Latest Heliosphere Stories

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory A gauge on the Voyager home page tracks levels of two of the three key signs scientists believe will appear when the spacecraft leave our solar neighborhood and enter interstellar space. When the three signs are verified, scientists will know that one of the Voyagers has hurtled beyond the magnetic bubble the sun blows around itself, which is known as the heliosphere. The gauge indicates the level of fast-moving charged particles, mainly protons,...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft may have allegedly left the confines of our solar System after 35 years and more than 11 billion miles of traveling through space. Scientists writing in the Geophysical Research Letters claim that they measured drastic changes in radiation levels on August 25, 2012 while the spacecraft was sitting over 11 billion miles away from the Sun. The anomalous cosmic rays (those trapped in the outer heliosphere)...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new region at the far reaches of our solar system that scientists feel is the final area the spacecraft has to cross before reaching interstellar space. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Scientists refer to this new region as a magnetic highway for charged particles because our sun's magnetic field lines are connected to interstellar magnetic field lines. This...

[ Watch the Video ] Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online NASA announced at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco on Monday that its Voyager 1 spacecraft has reached a region of space no other spacecraft has reached before. After 35 years, the Voyager 1 spacecraft has reached a new region of deep space known as a magnetic highway for charged particles. In this region, our sun's magnetic field lines are connected to interstellar magnetic field lines....

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Hurtling through space at more than 35,000 miles per hour, NASA’s Voyager 1 is on the verge of breaking the barrier between the known Solar System and Interstellar Space; and Voyager 2 is not far behind. So what better way to commemorate such an event than with a prestigious award. Representatives from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the team behind the Voyager missions, received a Breakthrough Award...

[WATCH VIDEO] Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Celebrating its 35th anniversary in space today, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is about to cross the threshold of our solar system, to boldly go where no man, nor machine, has ever gone before. While it is difficult to pinpoint the exact moment when the American space company’s premier long distance journeyer will cross the boundary of the heliosphere, expert measurements have indicated that it is very close....

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Monday marked the 35 year anniversary of NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft launching from Earth, and embarking on a venture to go where no spacecraft has gone before. The Voyager 2 spacecraft, and its twin Voyager 1, are still hurtling through space, on a path that is sending them outside of our Solar System. "Even 35 years on, our rugged Voyager spacecraft are poised to make new discoveries as we eagerly await the signs that we've...

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A new report from the National Research Council lays out four scientific goals for the next 10 years along with guiding principles and recommended actions. The prioritized program of basic and applied research for 2012-2022 is meant to advance scientific understanding of the sun, sun-Earth connections, the origins of space weather, and the sun's interactions with other bodies in the solar system. This second decadal survey is the...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com After several decades of making a lonely journey across our solar system, Voyager 1 has signaled to NASA that it may have reached the edge of interstellar space. The spacecraft, which launched in 1977, is now roughly 11 billion miles away and traveling at 6 miles per second. NASA said it takes Voyager 1's data 16 hours and 38 minutes to reach the antennas of its Deep Space Network on Earth. Data from the spacecraft indicates that the 34-year-old...

[ Watch the Video ] A team of NASA researchers has uncovered new data showing that the sun is moving more slowly through our galaxy than previously believed -- a discovery that suggests a shock wave believed to precede the heliosphere might not actually exist, the US space agency revealed on Thursday. According to Andrew Fazekas of National Geographic News, NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) satellite measured the speeds of various interstellar particles along the outer edges...