Farewell, Voyager
The most distant man-made object - the Voyager 1 spacecraft - is finally leaving the Solar System. Astronomers think the probe has reached a boundary where the Sun's influence starts to wane.
�
"It's the first time a machine has gone outside the cocoon of the solar atmosphere." says Stamatios Krimigis of Johns Hopkins University
�
In around 2020, Voyager 1 is expected to reach the heliopause at roughly 135 AU (one AU is the distance between the Earth and the Sun). This is where the Sun's influence fades away entirely and interstellar space begins. Astronomers will then get their first chance to measure the magnetic fields and energetic particles of interstellar space.
�Hazel Muir/New Scientist 11.05.03