Voyager 1 reaches interstellar space

[Jailblazers7]

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/09/we-made-it-humanity-has-arrived-at-interstellar-space/279624/


Thirty-six years ago, from the ground in Florida, Voyager 1 launched into space. It traveled out of Earth's atmosphere, and it kept going. It passed Jupiter in 1979 and then Saturn in 1980. And then it kept going.

In 1990, six billion miles from Earth, it looked back on the planets of our solar system, and photographed them all.


And today, in a historic announcement, NASA revealed that this piece of machinery, built by humans here on our planet, has officially sailed beyond the region of solar winds around our sun and into interstellar space.

The transition happened a year ago, around August 25, 2012, but scientists didn't realize it until recently, when they analyzed the vibrations made by an explosion on the sun in March of 2012, which arrived at the spacecraft in April 2013. As NASA explains, "The pitch of the oscillations helped scientists determine the density of the plasma. The particular oscillations meant the spacecraft was bathed in plasma more than 40 times denser than what they had encountered in the outer layer of the heliosphere. Density of this sort is to be expected in interstellar space."

To listen to that sound, that distant whistle, sends shivers down my spine. This is the sound of an explosion on our sun, traveled 12 billion miles, and heard in interstellar space.

[KevinNYC]

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/09/we-made-it-humanity-has-arrived-at-interstellar-space/279624/

There was a record made of Gold that was put on Voyager called Sounds of the Earth. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record)

The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University. Sagan and his associates assembled 116 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind, thunder and animals (including the songs of birds and whales). To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, spoken greetings in fifty-six languages (55 ancient and modern languages, plus Esperanto), and printed messages from USA president Jimmy Carter and U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim.
The collection of images includes many photographs and diagrams both in black and white and color. The first images are of scientific interest, showing mathematical and physical quantities, the Solar System and its planets, DNA, and human anatomy and reproduction. Care was taken to include not only pictures of humanity, but also some of animals, insects, plants and landscapes. Images of humanity depict a broad range of cultures. These images show food, architecture, and humans in portraits as well as going about their day to day lives. Many pictures are annotated with one or more indications of scales of time, size, or mass. Some images contain indications of chemical composition. All measures used on the pictures are defined in the first few images using physical references that are likely to be consistent anywhere in the universe.
The musical selection is also varied, featuring artists such as Beethoven, Guan Pinghu, Mozart, Stravinsky, Blind Willie Johnson, Chuck Berry and Kesarbai Kerkar.

SNL had an old skit where Aliens had found this record and communicated a four word message back to Earth: SEND MORE CHUCK BERRY.

[Scholar]

That is amazing. I'm pretty much at a loss for words. I feel like I should post about how amazing this is, but I think it's something for everyone to decide for themselves.

I find anything relating to the outer realms of Earth to be highly interesting. I want to know what else is out there. Hopefully we will have more definitive answers before I'm buried 6 feet deep.

[Jailblazers7]

Yeah, I remember the West Wing episode that they did about NASA funding and the speech Josh Lyman made to Blind Willie Johnson.

It really is amazing to realize how far away Voyager has gone.

[Zan Tabak]

Amazing stuff. Thanks for sharing.

[nightprowler10]

I have been reading about the Voyager in detail for an hour thanks to this stuff. Awe inspiring stuff.

[Cowboy Thunder]

:eek:

[magic chiongson]

The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University. Sagan and his associates assembled 116 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind, thunder and animals (including the songs of birds and whales). To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, spoken greetings in fifty-six languages (55 ancient and modern languages, plus Esperanto), and printed messages from USA president Jimmy Carter and U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim.
The collection of images includes many photographs and diagrams both in black and white and color. The first images are of scientific interest, showing mathematical and physical quantities, the Solar System and its planets, DNA, and human anatomy and reproduction. Care was taken to include not only pictures of humanity, but also some of animals, insects, plants and landscapes. Images of humanity depict a broad range of cultures. These images show food, architecture, and humans in portraits as well as going about their day to day lives. Many pictures are annotated with one or more indications of scales of time, size, or mass. Some images contain indications of chemical composition. All measures used on the pictures are defined in the first few images using physical references that are likely to be consistent anywhere in the universe.
The musical selection is also varied, featuring artists such as Beethoven, Guan Pinghu, Mozart, Stravinsky, Blind Willie Johnson, Chuck Berry and Kesarbai Kerkar.

dafuq that's recipe for a secret invasion right there!

