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More than six years after the Voyager 1 probe entered interstellar space, NASA said the Voyager 2 spacecraft was "showing an increase in cosmic rays coming from outside our solar system".
The US space agency said the probe was crossing the outermost layer of the heliosphere since 2007. The heliosphere is described as "the vast bubble around the Sun and the planets dominated by solar material and magnetic fields."
NASA estimates that Voyager 2 has traveled about 11 billion kilometers from Earth since its launch in 1977. This figure is about 118 times the Earth's difference from its Sun.
Voyager 1 is the only vehicle to enter interstellar space, while Voyager 2 is the only one to pass Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Over the past 40 years, the probes have uncovered the world's first super active volcano, the Earth's most terrestrial atmosphere, and survived in Jupiter's radiated environment.
It is said that the two spaceships are loaded with photos, messages and other documents of the Earth in what could "one day be the only traces of human civilization".
One of these elements is a gold disc, which according to NASA is a representation of life on Earth. The NASA vinyl box set for the 40th Anniversary of Voyager's launch has won the Grammy Award for best boxed or special limited edition packaging.
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"Voyager scientists are monitoring the fact that the heliopause reaches the outer limit of the heliosphere," NASA said in a statement posted on its website. "Once Voyager 2 has left the heliosphere, it will become the second human-made object, after Voyager 1, to penetrate into interstellar space.
"Since the end of August, the Cosmic Ray Subsystem Voyager 2 instrument has measured an increase of about 5% in the rate of cosmic rays reaching the satellite compared to early August. The particle instrument loaded with Low energy probe has detected a similar increase in the energy of cosmic rays. "
In addition to all this, NASA has stated in the past that it required an employee with "a design experience in the 1970s" to be able to understand one or the other of the two vessels Space Voyager.
The space agency notes that, although Voyager 2 shows signs of exit from the heliosphere, the probe is in a different location than Voyager 1 at the time of departure.
"The fact that Voyager 2 is approaching the heliopause six years after Voyager 1 is also relevant because the heliopause moves inward and outward during the course of the cycle. 11-year activity of the Sun, "says NASA in a press release.
"Solar activity refers to Sun's emissions, including solar flares and material eruptions called coronal mass ejections."
Continue, my lost twin. Voyager 2 suffers a slight increase in cosmic rays, as I did to go into interstellar space: https://t.co/NYHHNDWnND pic.twitter.com/SEQ1taWHph
– NASA Voyager (@NASAVoyager) October 5, 2018
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