Voyager 2: NASA’s Solar System Explorer reaches interstellar space
NASA’s Voyager 2 has exited heliosphere and has entered interstellar space. It is now at 11 billion miles from the earth. Information from the spacecraft takes 16.5 hours to reach earth at the speed of light. (Light from the sun takes 8 minutes to reach earth)
The spacecraft joined its twin voyager 1 on December 10, 2018. The Voyagers were launched to study the outer solar system up close. Voyager 2 will target Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus.
Evidence
Till November 5, 2019, the space around the spacecraft was surrounded by plasma flowing out from the sun. This outflow is called solar wind and envelopes the planets in the solar system. However, recently, scientists detected no electrical current of plasma to detect density, pressure, temperature. This confirms that the spacecraft has left the heliosphere and entered inter stellar space.
The firsts
- Voyager 2 is the first spacecraft to study all four planets together. It includes Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus
- It is the first spacecraft that discovered 14th moon of Jupiter.
- It is the first human-made object to fly by Neptune
- Voyager 2 also discovered 5 moons of Neptune. It identified a “Great Dark Spot” at Neptune. Also the spacecraft discovered that there are four rings around Neptune.
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Month: Current Affairs - November, 2019