Voyager 1 Left Our Solar System – A Year Ago
Keith’s 11 Sep 7:00 pm EDT note: Looks like NASA will admit on Thursday that Voyager 1 has indeed left our solar system, but that it did so more than a year ago. NASA prefers Yes/No answers i.e. has it or has it not crossed that imaginary dotted line that is in place around the edge of our solar system.
The press event will be at 2:00 pm EDT. NASA has still not sent out a media advisory.
What’s sort of funny is how all of the science types go back and forth as to whether Voyager 1 has or has not crossed this imaginary line that marks the boundary of our solar system – when no one has never been to the place where that line is – and the line is based on things we expect to find – but we don’t exactly know when/where that magic line crossing will actually happen (or have already happened).
What I want to know is when Voyager 1 becomes VGER. Just wondering.
Jonathan McDowell agrees and wants NASA to rename Voyager 1 as “VGER” now – i.e. “Voyager Grand Extrasolar Recon”.
What say you?
– A Porous, Layered Heliopause,
– NASA Is Not Sure if Voyager 1 Has Left The Solar System, earlier post
– Is Voyager 1 in Interstellar Space? The Debate Continues, earlier post
– Has Voyager 1 Left The Solar System?, earlier post
Keith’s 12 Sep 11:00 am EDT update: NASA PAO finally squeezed out a media advisory.
NASA News Conference Today To Discuss Voyager Spacecraft
“NASA will host a news conference today at 2 p.m. EDT (11 a.m. PDT), to discuss NASA’s Voyager mission. It is related to a paper to be published in the journal Science, which is embargoed until 2 p.m. EDT.”
Confirmed: NASA’s Voyager 1 is Travelling in Interstellar Space, NASA
“New and unexpected data indicate Voyager 1 has been traveling for about one year through plasma, or ionized gas, present in the space between stars.”
Yes definitely VGER.
It’s cool… but no, lol
I wouldn’t geek it up anymore than necessary, it should be Voyager 1 from 1977 forever more.
What is cool though is that Voyager actually left the solar system over a year ago and the experts didn’t know it!
Well, it only transmits data every few months. And then there’s the time to digest the data to figure out what it’s saying. Nevermind that since this is the first object to get anywhere near the solar system’s boundary, the definition of the boundary isn’t exactly concrete yet.
Plus I think I read that it long ago lost the use of the instrument designed to detect exactly this thing so they’ve had to infer from other evidence.
I agree. Trekies got Enterprise. Come on. Would they really rename it after the vehicle from the Sci-Fi of an odd-numbered Star Trek movie? Spare me! 😉
I’m in full agreement. Naming the shuttle flight test article “Enterprise” made sense, because it hadn’t been named or flown yet, so hey, why not? On the other hand, changing the name of Voyager 1 to VGER would be like walking into the KSC visitor center, ripping the name off of Atlantis, and replacing it with “Moonraker”. Voyager 1 actually went where no one has gone before in real life; V’Ger is fictional. I see no reason to stomp on Voyager 1’s proud past.
Well, since NASA doesn’t determine scientific consensus, I’m going to wait for the scientific community to come to a consensus on the issue. After all, that’s how science works.
VGER. Great acronym idea for a name update. They do it all the time for other missions, why not?
Luis Vazquez
< Voyager 1 has or has not crossed this imaginary line… >
Humm… More like an imaginary sphere, or perhaps an imaginary oval, who knows 🙂
VGER–cool idea. We named a shuttle Enterprise, so why not? No worse than naming the ISS treadmill after Stephen Colbert. As for the solar system boundary, when you think about it, it’s not that surprising given what they are trying to do, using 40 year old technology on a spaceship that was designed for a different mission. Imagine being on a rowboat trying to decide if you’ve left the Mississippi River and are in the Gulf of Mexico. Or better yet, trying to figure out when you have left the Gulf and are in the Atlantic. There are no road signs saying “You are here,” and if there is such a thing as the Galactic Positioning System, the owners haven’t yet dropped by to show us how to program our TomToms. But maybe now that we’ve pedaled our bicycle out onto the galactic highway, they will.
I say this is what science is: taking in information, figuring things out, learning as we go. There are lots of places no one has ever been….
I was hoping to ‘like’ the V’GER comment. I guess this will do. It will take some work to replicate Lieutenant Ilia. RIP Persis Khambatta.
Since the boundary of the solar system is so hard to define, why not partition space into solar systems according to a Voronoi decomposition?
I guess the downside there is that Voyager will not be leaving our solar system under that definition in our lifetimes…
Don’t we have to be sure the Oort Cloud exists before we build it into the definition of our solar system boundary?
This is a great story, but the xkcd comic:
http://xkcd.com/1189/
contains a kernel of truth – Aside from the number of times this story has appeared, or been argued publicly (a great education for nonscientists), or been denied, the misleading part is the lack of a discussion of the expanding and shrinking heliosphere, a product of the solar cyclic variation of the solar wind speed. Voyager one may cross and re-cross that boundary more than once; indeed, it’s likely to.
Still, the first time is an inspiring story, and reminds us of a time when NASA’s imagination was literally unbounded.
One can still argue that Voyager 1 has not left the Solar System but I accept the conclusions and consensus of the Voyager team that Voyager 1 now resides in Interstellar Space. That space is defined by its particles and fields which the JPL team and Co-Is have now agreed has been measured since August 2012. Here on out, the influence of the Oort Cloud bodies is likely very tenuous. Any particles expelled from their surfaces are no doubt under the influence of Interstellar electromagnetic fields not those of the Sun. It can be fairly argued that part of the Solar System is real estate, a lot, that resides in Interstellar space. As much time and discourse that has transpired involving the spacecraft “leaving the building”, if you will, I am inspired! I’ve read both communiques from today (2013-277,2013-278). Congratulations to Ed Stone and team! Congratulations to Dr. Ness and Dr. Gurnett who I’ve had the opportunity to meet. I had the chance to hold the backup electronics board of one of the Voyager instruments. It was amazing. Basic transistors and electrical components akin to an old transistor radio. It is no wonder, the spacecraft has tolerated the harsh conditions of space travel for 36 years. Its tough, hardened by the simple nature of its construction. The Voyager missions are truly awe-inspiring and I will continue to hang upon every word of data that Dr. Stone and team brings to our attention. Dr. Stone did not throw caution to the Wind – haha, and the announcement truly brings a smile to my face. If you have a chance, visit the Von Karmann auditorium at JPL and marvel at the cadillacs of early space exploration – mockups of Galileo, Cassini, Pioneer and Voyager. Today’s announcement is awe-inspiring.
Now we can see if anything in inter-steller space is blocking the SETI signals. I wonder how far Voyager could radio in if the generator would last long enough. From how far the signal has dropped to and from, the distance were the signal will disappear can be found. SETI people should have calculated this and could tell us what size dish and power output would be needed to pick up a signal 10 light years away. How about resolution? Voyager can pick out the signal from the Sun. At 10 LY, can a single DSN dish pick a same signal as the strongest it can put out from an alien planet? If so, then there is no one out there. SETI has said they are looking for a special made beacon. Using the drop off from Voyager, how strong does it have to be?