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   Voyager 1 Tastes Interstellar Space        
      
   Dec. 4, 2012:  Eleven billion miles from Earth, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft   
   has entered a "magnetic highway" that connects our solar system to   
   interstellar space. This could be one of Voyager 1's last steps on its long   
   journey to the stars.    
      
   "Although Voyager 1 still is inside the sun's environment, we now can taste   
   what it's like on the outside because the particles are zipping in and out on   
   this magnetic highway," said Edward Stone, Voyager project scientist based at   
   the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. "We believe this is the last   
   leg of our journey to interstellar space. Our best guess is it's likely just a   
   few months to a couple years away. The new region isn't what we expected, but   
   we've come to expect the unexpected from Voyager."    
      
   http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=156278131   
      
   A video from NASA shows Voyager 1 traveling the magnetic highway. Play it   
   The new results were described on Dec. 3rd at the American Geophysical Union   
   meeting in San Francisco.    
      
   The "magnetic highway" is a place in the far reaches of the solar system where   
   the sun's magnetic field connects to the magnetic field of interstellar   
   space.  This connection allows charged particles from inside the heliosphere   
   (the magnetic bubble that surrounds the sun) to zoom out; and it allows   
   charged particles from outside to stream in. When Voyager 1 is in the magnetic   
   highway, onboard particle sensors can directly sample material from beyond our   
   solar system.    
      
   Since December 2004, when Voyager 1 crossed a point in space called the   
   termination shock, the spacecraft has been exploring the heliosphere's outer   
   layer or "heliosheath."  In recent years, the speed of the solar wind around   
   Voyager 1 has slowed to zero, and the intensity of the magnetic field has   
   increased.    
      
   According to data from two onboard instruments that measure charged   
   particles,  Voyager 1 first entered the magnetic highway on July 28, 2012. The   
   region ebbed away and flowed toward Voyager 1 several times. The spacecraft   
   entered the region again Aug. 25 and the environment has been stable since.    
      
   Spacecraft data revealed the magnetic field became stronger each time Voyager   
   entered the highway region; however, the direction of the magnetic field lines   
   did not change, as researchers would expect if Voyager 1 had truly entered   
   interstellar space.    
      
   "We are in a magnetic region unlike any we've been in before -- about 10 times   
   more intense than before the termination shock -- but the magnetic field data   
   show no indication we're in interstellar space," said Leonard Burlaga, a   
   Voyager magnetometer team member based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center   
   in Greenbelt, Md.    
      
   Voyager 1's exit from the solar system is, apparently, yet to come.  But the   
   magnetic highway is giving it a taste of what lies ahead.    
      
   Stay tuned to Science@NASA for updates from the edge of the solar system.    
      
      
   Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA   
      
   More Information    
   Voyager 1 and 2 were launched 16 days apart in 1977. After touring the outer   
   planets in the 1980s, the two spacecraft have made a dash for the stars.    
   Voyager 1 is now the most distant human-made object:  11 billion miles (18   
   billion kilometers) away from the sun. The signal from Voyager 1 takes   
   approximately 17 hours to travel to Earth. Voyager 2, the longest continuously   
   operated spacecraft, is about 9 billion miles (15 billion kilometers) away   
   from the sun. While Voyager 2 has seen changes similar to those seen by   
   Voyager 1, the changes are much more gradual. Scientists do not think Voyager   
   2 has reached the magnetic highway.    
      
   The Voyager spacecraft were built and continue to be operated by NASA's Jet   
   Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, Calif. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. The   
   Voyager missions are a part of NASA's Heliophysics System Observatory,   
   sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate at   
   NASA Headquarters in Washington.    
      
   For more information about the Voyager spacecraft, visit: http:/   
   www.nasa.gov/voyager and http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov .    
      
      
   Regards,   
      
   Roger    
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
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