Voyager 1 May Be Caught Inside an Interstellar Flux Transfer Event

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Voyager 1 May Be Caught Inside an Interstellar Flux Transfer Event

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday October 2, 2013 @08:32AM from the at-least-it's-not-stuck-in-the-delta-quadrant dept.

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."

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Obligatory XKCD by Anonymous Coward · 2013-10-02 08:34 · Score: 5, Funny

http://xkcd.com/1189/
1. Re:Obligatory XKCD by CastrTroy · 2013-10-02 08:53 · Score: 2
  
  I've always wondered if that comic is a static image, or if it actually accurately represents the number of times Voyager 1 has left the solar system, and gets updated.
  
  --
  
  Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
2. Re:Obligatory XKCD by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · 2013-10-02 08:55 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Doc: Bye, Marty! Yaaa hoooo! It worked! It worked! I sent him out of the solar system!
  Marty McVoyager in a different shirt runs up behind him: Doc! I'm back.
  Doc: Guuuuuuuuuhhhhhh!!!!!
  Marty: I'm back. I'm back from interstellar space!
  Doc: Great Scott! It must be the interstellar flux transit event capacitor!
  
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  (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
3. Re:Obligatory XKCD by Tobenisstinky · 2013-10-02 09:23 · Score: 2
  
  Not to be left out...
  http://www.joyoftech.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1900.html
  
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  wha'? where am i?
4. Re:Obligatory XKCD by bondsbw · 2013-10-02 09:34 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Voyager has simply entered the quantum superposition layer of our solar system, where it is inside the solar system, in interstellar space, maybe somewhere between, a dead cat, and a live mega-spaceship, all at the same time.
  
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  All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
5. Re:Obligatory XKCD by Bite+The+Pillow · 2013-10-02 16:22 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  We keep discovering NEW SHIT. There's new shit out there, and we keep finding it. We don't know what it means because we haven't left the fucking SOLAR SYSTEM before. It's kind of a big deal.
  Science is pretty much built on being wrong, and looking at the data again, and fixing whatever was wrong. One team studies something and one signal is gone, so we left the solar system. But another team looks at different data and we haven't.
  Imagine coming across from China, seeing Hawaii, and seeing an island. The new world! Oops, that was just an island, next one is new world. Oops, next one. Oops, next one. Wait, where did the land go? LAND! Oh crap, it's a bay. There's land! FINALLY!
  It's like playing the old game "is this my ass or another roll of fat?" Or the relatively new game "is that a hot chick or Fabio?" or "is this movie going to be any good?" or "is this story a dupe?" or "where does the pee pee go for sexy time?"
  You are going to lose plenty of times before winning. That's how we find completely new shit about the universe. Is that a human like species, or a chimpanzee that will rip my face off? I don't know it's fucking new! It might eat me and digest me and shit me out and throw my turd corpse at zoo visitors, because the other visitors laugh and I think it's what I should be doing. Someone has to die for science, I'd rather be behind someone, applauding and pushing them into certain death.
  But when that guy dies, I'm going to write down how he died, so that the next poor fucker doesn't die exactly the same way. More information, more new shit that we didn't know before. Go for it, die for science, and let's all LEARN SHIT.
6. Re:Obligatory XKCD by drkim · 2013-10-02 16:54 · Score: 2
  
  If you know the exact distance where the solar system ends, please inform the people working on the Voyager program and save them the trouble...
  This is all so arbitrary and semantic.
  All we have to do is declare Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune to no longer be planets, and then we can say that Voyager left the Solar System when it passed the orbit apogee of Mars.
Well of course not. by rubmytummy · 2013-10-02 08:37 · Score: 4, Funny

Raise your hand if you fell for it this time.
Oh nos! by fredrated · 2013-10-02 08:41 · Score: 2

Does this mean we have to go through another 'Voyager has now left the solar system' again?
1. Re:Oh nos! by Horshu · 2013-10-02 15:00 · Score: 2
  
  And again in 30,000 years when Voyager gets past the Oort Cloud and *really* leaves the solar system.
Re:It sounds like they have a problem with their f by swoolley2076 · 2013-10-02 08:41 · Score: 2

The only need to accelerate to 88 miles per hour (141.6 km/h) to escape.
An interstellar flux transfer event?? by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · 2013-10-02 08:43 · Score: 2

Holy shit, that could cause a resonance cascade! We should reverse the polarity of the neutron flow* immediately!

*
Easy fix... by superdave80 · 2013-10-02 08:44 · Score: 4, Funny

Just reverse the polarity, and all should be well.
Shit always worked on Star Trek...
1. Re:Easy fix... by dubbayu_d_40 · 2013-10-02 09:13 · Score: 2
  
  Wait, did Darth Vader came down from Planet Vulcan and tell you that?
Re:Tachyon beam by geekoid · 2013-10-02 08:52 · Score: 2

That can't work, you reversed nothing!

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The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
Re:It sounds like they have a problem with their f by TyFoN · 2013-10-02 08:53 · Score: 2

Now the real question is 88 mph in relation to what? :)
Re:It sounds like they have a problem with their f by lgw · 2013-10-02 08:53 · Score: 3, Informative

Reverse the polarity of the neutron flux!
That was the only bit of technobabble that Jon Pertwee would memorize, because is has meter. :)

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Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
NASA PR machine by Animats · 2013-10-02 09:01 · Score: 3, Insightful

I thought the NASA PR machine was turned off due to the Government shutdown.
1. Re:NASA PR machine by hobarrera · 2013-10-02 13:44 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  This is just part of a cron script that send a news "Voyager I just left the solar system" once a month to the media. No human intervention required.
Re:Magnetic tubes by I'm+New+Around+Here · 2013-10-02 09:09 · Score: 3, Funny

Uhhh, ... I think we've all been insulted. But I'm honestly not sure how.

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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.
Re:Tachyon beam by bobbied · 2013-10-02 09:09 · Score: 2

Are you certain that will fix it?

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"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Re:Tachyon beam by The+Grim+Reefer · 2013-10-02 09:43 · Score: 2

That can't work, you reversed nothing!
Nor was it rerouted through the main deflector.
Re:It sounds like they have a problem with their f by JustOK · 2013-10-02 09:43 · Score: 5, Funny

0 mph

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rewriting history since 2109
Earth-Sun magnetic connection by petsounds · 2013-10-02 09:58 · Score: 2

Honestly, I'm more fascinated by this. What effects does this have on the Earth's magnetic field?
Re:Voyager's Still Going by Jade_Wayfarer · 2013-10-02 18:48 · Score: 2

Its ingrained for sure!

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Absence of proof != proof of absence.