Designer Edge Image of the Day – Voyager Has Left the Solar System?

According to scientists the Voyager 1 space craft, which launched on September 5, 1977, left our solar system 1 year ago.

In a paper authored by Marc Swisdak, James F. Drake and Merav Opher, Voyager 1 left our solar system on July 27, 2012. "It's a somewhat controversial view, but we think Voyager has finally left the Solar System, and is truly beginning its travels through the Milky Way," said Swisdak.

While the astrophysicists’ claim seems to contradict NASAs assessment of the crafts location what can be said for sure is that Voyage 1 likes to travel. Since its launch the craft has travelled over 18 billion kilometers (11 billion miles), bringing it to a region of space that has never been explored. What’s more, from now on to the extinguishing of the universe Voyager will continue to be humanities farthest reaching beacon in the heavens.

For those who want more details Swisdak, Drake and Opher’s paper can be found in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Since their publishing NASA’s Voyager project scientist Ed Stone has released a response to the new research:

Details of a new model have just been published that lead the scientists who created the model to argue that NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft data can be consistent with entering interstellar space in 2012. In describing on a fine scale how magnetic field lines from the sun and magnetic field lines from interstellar space can connect to each other, they conclude Voyager 1 has been detecting the interstellar magnetic field since July 27, 2012. Their model would mean that the interstellar magnetic field direction is the same as that which originates from our sun.

"Other models envision the interstellar magnetic field draped around our solar bubble and predict that the direction of the interstellar magnetic field is different from the solar magnetic field inside. By that interpretation, Voyager 1 would still be inside our solar bubble.

"The fine-scale magnetic connection model will become part of the discussion among scientists as they try to reconcile what may be happening on a fine scale with what happens on a larger scale.

"The Voyager 1 spacecraft is exploring a region no spacecraft has ever been to before. We will continue to look for any further developments over the coming months and years as Voyager explores an uncharted frontier."