Rejoice, astronomy fans! Voyager 2 had successfully joined its twin Voyager 1 at the edge of the heliosphere last November 5, 2018, and it sent back a lot of surprising data.
So much data have been sent back by Voyager 2 that astronomers were able to publish five new papers on the space environment beyond the solar system. These studies are published in Nature Astronomy.
THE NEW FRONTIER
After its launch in 1977, Voyager 2 was able to not only take close-up shots of planets but accomplished getting the composition of the heliosphere and the boundary between the solar system and the interstellar space.
Voyager 2 was also able to measure the magnetic force outside of the heliopause (the outermost part of the heliosphere) and found out that this magnetic force is stronger than previously measured by Voyager 1. In an interview with IFLScience, astrophysicist Jeffrey Hayes explains that all these is a monumental success of humanity.
"This is a watershed moment in our exploration of space: we have for the first time left the confines of 'home' and are taking our very first tentative steps into the interstellar space - the Milky Way galaxy of which we are a part, that's an amazing distance to come in only 62 years, since the launch of the first satellite. Who knows what the next 62 will bring?" Hayes said.
Hayes also explained that since we live in a system where it is heavily influenced by the Sun, everything beyond that is new—new rules and all.
It was previously thought the solar winds that are emitted by the Sun gradually fades as soon as it gets farther from the Sun. However, that is not the case, as observed by Voyager 2. "Both Voyagers found this to be the case. The original model was that the solar wind would just gradually fade away until one was in the interstellar medium; clearly, that's not the case," Hayes explained in the interview. The charged particles from the solar wind then traverse the heliosphere into the interstellar space. Hayes enthused that with these data gathered by the Voyager 2, humankind is just at the tip of the iceberg in terms of understanding the interstellar space.
Voyager 2 stirred the optimism among astronomers that NASA is set to launch the Interstellar Mapping and Accelerator Probe in 2024. With the probe are instruments that are designed to do a follow-up on the measurements done by the Voyager spacecraft. The agency is also planning to launch an interstellar probe that will be able to travel 10 times more than the Voyager. Conceptualization for this project, if permitted, will allow in the 2030s.