Earlier today, March 20th, 2013, several news sources reported a “breaking news” story that scientists were saying that the Voyager 1 spacecraft had finally exited the Solar System.
Following these reports, Edward Stone, a scientist with the Voyager Project at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, released the following statement:
“It is the consensus of the Voyager science team that Voyager 1 has not yet left the solar system or reached interstellar space. In December 2012, the Voyager science team reported that Voyager 1 is within a new region called 'the magnetic highway' where energetic particles changed dramatically. A change in the direction of the magnetic field is the last critical indicator of reaching interstellar space and that change of direction has not yet been observed.”
So what happened? How did we get several reputable news sources reporting bad information?
It would appear that the information was misinterpreted from a paper written by W.R. Webber, a researcher at New Mexico State University Department of Astronomy who has cosmic ray experiments on both Voyagers and the Pioneer 10 craft, and F.B. McDonald, a now deceased member of the University of Maryland Institute of Physical Science and Technology. In it, the two scientists describe how, at a distance of 121.7 AU from the Sun, the craft observed a sudden and sharp drop in the intensity of solar rays, and the opposite with galactic rays, on August 25th, 2012.
This change is what scientists expected to see if the craft was leaving the heliopause. This region is the area directly around the Sun that essentially functions as the border of the Sun's magnetosphere. However, in order to be considered truly in interstellar space, the magnetic pull on the craft must reverse direction, signifying that it is no longer within the Sun's sphere of influence.
NASA’s conclusion based on the available data is that Voyager is not yet out of the solar system, although it is getting to that point. It is like driving to the mountains, you don’t drive through flatlands and then suddenly find yourself looking straight up at a mountain. Instead, you’re going to drive through foothills first before finding yourself in the midst of towering peaks. The same concept is true of Voyager 1 leaving the Solar System.
The image below is an illustration of where the two Voyager craft are located in relation to the Sun and the heliosphere.
The inaccurate reporting of information is disappointing, especially since the story was reported on several news sites that I use myself. Rest assured, however, that those of us here at The Universe take great pride in our research into a topic and will always be commited to bringing you only the most accurate of information.
-JW
For NASA's official statement, please visit:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-107
The original article by Dr. Webber and Dr. McDonald can be found at:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10 ... 3ed01a63f8
For the erroneous articles, go to:
http://phys.org/news/2013-03-voyager-le ... osmic.html
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 3/abstract
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/space ... ar-system/
Image credit: NASA/ JPL
Thanks for letting us being informed here, I like soooo much your posts, theyre like the only intelligent thing we got on the forums, lol
