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Three months ago NASA denied that Voyager 1 left the solar system. But seems like, it is about to leave the solar system. Recently scientists have announced that last summer Voyager 1 entered weird region in space.

Since last summer, the long-running spacecraft has been exploring uncharted territory where the effects of interstellar space, or the space between stars, can be felt. Scientists don’t know how thick this new found region in the solar system is or how much farther Voyager 1 has to travel to break to the other side.

Last August after Voyager 1 crossed into an “unexpected zone,” low-energy charged particles that had been plentiful suddenly zipped outside while high-energy cosmic rays from interstellar space streamed inward. Readings by one of Voyager 1’s instruments showed an abrupt increase in the magnetic field strength, but there was no change in the direction of the magnetic field lines – a sign that Voyager 1 has not yet exited the solar system.

However, everyone is excited for the Voyagers – Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, which were launched in 1977 to visit the giant gas planets and now are the farthest human-made objects in space, to leave the heliosphere and enter interstellar space. But that hasn’t happened yet. Still, astronomers have picked up two of the three signs they expected to see when Voyager 1 exists the heliosphere. On the other side, scientists aren’t sure exactly how large the heliosphere is, so they don’t know when Voyager 1 will exit. It may be months or years.

Source: NASA
Thanks To: PopSci

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