by Forty-four years after it rocketed off from Earth, the Voyager 1 spacecraft is detecting the background "hum" of interstellar space for the first time.
Voyager 1, launched in 1977, left the bounds of the solar system — known as the heliosphere — in 2012. The heliosphere is the bubble of space influenced by solar wind, the stream of charged particles that emanates from the sun.
Since popping out of this bubble, Voyager 1 has been periodically sending back measurements of the interstellar medium.
Now, though, researchers have realized that Voyager 1 is also sending back a far more subtle signal: the constant "hum" of the interstellar plasma.
This low-level vibration is fainter, but much longer-lasting, than the oscillations that occur after coronal mass ejections.
Source
Voyager 1, launched in 1977, left the bounds of the solar system — known as the heliosphere — in 2012. The heliosphere is the bubble of space influenced by solar wind, the stream of charged particles that emanates from the sun.
Since popping out of this bubble, Voyager 1 has been periodically sending back measurements of the interstellar medium.
Now, though, researchers have realized that Voyager 1 is also sending back a far more subtle signal: the constant "hum" of the interstellar plasma.
This low-level vibration is fainter, but much longer-lasting, than the oscillations that occur after coronal mass ejections.
Source
