Voyager 2 Proves Solar System is Squashed
As of August 30, 2007, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft has followed its twin Voyager 1 into the solar system's final frontier, a vast region at the edge of our solar system where the solar wind runs up against the thin gas between the stars.
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 headed on different paths out of the Solar System toward interstellar space. Traveling at different speeds and in different directions, Voyager 1 encountered the termination shock at 94 astronomical units (AU) and Voyager 2 encountered it at only 84 AU. The result, as seen in this combination of an artist's concept and a researcher's model, is a somewhat 'squashed' picture of the solar system.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab, Model Data from Opher, et al. 2006
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Animator
- Walt Feimer (HTSI)
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Scientist
- Edward C. Stone (California Institute of Technology)
Release date
This page was originally published on Wednesday, January 23, 2008.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:55 PM EDT.