John Richardson and John Belcher on Voyager 1's crossing and interstellar exploration
Tuesday, September 17, 2013 - 07:00
in Astronomy & Space
On Sept. 12, scientists announced that NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft had gone where no man or machine has gone before: beyond the solar system, and into interstellar space. According to data from the probe, Voyager 1 likely broke through the heliosphere—the bubble of charged particles given off by the sun—in August 2012. Its twin, Voyager 2, is not far behind; scientists estimate that it, too, will cross into interstellar space in the near future.