even before 2020. Then he will continue the journey in eternal silence. After 40 thousand years he will fly at a distance of 1.6 light years past the star Gliese 445, his further path is difficult to predict.
I think the event on August 25, 2012 will be a date comparable in importance for humanity, from October 4, 1957
Publication in the journal Science
PS On the topic: " White cane caliber 7.62 millimeters "
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/193562/
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