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NASA’s Voyager 2 probe has entered interstellar space
NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft has exited the heliosphere -- the plasma bubble created by the sun that encompasses most of our solar system -- and entered interstellar space, making it the second human-made object to do so. Voyager 1 hit this milestone in 2012. NASA said Voyager 2 crossed over the heliopause, the boundary between the heliosphere and interstellar space, on November 5th and the probe is now more than 11 billion miles from Earth.
Voyager 2 probe may be on the edge of interstellar space
NASA's Voyager 2 probe may be close to joining its sibling and entering interstellar space. The vessel has been detecting a five percent increase in cosmic rays since late August, suggesting that it's close to crossing the heliopause (the edge of the solar wind bubble, aka the heliosphere) and entering the interstellar realm. Voyager 1 saw similar increases in May 2012, so its fellow spacecraft may be in for a repeat.
Uranus might have two more moons
NASA launched its two Voyager probes almost 40 years ago, sending the first on a more direct route out of the solar system. Voyager 2 took a longer route to survey Neptune and Uranus in 1986, becoming the first and only spacecraft to fly by the ice giants. Scientists continue to comb over that data, and they might have just made a discovery from the 30-year-old recordings: Two additional moons orbiting Uranus, bringing its total to 29.
NASA's Voyager 1 marks 35th anniversary of its launch, gets photo retrospective in tribute
It's hard to believe at times that the Voyager 1 probe is older than many of us reading this article, but it's true. The official first part of NASA's Voyager program launched just over 35 years ago on September 5th, 1977, carrying not just cameras and sensors to capture the trip but the famous Golden Record documenting humanity for any curious aliens. To mark the occasion, Wired has gathered together one heck of a photo album that covers both Voyager 1's trip as well as that of Voyager 2, which technically launched earlier (August 20th the same year) but took a more roundabout route through the solar system. The gallery reminds us of the amazing scenery beyond Mars and puts our tiny blue ball of a planet in perspective; Earth was just a speck at best when photographed late into Voyager 2's journey. Perhaps the best news surrounding the milestone is simply that both Voyager probes are still running. At 11 billion miles from the Sun, Voyager 1 may be on the cusp of interstellar space and easily represents the most distant human object ever made, not to mention a record-setter for signal transmissions. There's even a chance we'll still be hearing back from the probe for its 50th anniversary -- its power could keep it chatting up to roughly 2025.
NASA gives Voyager 2 a RAM reset, fixes communication bug
NASA's finished successfully resetting the computer system of the Voyager 2 satellite, which had begun transmitting unintelligible data in mid-April. The Voyager 2 was launched in August of 1977 to study Saturn, and has also flown past Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. It's now around 8.6 billion miles from earth, in the heliosphere which surrounds the solar system. While the cause of the glitch is unknown, NASA officials say that they noticed on May 12th that a single memory location had been changed from a 0 to a 1, causing all transmissions to be completely garbled. After the reset, Voyager 2 resumed transmission of data on May 22nd -- and continues its journey to leave the solar system entirely.
