The Interstellar Probe – Exploring Space Between the Stars - The Cosmic Companion May 5, 2021
Exploring the depths of interstellar space for the first time - far further than ever before.
The Interstellar probe will go further than any spacecraft before it — much further. Much, much further. And it could happen soon.
The Interstellar Probe could soon travel well beyond the solar system, looking back at our family of planets. Image credit: JHU/APL
The edge of our solar system is home to just a handful of robotic explorers. Pioneer 10 and 11 were launched in the early 1970s, and the two Voyager craft followed in 1977. Now, New Horizons, the first spacecraft to visit the dwarf planet Pluto, is quickly headed outward into the void between the stars.
At these distances, it is convenient to measure distances in terms of astronomical units (AUs) the mean distance between the Earth and Sun. Neptune, the most distant planet, orbits roughly 30 AUs from the Sun, while the dwarf planet Pluto is found 40 AUs from the center of our solar system.
Read more: https://thecosmiccompanion.net/the-interstellar-probe-exploring-space-between-the-stars
Join us May 25, when we talk with Dr. Elena Provornikova about this exciting future mission!
We have an amazing lineup of guests coming up on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion!
This week: Dr. Stella Kafka, CEO and Executive Director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers
May 11 (s4/e19): Dr. Jack Hughes, astrophysicist at Rutgers University, discusses new findings about supernovae.
May 18 (s4/e20): NASA’s Scott Lambros, Instrument Systems Manager for the James Webb Space Telescope, tells us about this remarkable observatory.
May 25 (s4/e21): The Interstellar probe – exploring space between the stars with Dr. Elena Provornikova from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
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