NASA is Trying To Save Voyager 2 After a Power Glitch Shut Down Its Instruments

Last Saturday, Voyager 2’s software shut down all five of the scientific instruments onboard because the spacecraft was consuming way too much power. Engineers at NASA don’t know what triggered this energy spike and are currently trying to get the interstellar probe, which was launched in 1977, back to normal operations. Its primary mission was supposed to last five years. In…

How to locate planet Uranus

Tonight’s waxing crescent moon shines close to Uranus. Learn how to locate the planet, using tonight’s moon location and these links to charts and other info. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/moon-and-uranus-in-front-of-pisces…

Voyager 2 engineers working to restore normal operations

Engineers for NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft are working to return the mission to normal operating conditions after one of the spacecraft’s autonomous fault protection routines was triggered. Multiple fault protection routines were programmed into both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 in order to allow the spacecraft to automatically take actions to protect themselves if potentially harmful circumstances arise. At NASA’s Jet…

Today in science: Voyager 2 met Uranus

Voyager 2 swept closest to Uranus on this day 34 years ago. During its visit, the spacecraft sent data that revealed 2 new planetary rings, 10 new moons, radiation belts, and a very unusual magnetic field. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/voyager-2-meets-uranus-jan-24-1986…

There’s a Violent Battle Between Solar Wind and Cosmic Rays, and Voyager 2 Just Passed Through it

At the edge of our solar system, a fierce battle rages between solar wind and interstellar rays. NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft has now passed through the frontlines. Source: https://www.livescience.com/voyager-2-detects-heliopause-plasma-shield.html

Voyager 2 illuminates boundary of interstellar space

One year ago, on Nov. 5, 2018, NASA’s Voyager 2 became only the second spacecraft in history to leave the heliosphere—the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by our Sun. At a distance of about 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) from Earth—well beyond the orbit of Pluto—Voyager 2 had entered interstellar space, or the region between stars. Today,…

Voyager 2 sends back insights on interstellar space

Voyager 2 left the realm of the sun’s influence a year ago today, becoming the 2nd craft ever to do so. This week, the journal Nature Astronomy published 5 new papers describing what Voyager 2 has been seeing on its journey into the unknown. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/voyager-2-new-published-papers-boundary-interstellar-space…

Interstellar Space Even Weirder Than Expected, NASA Probe Reveals

New submitter paralumina01 shares a report from National Geographic: In the blackness of space billions of miles from home, NASA’s Voyager 2 marked a milestone of exploration, becoming just the second spacecraft ever to enter interstellar space in November 2018. Now, a day before the anniversary of that celestial exit, scientists have revealed what Voyager 2 saw as it crossed the…