It's Official: Voyager 1 Is an Interstellar Probe

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It's Official: Voyager 1 Is an Interstellar Probe

Posted by timothy on Thursday September 12, 2013 @06:58AM from the take-that-former-soviet-union dept.

astroengine writes "After a 35-year, 11-billion mile journey, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft left the solar system to become the first human-made object to reach interstellar space, new evidence from a team of scientists shows. 'It's kind of like landing on the moon. It's a milestone in history. Like all science, it's exploration. It's new knowledge,' long-time Voyager scientist Donald Gurnett, with the University of Iowa, told Discovery News. The first signs that the spacecraft had left the solar system's heliopause was a sudden drop in solar particles and a corresponding increase in cosmic rays in 2012, but this evidence alone wasn't conclusive. Through indirect means, scientist analyzing oscillations along the probe's 10-meter (33-foot) antennas were able to deduce that Voyager was traveling through a less dense medium — i.e. interstellar space." You can watch NASA's briefing on the probe's progress here.

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Obligatory XKCD by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-12 07:00 · Score: 5, Funny

http://xkcd.com/1189/
1. Re:Obligatory XKCD by dywolf · 2013-09-12 07:47 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  "No, we really mean it this time!"
  
  --
  The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
2. Re:Obligatory XKCD by ArsonSmith · 2013-09-12 07:59 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  In mothers voice, "Damn it Voyager, In or out make up your mind and close the damn door."
  
  --
  Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
Thanks Obama! by realmolo · 2013-09-12 07:07 · Score: 4, Funny

We have plenty of our own problems here on Earth! Why is a government-built probe going into interstellar space? Is Obama trying to make health-care truly "universal"? I suppose if our own "illegal aliens" get free health care, why shouldn't Andromedans?
Keep alien overlords out of my health care!
1. Re:Thanks Obama! by SecurityTheatre · 2013-09-12 07:34 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Woosh...
  The sound of Voyager leaving the solar system..... over your head. :-)
Re:voyager has left the solar system. by GameboyRMH · 2013-09-12 07:08 · Score: 5, Funny

They use the same math behind the Vista file copying progress bar to judge its distance.

--
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Re:Bark at the moon by Dunbal · 2013-09-12 07:52 · Score: 5, Funny

Yeah so awesome. Now try to get your astronauts off the international space station without using a Soyuz capsule. Awesome.

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Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Dupe! by Solandri · 2013-09-12 08:23 · Score: 5, Funny

This story has already appeared on Slashdot multiple times:

March 2013
December 2011
December 2010
May 2005
November 2003

Is it too much to ask that the editors do their jobs and search for dupes before approving a submission?