In early August 2017, the Voyager 1 spacecraft, which has been flying through space for over 30 years, made a shocking discovery that sent ripples through the scientific community and captured the attention of the entire world. Here’s what Voyager just detected in space that shocked the whole world.
It’s a shocker
Scientists just detected a hand in space, and it’s incredibly beautiful. The photo was taken by NASA’s Voyager 1 as it departed our solar system and entered interstellar space. The image is of a small section of stars in a cloud of gas about 13 billion miles from Earth; NASA scientists described it as being similar to an inky blot or an elongated smudge. But when they zoomed in on that smudge, they noticed something strange—it looked like a human hand with its fingers spread out wide. It’s not easy to see what you’re looking for when you don’t know what you’re looking for, but these images show us we are on the right track, said Edward Stone of Caltech in Pasadena, California. These images demonstrate there are things out there humans have never seen before. We thought we knew where everything was inside our own solar system. Now we know there is more mystery, probably more planets and possibly more life. We live in a vast universe. Our tiny little planet is only one little speck orbiting one average star near the edge of one average galaxy. Our universe is so vast that I think it’s safe to say we will always be surprised by new discoveries.
Remember when Voyager was launched in 1977?
It was one of NASA’s greatest achievements: A mission to explore our solar system that would go farther than any human-made object had gone before. The spacecraft is now traveling through interstellar space, which NASA describes as the vast and mostly unexplored region between stars. Here’s how it got there, and what it’s discovered on its historic journey.
Voyager 2 was launched in August 1977 along with a twin spacecraft, Voyager 1. They were sent toward Jupiter and Saturn, but they both carried cameras that let them take photos of outer space once they left our solar system. Since then, Voyager 2 has been traveling through interstellar space at roughly 38,000 miles per hour. It’s about 12 billion miles from Earth—so far away that it takes more than 17 hours for its radio signals to reach us here on Earth. (Voyager 1 is slightly ahead of its twin.) The two Voyagers are now exploring an area known as the heliosheath, where solar winds slow down as they run into interstellar gas. This part of space is thought to be similar to what existed just outside our solar system when it formed billions of years ago. Scientists think there might be other planets out there like ours that have yet to be discovered because their orbits are blocked by clouds of dust and gas just beyond our view.
What Is Heliosheath?
Heliosheath is a magnetic bubble of charged particles that surrounds our solar system. It is where interstellar medium and solar wind meet, creating a kind of barrier between our heliosphere and interstellar medium. You’re probably wondering why we’re talking about space bubbles on a technology site. The reason is because NASA has just detected something shocking in Heliosheath: it appears to be filled with dark matter! This could mean that there are other universes out there. If true, it would mean that there is a whole lot more than meets the eye when it comes to dark matter. But how did they come to such a conclusion? Well, let’s take a look at what happened.
First of all, you may be asking yourself exactly what dark matter is. According to NASA, dark matter refers to a mysterious form of matter that does not emit or reflect light but whose presence can only be inferred from its gravitational effects. A lot like antimatter then. We don’t see it or know much about it…but we know for sure that it exists!
Data Collected
The space probe Voyager 1, which was launched in 1977, has traveled beyond our solar system and is now about 12 billion miles from Earth. It continues to send information to NASA scientists, who are thrilled by what it just detected—especially since they never expected to see such a beautiful phenomenon. The team has been receiving data for over 13 hours now and is still trying to process it all. What did they find? You’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning’s press conference! But here’s a hint: it involves ultraviolet light and looks like nothing we’ve ever seen before. This could be an incredible discovery that changes everything we know about outer space… or it could be nothing at all.
So Why Was This Discovered Now?
It’s no secret that space is an extremely vast place, with a lot of exploration left to do. This past week, NASA’s Voyager 1 space probe, which launched back in 1977 and is still functional today, sent information back home to Earth about something so spectacularly beautiful it will leave you breathless. What did we just discover? The shock waves from a star explosion! When stars explode, they produce these shockwaves (similar to sonic booms), sending sound all throughout our universe. However, even though there are millions upon millions of stars out there in our universe, only very rarely does one actually produce these waves close enough for us to detect them here on Earth. To top it off—this particular star was 170 million light years away! So how were scientists able to detect such a thing? Well, as luck would have it, our planet happened to be positioned perfectly between Voyager and said star at that moment in time. For those who aren’t familiar with distances in space: A light year is roughly 6 trillion miles. Even if you could travel at the speed of light—which isn’t possible by any means yet—it would take 170 million years to get there! But let me tell you…the wait was worth it.
