This Week in Our Universe: Voyager I and Interstellar Space
Hello again. We’re back to our explorations of the universe in Part 2 of This Week in Our Universe. Last time I discussed the recent meme of “biblical rainfall amounts” happening in Colorado. So now I want to turn to the recent and exciting news about the Voyager I space probe, which NASA confirmed this week moved into interstellar space beyond our solar system.
According to a 9/12 press release from NASA, the “Voyager 1 spacecraft officially is the first human-made object to venture into interstellar space.” Pretty wild. Another new first in space exploration for humanity. Go us! And once more, like the kismet of reading about Biblical floods while one is supposedly happening, Voyager I was also launched the same year as I was born, making for yet another example of serendipity.
So where exactly is Voyager I, you might ask? The short answer is really, really far out! The precise answer, according to NASA, is “12 billion miles from our sun.” Now if you are like me, that doesn’t really mean anything, so here’s a handy little visualization to give you some sense of what this scale looks like. Voyager I is on the far right, heading out of the solar system.
This is a simulation of our solar system, with Voyager I and II.
So that is the wide-angle view, if you will. Below is a closer shot of our local solar system, to give you a little more sense of scale. This is the same image as above, but zoomed into our local area. Earth is directly above the sun, at around 12:02 if this were a clock face.
Our solar system in a little closer perspective.
So basically Voyager I is really far out in space, and has been traveling for about 36 years, which is not bad considering it was planned for a much shorter trip. But where exactly is “interstellar space” and how does that relate to what we know about the universe? Funny you should ask. NASA has a handy image which can help us to answer that question, at least in part.
The Voyager I journey in space.
It bears pointing out in the above image that the “Oort Cloud” is still a hypothetical cosmic concept, but supposedly this is where most of our comets are thought to originate. It is basically thought of as a massive debris field left over from the Big Bang, and is where things like Halley’s Comet supposedly disappear to before returning to visit us every 75 years or so. If you want to learn more about Voyager I, check out this cool little video produced by NASA. More interesting videos and lots more on both Voyager I and NASA’s various space research can be found in the link below the video.
So kudos to NASA for another new breakthrough in space exploration. Who knows where Voyager I will eventually end up, but as long as it keeps sending back new data–which is probably for another 10-20 years–we can only wonder at what new discoveries are waiting in the wings. Good luck little space probe!
Join me for This Week in Our Universe part 3, there I explore the idea of the edge of the universe. Is there such a thing or not, and could we even know? All this and more in the next exciting episode of The Adventures of Mr. Chris.
Until next time…’Are we there yet?’ Yes, we are!
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