NASA's Voyager 2 Becomes 2nd Craft In Interstellar Space
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WASHINGTON (AP) - NASA's Voyager 2 has become only the second human-made object to reach the space between stars.
NASA said Monday that Voyager 2 exited the region of the sun's influence last month. The spacecraft is now beyond the outer boundary of the heliosphere, some 11 billion miles from Earth. It's trailing Voyager 1, which reached interstellar space in 2012. Interstellar space is the vast mostly emptiness between star systems.
The @NASAVoyager 2 probe no longer feels the solar wind & is flying through the interstellar space between the stars. It carries a working instrument providing 1st-of-its-kind observations of the nature of this gateway. Here's a look by the numbers: https://t.co/DuNBYPaXQj #AGU18 pic.twitter.com/GJGIgDpSHD
— NASA (@NASA) December 10, 2018
According to NASA, the Voyagers are still technically in our solar system. Scientists maintain the solar system stretches to the outer edge of the so-called Oort Cloud. It will take thousands of years for the spacecraft to get that far.
After visiting Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, @NASAVoyager 2 has left the Sun's protective bubble and is now flying in the interstellar space between the stars. Learn more about this incredible mission as the encore to the Grand Tour begins: https://t.co/nvffnCO3jm #AGU18 pic.twitter.com/T6kOWrxYzH
— NASA (@NASA) December 10, 2018
Despite the great distance, flight controllers are still in contact with Voyager 2.
The Voyagers launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 1977.
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