NASA's Voyager 2 becomes second spacecraft to reach interstellar space
NASA's Voyager 2
spacecraft has crossed the elusive boundary that marks the edge of the
Sun's realm and the start of interstellar space and has entered the interstellar medium (ISM), the region of space
outside the bubble-shaped boundary produced by wind streaming outward
from the Sun.
This makes Voyager 2 the second human-made object to journey out of the
Sun's influence, following the US space agency's Voyager 1's .
The marked increase in plasma density is evidence of Voyager 2
journeying from the hot, lower-density plasma characteristic of the
solar wind to the cool, higher-density plasma of interstellar space.
Voyager 2's entry into the ISM occurred at 119.7 astronomical units
(AU), or more than 11 billion miles from the Sun.That gives valuable clues to the structure of the heliosphere -- the
bubble, shaped much like a windsock, created by the Sun's wind as it
extends to the boundary of the solar system.
Data from the instrument on Voyager 2 also gives additional clues to the
thickness of the heliosheath, the outer region of the helio-sphere and
the point where the solar wind piles up against the approaching wind in
interstellar space.
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