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Nasa's Voyager 2 Probe 'Leaves the Solar System' (bbc.co.uk)
The Voyager 2 probe, which left Earth in 1977, has become the second human-made object to leave our Solar System. From a report: It was launched 16 days before its twin craft, Voyager 1, but that probe's faster trajectory meant that it was in "the space between the stars" six years before Voyager 2. The news was revealed at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in Washington. And chief scientist on the mission, Prof Edward Stone, confirmed it.
He said both probes had now "made it into interstellar space" and that Voyager 2's date of departure from the Solar System was 5 November 2018. On that date, the steady stream of particles emitted from the Sun that were being detected by the probe suddenly dipped. This indicated that it had crossed the "heliopause" -- the term for the outer edge of the Sun's protective bubble of particles and magnetic field. And while its twin craft beat it to this boundary, the US space agency says that Voyager 2 has a working instrument aboard that will provide "first-of-its-kind observations of the nature of this gateway into interstellar space".
He said both probes had now "made it into interstellar space" and that Voyager 2's date of departure from the Solar System was 5 November 2018. On that date, the steady stream of particles emitted from the Sun that were being detected by the probe suddenly dipped. This indicated that it had crossed the "heliopause" -- the term for the outer edge of the Sun's protective bubble of particles and magnetic field. And while its twin craft beat it to this boundary, the US space agency says that Voyager 2 has a working instrument aboard that will provide "first-of-its-kind observations of the nature of this gateway into interstellar space".
Voyager 2 has entered interstellar space (i.e. crossed the heliopause, the boundary where the Sun's solar wind is stopped by the interstellar medium), but it hasn't left the solar system (the spherical area of space gravitationally bound to the Sun). The Oort Cloud, by current estimates, extends 10-2,000 times farther out than Voyagers 1 & 2 are now. The probes are expected to reach the inner edge of the Oort Cloud in ~300 years. The popular idea of the solar system ends at Pluto, but we know of many objects orbiting far beyond that.
Voyager 2 has an additional instrument that Voyager 1 lacked during its crossing:
Table-ized A.I.
You missed your chance to quote Douglas Adams.
"Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space."
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2 years to get from Earth to Jupiter, 2 more to Saturn, 4.5 to Uranus, 3.5 to Neptune, and an astonishing 29 to reach interstellar space. Truly amazing.
Agreed. Also amazing that it is still operating after all these years and harsh conditions. That was some seriously good engineering done 40+ years ago.