Slashdot Mirror
Voyager 1 May Be Caught Inside an Interstellar Flux Transfer Event
KentuckyFC writes "Last month, NASA declared that Earth's most distant probe had finally left the Solar System. But the announcement may now turn out to be premature. It was prompted by a dramatic increase in the density of plasma in the region of space the spacecraft is now in. However, there has been no change in the local magnetic field, which is what astrophysicists would expect if Voyager had entered interstellar space. Instead, space scientists think the probe may be caught inside a magnetic portal known as an interstellar flux transfer event. This occurs when the magnetic fields from two different objects briefly become connected through a tube-like magnetic structure. This process happens between the Earth and Sun's magnetic field about every eight minutes, so similar events are expected between the Sun's field and the interstellar field. This magnetic tube would allow particles in from outside the Solar System, increasing the density of plasma, while maintaining the same magnetic field. If so, Voyager 1 hasn't yet left the Solar System after all."
http://xkcd.com/1189/
It sounds like they have a problem with their flux capacitor.
Raise your hand if you fell for it this time.
Does this mean we have to go through another 'Voyager has now left the solar system' again?
The only need to accelerate to 88 miles per hour (141.6 km/h) to escape.
It's simple. Time to whip out the Tachyon beam, remodulate the shield frequency and it's on its way again! Just what are they thinking..
To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
Holy shit, that could cause a resonance cascade! We should reverse the polarity of the neutron flow* immediately!
*
Just reverse the polarity, and all should be well.
Shit always worked on Star Trek...
Now the real question is 88 mph in relation to what? :)
Reverse the polarity of the neutron flux!
That was the only bit of technobabble that Jon Pertwee would memorize, because is has meter. :)
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
I thought the NASA PR machine was turned off due to the Government shutdown.
I thought that it was stopped for the government shutdown?
Serious question, are projects like Voyager, the Mars Rovers and all that still being actively monitored, or are they just being left to fend for themselves during the shutdown?
Is 1563649 a prime number?
I hope that Voyager finished to leave the solar system by the time it reaches Andromeda.
Uhhh, ... I think we've all been insulted. But I'm honestly not sure how.
If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
I got to give it to them, it's a nice title.
I can't find any information on exactly who that is, but considering the importance of some projects I imagine those other 3% are there for a reason.
0 mph
rewriting history since 2109
Right now, there is a space alien laughing its ass off while it pulls voyager back into our solar system with a magnetic tractor beam.
HUR HUR HUR! EARTHLINGS FUNNY!!!!
They think reversing the connectors on Voyager's sensors is a big joke.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
I am endlessly entertained watching the Slashdot community discuss magnetic fields without any mention of the electrical currents which tend to be their cause down here on Earth.
Why would that be relevant? You can have strong magnetic fields in the presence of microscopic electric currents such as permanent magnets. And they're discussing this in the context of plasma, both from the Sun and from the interstellar environment. I understand there is some current in the Solar Wind, but one can easily explain magnetic fields on interstellar scales without requiring similar scale electrical fields or currents.
Honestly, I'm more fascinated by this. What effects does this have on the Earth's magnetic field?
... I still cared about the status of Voyager 1. Perhaps it still hasn't left the nest, probably all set up in the basement playing GTA V.
Personally, I am delighted at the name of this phenomenon, whoever made up that phrase was clearly watching too much science fiction that week, or more likely not enough. "Interstellar flux transfer event" ... can you not see that in a future SF script? "Captain, we are caught in an interstellar flux transfer event, if we don't break free we will [go back in time | be transferred to a remote part of the universe | be transferred to another universe | nothing]"
Bitter and proud of it.
Scotty: Captain! We're caught in an interstellar flux transfer event!"
Kirk: Is that worse than the heartbreak of psoriasis?
Can we launch a faster probe to catch up to and pass by Voyager? One with up to date instrumentation. Would that tell us anything?
We witnessed a space-sponge spontaneously move more than six feet!
Khaaaaaaan!
Oh, wait.
Table-ized A.I.
"Flux Transfer Event"? Yeah right. Caused by a failing Flux Capacitor, no doubt.
Table-ized A.I.
Can the slashdot guys put together some sort of scheduled job to post a "Voyager has left the solar system" every few days? Might save the editors a few minutes posting the article. Don't forget to include a number of AC's posting the "Obligatory XKCD" link
We're all going to find out there's some still-unexplained phenomenon where every object outside the solar system is actually much closer than it appears to us do to this flux event that distorts everything. We are told by the world's brightest scientists that everything is goddamn far away. Voyager 1 is going to go out and prove that all wrong. We used to think the Earth is flat.
--- We need more Ron Paul!
Who knew? I mean besides Ted Stevens of course.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
The claim that Voyager 1 has left the Solar System is incorrect. Voyager 1 was thought to have entered the interstellar medium, but it may be another 30,000 years before it crosses out of the Oort Cloud and finally leaves the Solar System.
"Caught" would imply that it can't exit the area or phenomenon. In fact it seems to be traveling through the phenomenon. It would be really interesting if its vector chaged, and I thought that was what the headline meant.
Bruce Perens.
So, it seems Voyager is still on the "magnetic highway" after all. I seem to recall during the discussion of the "magnetic highway" that some scientists were waiting for a change in the magnetic field before they claimed to have left the solar system. Somehow that got ignored when the plasma density data came out.
1.21 Jiggawatts!!
The magnetic fields involved in such things do involve macroscopic currents
That's an assertion without evidence. For example, solar system magnetic fields aren't generated by the weak current sheets that happen to be present, but rather by the intense and energetic processes happening in the star at the center.
how the magnetic fields are carried by plasma
Via microscopic currents in the plasma which pin the magnetic fields.
Just realign the flux capacitor, adjust the Heisenberg compensators, reverse the polarity, and whatever you do NEVER cross the streams and Voyager should be just fine. Really, it's that simple.
Best /. comment I have seen this year. Well done!
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Such plasma is solidly in the MHD regime, where magnetic fields are all from macroscopic current densities, not microscopic currents.
Hmmm, glancing at the equations, I don't see that assertion. The local current density is proportional to the curl of the magnetic field. If the magnetic field doesn't change much spatially or just happens to have a low curl for other reasons at a given scale, then it doesn't have a strong current at that scale. So you can have a strong macroscopic magnetic field without a strong macroscopic current in an MHD regime.
An example would be a static MHD regime plasma with a strong external magnetic field going through it (this incidentally being crudely the model I'm thinking of with the region in the shape of a spherical shell, excluding a neighborhood of the Sun and the interstellar environment).
In the case of the solar wind, I gather the primary dynamic is a more or less spherically symmetric outflow of plasma from the Sun (at least till you get near the edge of the heliosphere). That flow, being near curlless, wouldn't contribute to the curl of any magnetic fields pinned to the plasma in question.
So I have to say that I still don't see the comparable macroscopic currents.
Having said all this, I must admit that I overstated my original claim. I should not have been as confident in it as I was.