L'AVENTURE DES SONDES VOYAGER I ET II N'EST PAS FINI, ELLE PERMETTENT D'ÉTABLIR ET D'OBTENIR DES ÉTUDES SUR L'INTENSITÉ AUDITIVE DE L'UNIVERS... NOUS SOMMES EN DEHORS DU SYSTÈME SOLAIRE ET TOUS CELA EST PRODIGIEUX. CEUX QUI REÇOIVENT ET QUI DÉCRYPTENT CES SONS, SONT AUSSI ÉMERVEILLÉ QUE THOMAS PESQUET OBSERVANT L'UNIVERS DEPUIS LA BASE SPATIAL. NOUS SOMMES DANS UN VIDE OÙ NOUS IGNORONS TOUS ET GRÂCE À VOYAGER I ET II NOUS ÉVOLUONS DANS LE LIEN DE LA MATIÈRE, DE LA LUMIÈRE ET DE LA PERCEPTION. IL FAUT ÊTRE HUMBLE DEVANT TOUTES CES INFORMATIONS QUI PARVIENNENT GRÂCE À VOYAGER I ET II. LE VIDE N'EST PAS LE RIEN ET LE RIEN N'EST PAS LE VIDE: DANS LA SUBSTANCE DU RÉEL ET DE LA DISTANCE EN DEHORS D'UNE ÉTOILE ET NOUS DÉCOUVRONS LA SUSPENSION AUQUEL NAVIGUE LES GALAXIES DANS L'UNIVERS ET L'ESPACE. ECRIT DU CITOYEN TIGNARD YANIS
The Farthest Operating Spacecraft, Voyagers 1 and 2, Still Exploring 40 Years Later - Teachable Moments | NASA/JPL Edu
Teachable Moments| August 29, 2017
The Farthest Operating Spacecraft, Voyagers 1 and 2, Still Exploring 40 Years Later
In the News
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the launch of the world’s farthest
and longest-lived spacecraft, NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2. Four decades ago,
they embarked on an ambitious mission to explore the giant outer planets,
the two outermost of which had never been visited. And since completing
their flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in 1989, they have been
journeying toward the farthest reaches of our solar system – where no spacecraft
has been before. These two intrepid spacecraft continue to return data to NASA daily,
offering a window into the mysterious outer realms of our solar system and beyond.
How They Did It
The Voyager spacecraft were launched during a very short window
that took advantage of a unique alignment of the four giant outer planets
– one that would not occur again for another 176 years.
(Try this lesson in calculating launch windows to get an idea of how it was done.)
Launching at this point in time enabled the spacecraft to fly by all four planets
in a single journey, returning never-before-seen, close-up images and scientific
data from Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune that greatly contributed
to our current understanding of these planets and the solar system.
Why It’s Important
diagram of solar system components
These images of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune (clockwise from top)
were taken by Voyager 1 and 2 as the spacecraft journeyed through the solar system.
See a gallery of images that Voyager took on the Voyager website. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
In addition to shaping our understanding of the outer planets,
the Voyager spacecraft are helping us learn more about the space beyond the planets
– the outer region of our solar system. After completing their “grand tour” of the outer planets,
the Voyagers continued on an extended mission to the outer solar system.
They are now more than 10 billion miles from Earth, exploring
the boundary region between our planetary system and what’s called
interstellar space.
The beginning of interstellar space is where the constant flow of material
from the Sun and its magnetic field stop influencing the surroundings.
Most of the Sun’s influence is contained within the heliosphere,
a bubble created by the Sun and limited by forces in interstellar space.
(Note that the heliosphere doesn’t actually look like a sphere
when it travels through space; it’s more of a blunt sphere with a tail.)
The outer edge of the heliosphere, before interstellar space,
is a boundary region called the heliopause. The heliopause is
the outermost boundary of the solar wind, a stream of electrically charged atoms,
composed primarily of ionized hydrogen, that stream outward from the Sun.
Our planetary system lies inside the bubble of the heliosphere, bordered
by the heliopause and surrounded by interstellar space.
Though we’ve learned a lot about the heliopause thanks
to the Voyager spacecraft, its thickness and variation are still key
unanswered questions in space physics. As the Voyagers continue
their journey, scientists hope to learn more about the location
and properties of the heliopause.
From their unique vantage points – Voyager 1 in the northern hemisphere
and Voyager 2 in the southern hemisphere – the spacecraft have already
detected differences and asymmetries in the solar wind termination shock,
where the wind abruptly slows as it approaches the heliopause.
For example, Voyager 2 crossed the termination shock at a distance
of about 83.7 AU in the southern hemisphere. (One AU, or astronomical unit,
is equal to 150 kilometers (93 million miles), the distance between Earth and the Sun.)
That’s about 10 AU closer to the Sun than where Voyager 1 crossed the shock in the north.
As shown in this diagram, Voyager 1 traveled through the compressed “nose”
of the termination shock and Voyager 2 is expected to travel through the flank
of the termination shock.
