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Voyager 1 Sends Messages from the Edge
dalmozian writes "NASA's Latest News about the Voyager 1 is being run on Sci-Tech. The Voyager has passed into the border region at the edge of the solar system and now is sending back information about this never-before-explored area, say scientists at the University of Maryland. From the article: 'Voyager 1 and its twin spacecraft Voyager 2 are now part of a NASA Interstellar Mission to explore the outermost edge of the sun's domain and beyond. Both Voyagers are capable of returning scientific data from a full range of instruments, with adequate electrical power and attitude control propellant to keep operating until 2020.'" The proof of crossing the termination shock was covered earlier this year but now we can see the actual data.
from TFA The Voyagers each carry a message to any extraterrestrials they might encounter. Each messages is carried by a phonograph record -- a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth.d
To find out more about the message - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Recor
sarchasm
Anomalous cosmic rays are particles accelerated at the termination shock. They are anomalous inasmuch as they have a different spectrum to the incredibly high energy cosmic rays that come from outside of the solar system. No-one knew what caused these particles originally so they were labelled "anomalous". In fact the unrolling of the spectrum of the ACRs was critical evidence that we had reached the TS. And I'm not sure what you mean when you say the energetic particles are "coming from somewhere else that we don't know"?
Whilst there's lots about the TS that is suprising and exciting and that we don't understand, it is not quite as mysterious as barawn makes out.
As for Voyager 2 - it has a fully working plasma instrument that will give direct measurements of the plasma temperature, density, pressure, flow speed and so on, something we didn't have for V1. Is was the lack of proper plasma measurements that led to some teams claming V1 had crossed the TS and then recanting these claims.
There may still be argument over this as the wheel was invented about 3000 B.C. However, Egypt was supposedly quite late in getting wheel technology.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Six it is.... which took me about fifteen seconds to check on Google.
According to wikipedia, it was launched in the 1980s or 1990s; I've a funny feeling the film must have said the "late 20th century", though I can't remember for sure, but we're certainly behind schedule. By the time we've launched Voyager 6 and got it back, Persis Baldgirl isn't going to worth getting taken over.
Seriously, a pretty good film; less "Star Trekky" than the others IMHO, which might be why some hardcore fans dislike it (I'm not that big a fan of the original series, personally).
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That's one theory that's been suggested, but there are many more. While the RTG explanation seems most likely, many scientists hold to the idea that the RTG doesn't produce *enough* thrust to cause the anomaly.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
There has been controversy over Pluto's status as a planet for several years. Many scientists now believe that Pluto should be more properly classified as the largest Kuiper Belt Object ever found. This is due to Pluto's size, its unusual composition, and odd orbit. Pluto's orbit is actually sort of like that of a Kuiper Belt object. Some comets do come from the Kuiper Belt, but I don't think people would actually classify Pluto as a comet because its orbit never takes it close enough to the Sun for Pluto to develop the classic comet tail.
Well, we know that you're not an astrophysicist. :-P
Do a little reading on Pluto, and you should understand. There's a huge debate about the whole "is it a planet, is it not a planet, it's just too small, but then what is a continent", etc.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Yeah sure all we need is a deep space antenna and we will total own it. Oh yeah I don't have one of those.
Thalasar
"Die carbon-based lifeforms die!"
is what it translates to.
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Actually, they've solved that one. There were a lot of lemon-slice shaped bits lying around the sites that nobody had understood the purpose of, until an archaeologist noted that if you bind them to the sides of the block, they turn the whole thing into a sort of wheel shape. Draw a circle, then a square inside it with the corners touching the rim. Those four round sections you find lying outside the square are the shapes they found by the dozens. Wrap cables around the square bit in the middle and roll it up. Still a big job, but a lot less impossible that way.
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
Isn't the Earth-Moon system also technically a binary planet?
Yeah, some astronomers have suggested that. The problem is, as explained in an adjacent article, the term "planet" has never actually had a proper astronomical definition. There's an IAU panel working now to settle the terminological debate. The current proposal is that "planet" by itself be delisted as an astronomical term. They suggest that a modifier be required before "planet".
Part of the debate is that there's a significant crowd that objects to classification terms that depend on things that are not properties of the object. Or, at least, we should make a strict distinction between terms that describe an object, and terms that describe its relationship to other objects.
This would mean, for example, that the question of whether Luna and Titan are planets or moons would be answered "Yes." They are planets that are orbiting another planet as moons. But others insists that they won't allow something to be both a planet and a moon.
The Earth-Luna pair is an interesting case, because it's somewhat borderline. The common center of gravity is inside the Earth, but close to the surface. Another interesting bit of trivia is that the Lunar path around the Sun is everywhere convex (relative to the Sun) This means that it's more accurate to describe Earth-Luna as a pair that share an orbit around their common primary, rather than one orbiting the other.
But it's all rather silly, because there's no agreed-on definition of "planet". The term just refers to a historical list that is looking less and less relevant with time.
Anyway, stay tuned. Maybe the IAU will settle the matter, at least for those of us who consider their opinion important. Most likely, they'll just discard the term. If they do define it as an isolated term, the result will be a rewriting of the list of planets in the Solar System, as the current list is starting to look somewhat inappropriate.
It's too bad that the universe isn't cooperative enough to fit into a classification scheme that someone invented a few centuries back.
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
No, he means what he says. The interstellar medium is a very sparse gas indeed, but it is a gas, and there is such a thing as a speed of sound in it. Sure, it's not significant in most circumstances, but the Sun makes a hell of a lot of noise :-)
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.