Voyager 1 moves into unexpected Region of the outer solar region

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Voyager 1 is probably aging by now with 11 billion miles covered in 35 years and still moving. The spacecraft has crossed into an unexpected, exceedingly remote region of the solar system that may represent the spacecraft's final step before leaving the sun's influence and moving into the vast realm of interstellar space.

The region is believed to be a sort of "magnetic highway" allowing high-energy charged particles from ancient supernova explosions to move into the sun's sphere of influence and for lower-energy particles to move out into deep space.

image by: NASA

Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977, followed 16 days later by Voyager 1 on September 5, 1977. Voyager 1 flew past Jupiter on March 5, 1979, and then made a dramatic flyby of Saturn on November 12, 1980. After beaming back spectacular views of Saturn and its enigmatic moon, Titan, the spacecraft headed out of the solar system on a trajectory above the plane of the planets.

Even though there is a strong belief that the spacecraft nears going past solar system, it is not known how long it will take to cross the complex boundary between the heliosphere and interstellar space.








source: cnet