Voyager 1 and 2, these are NASA’s spacecraft that are doing something spectacular. Curious about it? Well, we’ll tell you everything about them in this article. These probes aren’t new, they have been active since more than 40 years ago and their mission is to explore the unknown parts of space. The goal is to reach the furthest place ever, but they have found something very interesting on their way: a ‘’firewall’. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard about something like it, but let’s find out more about this discovery.
Voyager probes
Back in 1977, the Internet barely existed, and many people listened to music on devices called ‘Walkmans’. It was then when NASA started this mission which consisted in sending two special robots: Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Their aim was to explore the solar system and beyond because… where’s the limit?
Where does the solar system end?
Maybe one of the most asked questions among space passionate people is where the solar system really ends. It’s not easy to say, but there are some theories about it.
Some people think it ends after the planet Neptune, whereas others believe it expands way beyond until a place called the Oort Cloud, known for being where comets ‘’sleep’’.
According to NASA, the solar system ends in a place called heliopause. What is this? This is where solar winds lose their power, and space beyond this is called interstellar. Picture it as if the Sun blew a bubble up around us and the heliopause was the border of the bubble.
‘’Firewall’’
Now let’s go with the big deal, what the Voyager probes found… Once these probes crossed the border we mentioned before, they found an extremely hot place with temperatures ranging from 54,000 and 90,000 degrees Fahrenheit (around 30,000 and 50,000 degrees Celsius). This is why this place was named ‘’firewall’’.
I know what you are thinking: with those temperatures the Voyager probes must have burned. Not at all, because the ‘’firewall’ is not made of fire as we know it. However, this place is full of super energetic particles that are so spread out, they don’t burn like a flame would, but they do have a lot of energy.
New questions for science
After going through this ‘’firewall’’, the probes started to measure the magnetic field in the interstellar space. The striking thing about this magnetic field was that it looked as if it were connected to what’s inside the solar bubble, which was believed to be two separate parts. This change of theory has made scientists wonder about different aspects:
- Is space in and out of the solar system connected in some way?
- Does the influence of the Suen reach further from what it’s thought?
- Is there anything about magnetic fields in the galaxy that scientists don’t know about yet?
This is the amazing thing about these probes, they keep sending information and making scientists learn new things about the universe.
Why does this matter?
I know it might seem like nothing for us here on Earth, but everything about the universe has to do with us. So, we should be impressed by the two spacecraft launched in 1977 that keep working and finding new things. All their discoveries, from the ‘’firewall’ to the magnetic fields, prove there is still a lot to learn about the universe.
These small spacecraft have gone through more than 2 billion kilometers, and they keep going and finding new important things. So, I’m sure they will continue making discoveries like this, don’t you think so? Next time you look up to the sky, remember Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are over there working hard to make us closer to the unknown parts of the universe.