"Voyager 1" has left the solar system - Spiegel Online

What do the rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Chuck Berry, the exceptional pianist Glenn Gould and the controversial due to its wartime past Kurt Waldheim, Austrian politician have in common? They are – immortalized on records, scurrying for 36 years on board of two very special spacecraft through space – along with other people. With approximately 60,000 kilometers per hour, it goes away from the earth. The so-called Golden Records aboard the “Voyager” twin probes are meant as messages to alien life forms – even if it would be unlikely that they will ever be played

.

“Voyager 1″ and “Voyager 2″ long, the two man-made objects that are farthest from the earth. However, if “Voyager 1″, the faster of the two probes, our solar system has already left, experts argue about for some time. Interim reports of success had to be later collected as often again. But now it seems to actually give evidence that the distant research probe has reached interstellar space. There, about 18.8 billion kilometers from Earth, the magnetic field of our sun has no influence, but the gravitational well. (The exact position of the probe can be found here.)

in the journal “Science” researchers report by Donald Gurnett of the University of Iowa from current “Voyager” metrics. Thus, the scientists had observed caused by the solar plasma waves in the region around the probe in the spring of this year and it closed on the electron density. The time was, according to the calculations of the teams 0,008 free electrons per cubic centimeter. The first is close to the value assumed for the interstellar medium – and, secondly, about 80 times higher than within the heliosphere

.

recalculation and using measurement data from last fall, the researchers then determined that the probe is already over a year ago, around the 25th Around August 2012, has left the sphere of influence of the sun. “Now that we have new and crucial data, we believe that this is the historic step of humanity in the interstellar space,” exults NASA project scientist Edward Stone. In the past he had always expressed skepticism about analysis, after which the probe has already achieved the so-called the heliopause.

For such reports, there had been time and again, around March of Bill Webber of the New Mexico State University in Las Cruces and colleagues in the journal “Geophysical Research Letters”. Also there was the August 2012 been called. And most recently researchers had to Marc Swisdak from the University of Maryland reported in the “Astrophysical Journal Letters” of model calculations, according to which the probe had left the solar system end of July 2012. All these results are now confirmed in principle.

performance of the on-board batteries continuously drops

the previous research project scientist Stone had insisted that measurements of the magnetic field would have to acknowledge the historic step – because that is reversed at the boundary of the solar system. However, these measurements are still not. Now the data should be sufficient to electron density.

Actually, the historical moment should be determined exactly where the probe leaves the solar system. For this, the “Voyager” Twins finally have each a special exhibition apparatus, the plasma spectrometer on board. But that’s when “Voyager 1″ long since broken. Actually, more than half of the instruments have become defective or disabled. The performance of the three radionuclide aboard sinks resistant.

Plasma Spectrometer on board the “Voyager 2″ Although still works, but the probe has not yet advanced so far into space for a slightly lower starting speed. However, for many professionals actually seem the new results of the missing piece of the puzzle to locate “Voyager 1″ in interstellar space. Perhaps it is also available in the coming years a confirmation of the magnetic field measurements – before the measuring probe in 2025 be shut down due to power shortage

.

“Voyager” team time was used to interpret the data, says Stone, who is not one of the authors of the current “Science” paper. “Now we can answer the question that we asked ourselves: ‘Are we there yet?’ – Yes, we are. ” But not all researchers share Stones enthusiasm. In a news article “Science” cited as Geroge Lennard Fisk and Gloeckler of the University of Michigan. And both insist that the results could be explained in another way -., And “Voyager 1″ is still flying at the outer boundary of the solar system

So what if “Voyager 1″ is not this time advanced into the space between the stars? The U.S. cartoonist Randall Munroe aka xkcd would thus be best realized. From him comes a little cartoon showing the number of times in which the probe has reportedly left the solar system. Exactly 22 dashes appear on the image. Nothing easier than as add one more.

div

track of the news

Help Get hold of free news services:

everything from the category Science

Twitter | RSS

everything from the category Space

RSS

everything about solar system

RSS