With four remaining powered instruments on Voyager 1 and five remaining
powered instruments on Voyager 2, the two spacecraft continue to collect science
data comparing their two distinct locations at the far reaches of the solar system.
diagram of solar system components
In August 2012, Voyager 1 detected a dramatic increase in galactic cosmic rays
(as shown in this animated chart). The increase, which has continued
to the current peak, was associated with the spacecraft's crossing
into interstellar space. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Since it launched from Earth in 1977, Voyager 1 has been using
an instrument to measure high-energy, dangerous particles traveling
through space called galactic cosmic rays. While studying
the interaction between the bubble of the heliosphere and interstellar space,
Voyager 1 revealed that the heliosphere is functioning as a radiation shield,
protecting our planetary system from most of these galactic cosmic rays.
So in August 2012, when Voyager 1 detected a dramatic increase in the rays,
which has continued to the current peak, it was associated with the spacecraft’s crossing
into interstellar space.
Meanwhile, Voyager 2 – which is still in the heliosheath, the outermost layer
of the heliosphere between the shock and the heliopause – is using its solar
wind instrument to measure the directional change of solar wind particles there.
Within the next few years, Voyager 2 is also expected to cross into interstellar space,
providing us with even more detailed data about this mysterious region.
In another 10 years, we expect one or both Voyagers to cruise outward into
a more pristine region of interstellar space, returning data to inform
our hypotheses about the concentration of galactic particles
and the characteristics of interstellar wind.
Even with 40 years of space flight behind them, the Voyagers are expected
to continue returning valuable data until about 2025. Communications will be
maintained until the spacecraft’s nuclear power sources can no longer supply
enough electrical energy to power critical functions. Until then, there’s still much
to learn about the boundary of our heliosphere and what lies beyond in the space between the stars.
Teach It
Use these standards-aligned lessons and related activities to get students doing
math and science with a real-world (and space!) connection.
Hear Here - Students use the mathematical constant pi and information
about the current location of Voyager 1 to learn about the faint data-filled
signal being returned to Earth.
Solar System Bead Activity – Students calculate and construct
a scale model of solar system distances using beads and string.
Catching a Whisper from Space – Students kinesthetically model
the mathematics of how NASA communicates with spacecraft.
Explore More
Voyager Mission
Voyager Images
Voyager Golden Record
The Sounds of Interstellar Space
Voyager Senses Sun's Tsunami Wave in Interstellar Medium
Commemorative Voyager Posters
TAGS: Voyager, Farthest, Golden Record, STEM, Teachable Moments,
Science, Engineering, Solar System, Interstellar Space, Heliopause,
Heliosphere, Heliosheath, Termination Shock, Stars, Heliophysics
Ota Lutz
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ota Lutz, STEM Elementary and Secondary Education Specialist, NASA/JPL Edu
Ota Lutz is a STEM elementary and secondary education specialist
at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. When she’s not writing new lessons
or teaching, she’s probably cooking something delicious, volunteering
in the community, or dreaming about where she will travel next.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/2017/8/29/the-farthest-operating-spacecraft-voyagers-1-and-2-still-exploring-40-years-later/Teach It!
Try these standards-aligned lessons and activities with students
to bring the wonder of the Voyager mission to your classroom
or education group.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/tag/search/voyagerMission planners knew Voyager would be a historic mission to parts
of the solar system never visited by a human-made object.
To commemorate the journey, NASA endowed each spacecraft
with a time capsule of sorts called the Golden Record intended
to communicate the story of our world to extraterrestrials.
Both Voyagers carry the 12-inch, gold-plated copper phonograph
record containing sounds and images selected to portray
the diversity of life and culture on Earth. Find out more about
the Golden Record on the Voyager website.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
These images of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
(clockwise from top) were taken by Voyager 1 and 2
as the spacecraft journeyed through the solar system.
See a gallery of images that Voyager took on the Voyager
website.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Any flat-bottom sink can provide a visual analogy of these solar
system components. In this video, the water traveling radially
away from where the faucet stream impacts the sink represents
the solar wind. The termination shock is the point at which
the speed of the solar wind (water) drops abruptly as it begins
to be influenced by interstellar wind. The outer edge of the thick ring
of water at the bottom of the sink represents the heliopause.
Just like the water in the sink, the solar wind at the heliopause
changes direction and flows back into the heliosphere.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
L'on verra s'arrêter le mobile du monde
Madeleine de l' AUBESPINE (1546-1596)
L'on verra s'arrêter le mobile du monde,
Les étoiles marcher parmi le firmament,
Saturne infortuné luire bénignement,
Jupiter commander dedans le creux de l'onde.
L'on verra Mars paisible et la clarté féconde
Du Soleil s'obscurcir sans force et mouvement,
Vénus sans amitié, Stilbon sans changement,
Et la Lune en carré changer sa forme ronde,
Le feu sera pesant et légère la terre,
L'eau sera chaude et sèche et dans l'air qui l'enserre,
On verra les poissons voler et se nourrir,
Plutôt que mon amour, à vous seul destinée,
Se tourne en autre part, car pour vous je fus née,
Je ne vis que pour vous, pour vous je veux mourir.
ECRIT DU
CITOYEN TIGNARD YANIS
Accueil 