REAL LIFE NEWS: VOYAGING INTO THE UNKNOWN
by Hazed
The Voyager 1 space probe has spent the last 35 years heading away from us, to the outer reaches of the Solar System. Now it’s passed another landmark as it enters an entirely new region of space.
This area on the fringes of our star system has been dubbed the Magnetic Highway for charged particles. The magnetic field lines from our sun meet the interstellar magnetic field lines, and the connection allows particles to move from one area to the other, zooming from inside to out of Sol, and vice versa.
There’s more info about the magnetic highway, and a video showing the movement of particles, at the source link below.
It’s amazing to think that Voyager 1 is still going strong after all these years. It is the most far-away object ever launched from Earth, and it’s now 11 billion miles away, moving at almost 11 miles per second.
It could be a couple of years - or as little as just a few months - before the spacecraft finally leaves Sol to travel into interstellar space proper. Uncharted territory indeed!
