Re: Nasa's Voyager 2 probe 'leaves the Solar System'
Originally Posted by
Surfermom
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Good questions OGF! The reality is that we are not only interested in what our house (the solar system) looks like, but what the conditions look like once we go through the front door (heliosphere).
So far, the outer reaches of the atmosphere behave (solar wind drops below the speed of sound) and not the empty vacuum once thought, other interesting intergalactic conditions exist. Since one of the instruments stopped working in Voyager 1, Voyager 2 may be able to not only provide us some information about the conditions outside the solar system, it will give us a better idea of what’s going on beyond our little bubble.
It's reaaaaaaalllly good stuff!
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Good grief I hope my wordy, nerdy style hasn't killed yet another thread. Carry on
).
Not at all Surfermom, and I must thank you for taking the time to write and post your excellent and interesting reply.
You do realise that I've been a bit mischievous with this thread. Truth is, I am really interested in all things science and discovery, but sometimes the mind is stretched to its limits (in the same way that voyager is) and it gets hard to comprehend what conditions must be like in the far reaches of space.
So my next question is to do with navigation.
With voyager moving away from any known reference points (The Sun and the rest of the planets) how does it keep on course? It is a well known fact that there are many things in space that can influence the ability of a small man made craft to keep traveling in a straight line. Black holes and Dark matter that is invisible to us, and the stuff that holds it all together......How do we know its there if we can't see it in the first place? When compared to the universe, the human body is vastly under equipped when trying to identify things that the mind can not even contemplate.....