Voyager 1 to Determine if Charged Particles at Edge of Solar System Bank to One Side or the Other
In which direction is the sun's stream of charged particles banking when it nears the edge of the solar system? Knowing the strength and direction of the solar wind is critical to understanding the shape of our solar bubble and estimating how much farther it is to the edge of interstellar space. Over the next several days, scientists at JPL will try a series of maneuvers to orient NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft so that it can act as a "weather vane" and measure the solar wind. Even though Voyager 1 has been traveling through the solar system for 33 years and is 10.8 billion miles away, it is still a limber enough gymnast to perform the necessary acrobatics that it has not been asked it to do in 21 years.
Comments:
Funding Member
Sponsors
- Dark Dragons Astronomy LLC
- Astromart Customer Service
- BBLABS LLC
- Matsumoto Company
- Anacortes Telescope
- AstroMart LLC
- Desert Sky Astro Products
- BW
- APM-Telescopes
- astronomy-shoppe
- Rouz Astro
- SellTelescopes.com
- FocusKnobs
- Vernonscope
- ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY BY MARTIN PUGH
- Waite Research
- OMI OPTICS USA LLC
- SoFar
View all sponsors
