No, we REALLY REALLY mean it this time, Voyager 1 has Left The Solar System. Really!

[Paul F.]

http://news.yahoo.com/voyager-left-solar...14589.html

Really, no foolin' this time...

Scientists have been waiting for Voyager to detect a magnetic field that flows in a different direction than the solar system's magnetic field. But the new research shows that scenario is not accurate.

"We think that the magnetic field within the solar system and in the interstellar are aligned enough that you can actually pass through without seeing a huge change in direction," University of Maryland physicist Marc Swisdak said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday.

That would mean that Voyager actually reached interstellar space last summer when it detected a sudden drop in the number of particles coming from the sun and a corresponding rise in the number of galactic cosmic rays coming from interstellar space.

[pRICE cUBE]

Is this the one that returns as V'Ger?

[space-time]

I won't believe it until it returns to Earth with concrete evidence.

seriously, I wonder how much longer we will be able to communicate with this craft. Will it run out of energy first, or it will be too far to make communication possible?

[SteveG]

hmmph...and not even a post card

[Zoidberg]

pRICE cUBE wrote:
Is this the one that returns as V'Ger?

No, that was Voyager 6. And I knew that before I looked at the Wiki. < /nerd >

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/V'Ger

[Paul F.]

space-time wrote:
I won't believe it until it returns to Earth with concrete evidence.

seriously, I wonder how much longer we will be able to communicate with this craft. Will it run out of energy first, or it will be too far to make communication possible?

Voyager 1's Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator will be generating less than required to keep the spacecraft communicating sometime in 2019 or 2020. Around 2035, it'll "go dark" completely as the power level falls below what the control computer can use.

[blooz]

Pictures or it didn't happen.

[freeradical]

Is it past Pluto? ;-)

[GGD]

Not everyone is convinced, however.

Not sure who gets to make the final determination.


But I'm sure Voyager will be glad when it happens, to shut up those kids in the back seat that keep asking "Are we there yet?".

[Racer X]

Paul F. wrote:
[quote=space-time]
I won't believe it until it returns to Earth with concrete evidence.

seriously, I wonder how much longer we will be able to communicate with this craft. Will it run out of energy first, or it will be too far to make communication possible?

Voyager 1's Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator will be generating less than required to keep the spacecraft communicating sometime in 2019 or 2020. Around 2035, it'll "go dark" completely as the power level falls below what the control computer can use.
Oh, come on Paul, call it a RTG. A lot of stuff launched uses RTGs. They just don't tell most of us.