41 years after launch, Voyager 2 reaches interstellar space: NASA

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Voyager 2 is currently located at a distance more than 18 billion kilometres from Earth.
Voyager 2 is currently located at a distance more than 18 billion kilometres from Earth.

New Delhi : NASA's Voyager 2 creates history by becoming the second human-made object to reach the edge of our solar system. The spacecraft exited the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun, confirms US space agency, NASA.

Voyager 1 crossed the border way back in 2012 but Voyager 2 which was launched 41 years ago reached the boundary now. It carries a working instrument that will provide first-of-its-kind observations of the nature of this gateway into interstellar space.

Scientists say that Voyager 2 is currently located at a distance more than 18 billion kilometres from Earth. Both the probes have left the heliosphere but yet left to explore the solar system, the US space agency said.

After comparing the data received, scientists believe that the probe crossed the outer edge of the heliosphere on November 5. 

By boundary they mean, the heliopause where the tenuous, hot solar wind meets the cold, dense interstellar medium. Mission operators are still in contact with Voyager 2 as it enters this new phase of its journey, but information of moving at the speed of light takes about 16.5 hours to travel from the spacecraft to Earth. 

The most inspiring evidence of Voyager 2’s exit from the heliosphere came from its onboard Plasma Science Experiment (PLS), an instrument that stopped working on Voyager 1 in 1980, long before that probe crossed the heliopause.

“Working on Voyager makes me feel like an explorer, because everything we’re seeing is new,” said John Richardson, principal investigator for the PLS instrument.

For now, NASA is preparing an additional mission, the upcoming Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), to be launched in 2024. The mission is to capitalise on the Voyagers’ observations.

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