Heliosheath
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Voyager_1_entering_heliosheath_region.jpg
Voyager_1_entering_heliosheath_region.jpg
The locations of Voyagers 1 and 2 as of 2005
The heliosheath is the zone between the termination shock and the heliopause at the outer border of the solar system. It lies along the edge of the heliosphere, a "bubble" caused by solar winds.
The heliosheath's distance from the Sun is approximately 80 to 100 astronomical units (AU). The current mission of the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes includes studying the heliosheath.
In May 2005, NASA announced that Voyager 1 had crossed the termination shock and entered the heliosheath in December 2004, at a distance of 94 AU. An earlier report that this had occurred in August 2002 (at 85 AU) is now generally believed to have been premature.
External links
- Observing objectives (http://science.nasa.gov/ssl/pad/solar/suess/Interstellar_Probe/ISP-ObservObj.html) of NASA's Interstellar Probe (http://interstellar.jpl.nasa.gov/).
- CNN: NASA: Voyager I enters solar system's final frontier (http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/05/25/voyager.space/index.html) - May 25, 2005
- New Scientist: Voyager 1 reaches the edge of the solar system (http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18625015.000) - May 25, 2005