Posted on Friday, September 13, 2013
According to NASA the space probe Voyager 1 has left the influence of the Sun and entered the interstellar space.
It did so already a year ago in August 2012, however the study about it was published just now.
So what makes it so special that it's all over the science news?
Because it's the first human-made object to reach the interstellar space.
And that is saying something.
Voyager 1 was a part of the twin Voyager missions of the Grand Tour, to visit the outer planets. Voyager 1 visited Jupiter and Saturn and Voyager 2 visited Uranus and Neptune as well. Both of the spacecraft brought new knowledge about the outer planets.
Voyager 1 is not the only man-made object to be leaving the Solar System however, Pioneer 10 is also leaving and heading for the star Aldebaran, but it lost contact ten years ago. Pioneer 11 is also on it's way out, heading towards the constellation Aquila and naturally there's also Voyager 2 and New Horizons.
Labels: interstellar space, Voyager 1