Voyager 1 sends recording of interstellar hum to Earth

Researchers from Cornell University and Iowa University have published an analysis of data from a space probe

 Voyager 1 in the journal Nature Astronomy.Outside the heliosphere, it recorded a "hum" of plasma that was more intense than expected.The solar wind no longer intrudes into this region of space, although the powerful coronal ejections of the Sun during its activity are heard in the constant and monotonous plasma noise as thunderclaps.

The probe crossed the border of the solar system and enteredinterstellar space in 2012. Such a transition is possible after passing through the so-called heliopause - the boundary at which the solar wind meets the interstellar medium. At this point, Voyager 1 detected gas bursts generated by the Sun and a stable signature from space, which is mostly vacuum. Astronomers say that this interstellar hum can be compared to the sounds of "quiet and soft rain."

The authors note that low-level activity in the interstellar medium was higher than expected for a near-total vacuum.It may be thermally excited plasma oscillations or quasi-thermal noise created by the movement of electrons in the plasma, creating a local electric field.But  whatever the cause of this hum, scientists believe it can be used to estimate the density distribution of plasma in interstellar space.

The twin spacecraft Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are exploring space beyond the edge of the solar system where no other spacecraft have gone before.Continuing its more than 40-year journey since its launch in 1977 , each is much farther from Earth and the Sun than Pluto.In August 2012, Voyager 1 made a historic entry into interstellar space, a region between stars filled with material ejected by the death of nearby stars millions of yearsback." Voyager 2 entered interstellar space on November 5 , 2018 , and scientists hope to learn more about the region.Both spacecraft still send scientific information about their surroundings through the Deep Space Network, or DSN.

After a number of discoveries, such as active volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io and the intricacies of Saturn's rings, the mission was extended.Voyager 2 continued to explore Uranus and Neptune and  is still the only spacecraft to visit these outer planets.The adventurers' current mission, the interstellar Voyager Mission (VIM), will explore the extreme edge of the solar system.

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