Into The Unknown: December 2010

Voyager reaches the Heliopause!

0 comments at Tuesday, December 14, 2010

An incredible achievement for a comparatively rudimentary satellite - really quite remarkable that it's still reporting back, after all these years - and it's about to go interstellar. Mind: blown. Truly venturing forth into the unknown...

Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, has reached a new milestone in its quest to leave the Solar System. Now 17.4bn km (10.8bn miles) from home, the veteran probe has detected a distinct change in the flow of particles that surround it.

These particles, which emanate from the Sun, are no longer travelling outwards but are moving sideways. It means Voyager must be very close to making the jump to interstellar space - the space between the stars.

Full article, with Dr. Ed Stone audio interview and graphics: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11988466

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Hello, and welcome Into The Unknown.

My name's Christopher, and this site's my venue for discussion and highlighting of topics more relevant to my technical (and technological) interests.

It appears that you're interested in newfangled thingumajigs and technological bits 'n bobs (all with a healthy dose of cynicism thrown into the mix - for the best, of course).

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one!

Hopefully this blog and its content contained herein adds some value to somebody else's day... Maybe even yours. Thanks for stopping by. :)

What else does Christopher do?

As well as this site, the most recent creation to crawl from my subconscious, I also spend my time writing on my personal blog (not always safe for work, it is very much my thoughts as they come out so beware!)

When I'm doing work proper, I'm a cross-media designer, systems analyst, solutions provider and general on-call geek for my company, based in the Birmingham area. As an aside, I also provide custom web hosting solutions for people who want a solution that's a little more personal (and cost-effective).

In the rest of my spare time, every so often I tap new entries into other sites of mine: The Uniblog, About Brum, this blog's companion Tumblog... Loads of sites!

Since moving to the fair city of Birmingham, I've increasingly found it a rich, detailed place to live, and eventually I decided to start blogging about it. Thus was born About Brum, and slowly but surely I'm chipping away at the latest development for it - podcasts highlighting one aspect of the city or the region in depth. Lots more work to do on those, but they should be great when they're finished.