NASA`s Voyager 1 spacecraft is one robust vehicle. Operating for over 35 years and logging more than 123 AU (that`s 123 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun) or about 18 BILLION km, Voyager 1 is about to enter a new region of space at the edge of our Solar System named the "Magnetic Highway".
spacedaily reports:
"NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new region at the far reaches of our solar system that scientists feel is the final area the spacecraft has to cross before reaching interstellar space.
Scientists refer to this new region as a magnetic highway for charged particles because our sun's magnetic field lines are connected to interstellar magnetic field lines.
This connection allows lower-energy charged particles that originate from inside our heliosphere - or the bubble of charged particles the sun blows around itself - to zoom out and allows higher-energy particles from outside to stream in. Before entering this region, the charged particles bounced around in all directions, as if trapped on local roads inside the heliosphere.'
cosmologically speaking that`s barely leaving the front door of your house, still a grand and epic voyage. I`m sure many interesting discoveries await it.
more here
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