Voyager 1 Entered Weird Region In Space Last Summer
In the Magnetic Highway An illustration of the Voyager 1 in the "magnetic highway" region it reached last August NASA/JPL-Caltech New papers describe an unexpected boundary region at the edge of the influence of the Sun. Voyager 1 entered a strange and unexpected part of space within the solar system last August, scientists announced in three papers published yesterday. A few different effects mark the area, which astronomers have dubbed the "heliosheath depletion region" or a "magnetic highway." The number of charged particles from the Sun there is very low. Measurements of cosmic rays from other, non-Sun sources, are high. Together, the measurements suggest a new boundary region between the heliosphere-the bubble around the Sun, in which the Sun exerts its influence-and interstellar space. Astronomers had not previously guessed such a region existed. There's been plenty of talk about the Voyager 1's travels lately. Astronomers have been picking up these measurements over the past...