Topic Reading-Vol.2769-11/10/2019

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Topic Reading-Vol.2769-11/10/2019

英語で世界を知ろう！Topic Reading

2019/11/10 Topic Reading-Vol.2769-11/10/2019

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

What Voyager 2 has learned since entering interstellar space

The Voyager program is NASA’s outer planets and interstellar probe program using two probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, that were launched in 1977. Voyager 1 flew by Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1980. Voyager 2 did so in 1979 and 1981, passed Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989. In 2012, Voyager 1 became the first human-made object to cross into interstellar space having passed the heliopause, a boundary where the hot solar wind meets cold interstellar space and so did Voyager 2 in 2018. The newly obtained data showed that the heliopause is more distinct than previously thought. It is amazing to get information sent from over the 40-year old probe from over 16 billion kilometers from the sun. In fact, it takes over 16 hours to for the sent data to reach Earth. So far so great. However, as the probes fly longer, the power reserves deplete. Their key devices need to be heated to be functional and the antennas must point directly to Earth, both of which require careful management and adjustment. The program keeps going as long as the probes are functional and communicative.

Now, both probes are still flying with a speed of 17 kilometers per second in outer space. They may reach another solar system in 40,000 years. Very long journeys indeed. Will they ever meet other intelligence?

Enjoy reading the article and learn what 40-year old probes are doing in interstellar space.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/04/world/voyager-2-science-results-scn/index.html

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