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Published online 10 December 2007 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2007.365
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Voyager 2 probe leaves the neighbourhood
30-year-mission crosses the boundary out of the solar system.
SAN FRANCISCO – Like a soft orange that fell just a bit too hard from its tree, the giant bubble that protects the solar system from interstellar space is squashed on one side, new data show.
On 30 August, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft — which has been sailing through space since 1977 — crossed the ‘termination shock’, the boundary between the bubble in space dominated by the solar wind coming from the Sun and the transition region beyond that lies between Earth and interstellar space.
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Incredible voyage. I remember when Neptune was encountered and how amazing it seemed to see this world never seen with the naked eye up close. Kudos.