Voyager 1 encounters the unexpected at edge of the solar system
Voyager 1 has entered a place where the solar wind is no longer blowing. The finding suggests a 'doldrums' on the farthest edge of the solar system that scientists had not forecast.
By Pete Spotts, Staff writer / June 15, 2011On its journey to the stars, the Voyager 1 spacecraft has hit an unexpected, knife's-edge region at the boundary between the solar system and interstellar space.
In short, Voyager 1 is in a spot where the sun's winds have, in effect, stopped blowing.
An analysis of Voyager 1 data, released Wednesday and appearing Thursday in the journal Nature, indicates that the transition between the sun's extended atmosphere and the beginning of interstellar space is not abrupt, as theorists had expected. Instead, the solar wind gradually tapers off to zero, setting up up a narrow region of what might be described as the solar "doldrums."
.... Voyager 1 encounters the unexpected at edge of the solar system - CSMonitor.com
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