The Voyager probes were plunge in the 1970s with the goal of study the planets of our Solar System . Now , their decades - long journey through the cosmos has allow for astronomers to see about how the Sun regulate the blank space environment far beyond the orbit of Neptune .
Luckily , the investigation were in the right topographic point at the right time to detect an ejection of plasma from the Sun , allowing research worker to bring out new information about the distant edges of the Solar System . The determination are reported inThe Astrophysical Journal .
The Sun incessantly emits a stream of subatomic particle have it off as the solar wind . These have carve a cavum within the interstellar medium and we call this part the heliosphere . By analyzing the properties of the solar plasm , astronomers have been capable to delineate sure part within the heliosphere .
All the known planet are located within a boundary known as the termination electric shock . Beyond this boundary , the focal ratio of the solar confidential information drop curtain short due to the pressing of interstellar material . This part is called the heliosheath . The edge of the heliosheath ( and heliosphere ) , is yell the heliopause . Crossing it formally take you into interstellar space .
Voyager 1 fuck off to the heliopause in August 2012 and Voyager 2 crossed it justlast class . So for a while , the two spacecraft were on polar sides of the boundary . And their positions were key to obtaining an important measurement .
In mid-2012 , a spheric integrated interaction region ( GMIR ) formed . A GMIR can appear when several releases of particle from the Sun combine in a denser region with a gamey magnetic field of honor . The Voyager probes had experienced and studiedGMIRs before , but the one from 2012 make researchers the chance to attend at it from both side of the heliopause . The GMIR be active through blank space and hit Voyager 2 , with Voyager 1 transcription a similar sign about 130 day afterwards . That ’s just over three month since Voyager 1 had get in interstellar blank space .
Although the data are limited , under the assumption that the two signal correspond to the same outcome , the team was able to estimate the speed of strait in the heliosheath . They also estimated its pressure level , which is very close to the lowest possible pressure we can produce in the lab .
[ H / T : Gizmodo ]
