Voyager 2, which passed out of our solar system two years ago, continues to send back data and discoveries about the nature of our universe.
The probe is giving NASA scientists a look at the universe beyond our solar system and is currently 8.3. billion miles away from the sun. It’s giving us some news from this region, called the “heliosheath,” by astrophysicists.
“This is a magic mission,” says space scientist Merav Opher of George Mason University. in Fairfax, Va.. “After all these years, Voyager 2 is still working and sending us first hand (on-site) data.”
Voyager 2’s vantage, revealed in the Dec. 24 “Nature” journal in a study led by Opher and colleagues, shows that beyond the solar system, the galaxy’s magnetic field is unexpectedly strong, about twice as much as expected, and unexpectedly tilted. Our galaxy is essentially a twin-armed flat disk of stars 100,000 light years across rotating around a spherical ball of stars in its center (one light year is about 5.9 trillion miles.).
The study results show the galaxy’s magnetic field tilts 30 degrees out of alignment with its disk, where space scientists had originally supposed the two would be perfectly aligned. “We didn’t expect such a strong field and this tilted although there were already some indications from our previous studies that the interstellar field has a strong effect on shaping the solar system,” says Opher.
Shine on, you persistent little probe. 🙂
This is so cool. And the data coming back is, with apologies to Mr. Spock, fascinating.
V-GER!!! It will happen.
We should NOT be misseing with G-ds domain!
You can type the O you know. The rule about the dash only applies to paper.