– For the first time, the density of interstellar space has been measured continuously for many years, which is very interesting, says John-Eric Wahland, professor of space physics at the Institute of Space Physics in Uppsala.

In 1977, two spacecraft, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, orbited the giant giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune in a long voyage out of the Solar System.

Went through an obstacle

The heliosphere, the protective bubble of the Solar System, was first abandoned by Voyager 1, which passed through the barrier in August 2012, separating our solar system from the rest of the world.

The heliosphere contains all the planets and is filled with charged particles from the solar wind coming from the sun. Outside, a plasma of charge particles dominates, filling our entire galaxy – the Milky Way. Voyager 1 has been an interstellar space for many years. On board is a device called the Plasma Wave System (PWS), which still works and can detect the movement of charged particles around the Voyager.

-Voyager interstellar measures the natural noise of space, which is a type of humming. It comes from electrons moving up and down the medium at a certain frequency, which shows the density of the charged interstellar medium, says Jan-Eric Wahland.

Not empty

So empty space is not empty but it is very rare. Voyager 1 found that there are 0.1 particles per cubic centimeter of space in interstellar space. This equates to 100,000 particles per cubic meter. It’s very rare, it’s a vacuum better than what can be achieved on earth, but like I said, it’s not empty. The discovery was reported this week Natural astronomy Astronomers at Cornell University in the United States.

Voyager 1 will continue its journey into space, and as long as the instruments on board and the radioactive source of energy remain, the search for information about the world outside the domains of the Solar System will continue.

The next long-distance traveler

Today, Voyager has 153 astronomical units from the Sun, where 1 astronomical unit is the distance between the Earth and the Sun. However, the next generation of long-distance travelers is planned, that is, the interstellar probe, which will carry up to 2,000 astronomical units from Earth to interstellar space in 50 years

– It’s fun to be a part of starting a project where I can not experience the results myself. This requires an organization that includes many generations. Jan-Eric Wahland says it’s a step towards further advancement and technology development, even to the next level.

Listen to the signals of the place by playing the clip above – converted to sound.