NASA's Voyager 1 Spacecraft Encounters Unknown Region Of Space At Solar System's Edge

[ashling]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/28/nasa-voyager-1-spacecraft-newfound-region-solar-system_n_3515547.html

?7

LOS ANGELES -- New research pinpoints the current location of NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft: It's still in our solar system.

Since last summer, the long-running spacecraft has been exploring uncharted territory where the effects of interstellar space, or the space between stars, can be felt. Scientists don't know how thick this newfound region in the solar system is or how much farther Voyager 1 has to travel to break to the other side.

"It could actually be anytime or it could be several more years," said chief scientist Ed Stone of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the mission.

Stone first described this unexpected zone at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union last year. A trio of papers published online Thursday in the journal Science confirmed just how strange this new layer is.

Soon after Voyager 1 crossed into this region last August, low-energy charged particles that had been plentiful suddenly zipped outside while high-energy cosmic rays from interstellar space streamed inward. Readings by one of Voyager 1's instruments showed an abrupt increase in the magnetic field strength, but there was no change in the direction of the magnetic field lines – a sign that Voyager 1 has not yet exited the solar system.

[struggle4progress]

1. Sending good vibes to Voyager. Who among us doesn't get lost out there from time to time?

[jakeXT]

2. go johnny

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/music.html

[TeamPooka]

3. Vee Ger