Voyager 2 probes outer limits of the solar system
- 4 years ago
SPACE — Voyagers were launched 42 years ago, but Voyager 2 took the longer route to interstellar space.
Live Science reports that Voyager 2 detected a fiery plasma wall in the heliopause, where the sun's outward blowing solar winds clash with cosmic rays. This barrier protects the solar system by repulsing and weakening cosmic rays.
Citing NASA, Live Science reports that Voyager 1 could not detect the wall because its sensors malfunctioned. However, as Voyager 2 crosses the heliopause, it found holes in the protective shell and temperatures twice as high as past models predicted.
According to BBC, the sun's energies charge particles into an ionized plasma state and shoot them out to form solar winds and the heliopause.
Live Science reports that Voyager 2 detected a fiery plasma wall in the heliopause, where the sun's outward blowing solar winds clash with cosmic rays. This barrier protects the solar system by repulsing and weakening cosmic rays.
Citing NASA, Live Science reports that Voyager 1 could not detect the wall because its sensors malfunctioned. However, as Voyager 2 crosses the heliopause, it found holes in the protective shell and temperatures twice as high as past models predicted.
According to BBC, the sun's energies charge particles into an ionized plasma state and shoot them out to form solar winds and the heliopause.