Voyager: 2013

In 2013, Voyager 2 was still inside the heliosphere (~100 AU), but closing in. It would eventually cross into interstellar space in 2018.

The announcement wasn’t sudden. Back in 2012, scientists saw a “magnetic highway” of charged particles, but the official “we are out ” confirmation came in September 2013 after careful analysis. There was even healthy scientific debate: some argued Voyager hadn’t truly left until it measured a change in magnetic field direction (which didn’t happen as expected). But the plasma density data won the case — Voyager 1 was in a new, unexplored region. voyager 2013

It’s easy to think of the Voyager missions as ancient history (they launched in 1977, after all), but 2013 was a landmark year that reminded the world just how alive and groundbreaking these twin probes still are. In 2013, Voyager 2 was still inside the