[Fawker]

ancient tech on board tho

[KobesFinger]

Any chance we could bring it back to Earth? I'd love to see what scientists can do with the data gathered by V1

[KyleKong]

Any chance we could bring it back to Earth? I'd love to see what scientists can do with the data gathered by V1

Not a shot. I wish though.

Maybe in the next couple of decades we will have the technology to send something that fair into space and then be able to retrieve it.

We won't be alive when it comes back though.

[Breezy]

They've been saying it left the solar system for 10 years now. The problem is there is no definitive line where the solar system ends and inter stellar space begins. You just sort of have to say "Ok stuff is really starting to thin out now. let's call it a line."

[Fawker]

ancient tech on board tho

[DukeDelonte13]

Back in the day America and the USSR were pushing the bounds of human civilization and sparing no expense to do so.

I hate the anti NASA / space program sentiment some people have.

[BlkMambaGOAT]

Back in the day America and the USSR were pushing the bounds of human civilization and sparing no expense to do so.

I hate the anti NASA / space program sentiment some people have.
Niqqa we won't be living in space in the next couple of decades, if not centuries, we should be worried about where we're living now, i.e our economy is whack, we need to "un-whack" it.

[DukeDelonte13]

Niqqa we won't be living in space in the next couple of decades, if not centuries, we should be worried about where we're living now, i.e our economy is whack, we need to "un-whack" it.


You can do a lot of good for your economy by investing in technology.

America does a sh*t ton of that already, but primarily for military purposes.

That computer you are posting from was made possible from the space program in the 60's.

LEDs, solar power, water filtration, tons of different manufacturing processes, etc, are just some of the technologies that were gained from NASA.

Oftentimes it pays off to be on the cutting edge of human technology. I'd rather my country be the most advanced.

[Godzuki]

Back in the day America and the USSR were pushing the bounds of human civilization and sparing no expense to do so.

I hate the anti NASA / space program sentiment some people have.


the catch to this is the gains of today might have been much easier to reach the same point we are now, maybe a little bit further back, with more tech available....than the time and money we put towards it back then.

back in those days technology was so much more primitive, like basic TV antennae 5 channels, and now everyone streams media thru cell phones and computers. i think missile defense systems were being mocked back then too like it could never work or become a reality where people would call it Star Wars....it can very easily be argued NASA gains in tech would have come about either way thru pushing technology at home with fighter jets, green tech, etc.

[DukeDelonte13]

the catch to this is the gains of today might have been much easier to reach the same point we are now, maybe a little bit further back, with more tech available....than the time and money we put towards it back then.

back in those days technology was so much more primitive, like basic TV antennae 5 channels, and now everyone streams media thru cell phones and computers. i think missile defense systems were being mocked back then too like it could never work or become a reality where people would call it Star Wars....it can very easily be argued NASA gains in tech would have come about either way thru pushing technology at home with fighter jets, green tech, etc.


I agree that is an absolutely valid argument. But at the end of the day, IMO advancement in the sciences should be the motivating factor rather than dollars and cents.

Another interesting point about this debate is that NASA realistically is not all of the US's space program. We really don't know what the totality of the US's space program is.

The US Army recently DONATED two space telescopes more powerful than Hubble to NASA. It's crazy to think that the army just happened to have these things just lying around collecting dust. It really makes one wonder.

[SamuraiSWISH]

Now I'm thinking about Chris Nolan's new flick

[robert de niro]

Niqqa we won't be living in space in the next couple of decades, if not centuries, we should be worried about where we're living now, i.e our economy is whack, we need to "un-whack" it.
niqqa (http://www.space.com/15310-nasa-budget-future-space-exploration.html)

[magic chiongson]

http://i.giflike.com/w9JfPJq.gif

[I<3NBA]

it's kind of worrying that they put all that sensitive data to broadcast out into space. what if intelligent life out there is not friendly?

[Meticode]

it's kind of worrying that they put all that sensitive data to broadcast out into space. what if intelligent life out there is not friendly?
Then we have something to fight for if they're not. I'm totally for putting that information out there, even if their are intelligent life out there that is hostile. Otherwise, we're just living in a box all of our lives not pushing the boundaries.