[meteorite-list] Voyager 1 enters heliosheath

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed May 25 13:57:40 2005
Message-ID: <87f991taqtmso2nric6nmvu0ks4p91ubm2_at_4ax.com>

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/2234078562

Voyager I Probe Enters Solar System's Final Frontier
May 25, 2005 12:41 p.m. EST
Matthew Borghese - All Headline News Contributor

WASHINGTON (AHN) ? According to Edward Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute
of Technology in Pasadena, the Voyager I space probe "has entered the final lap on its race to the
edge of interstellar space, as it begins exploring the solar system's final frontier."

Scientists say that the Voyager I is now 8.7 billion miles from the sun, and has entered the
heliosheath.

The heliosheath is the scientific term for the region beyond termination shock, which is the
critical boundary that marks the transition from the solar system into interstellar space. Beyond
this, is the heliopause, a section where the pressure of the interstellar winds and the solar winds
are in balance.

Scientists at NASA have posted a message on their website detailing how Voyager has ?passed through
the termination shock into the slower, denser wind beyond."

Voyager I is the furthest man-made object from Earth, and scientist Eric Christian, of NASA's
Sun-Solar System Connection research program in Washington, says that, "Voyager's observations over
the past few years show that the termination shock is far more complicated than anyone thought."

According to NASA, once Voyager I passes through the heliopause, it will be in interstellar space.


Useful info here:


http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/ssl/pad/solar/suess/Interstellar_Probe/ISP-ObservObj.html
Received on Wed 25 May 2005 02:00:56 PM PDT