A kind of solar tsunami hit the Voyager 1 space probe in March this year, a wave of plasma emitted by the Sun that rings like a bell. An instrument of the probe allows to measure the frequency of the sounds produced by these waves, a truly unique music in the interstellar space reached by Voyager 1.

In September 2013, NASA confirmed that the Voyager 1 space probe had reached interstellar space after a long and detailed analysis of the measurements made ​​with the instruments that are still working of this probe launched in 1977. It’s thanks to these data that keep on reaching Earth that scientists are discovering what really happens at those distances from the Sun.

Since the Voyager 1 spacecraft has arrived in interstellar space, it was reached by three coronal mass ejections from the Sun. The first was too weak to be noticed and only later scientists realized that it occurred. The second was recorded by the probe’s instrument that detects cosmic rays in March 2013 and it’s the one that allowed to establish that it had entered interstellar space.

Now the team of scientists who are studying the Voyager 1 data analyzed the third wave of plasma. The data show that its density is similar to that previously measured and confirms that the probe is in interstellar space. Generally that’s a quiet place but solar storms can be so violent that their effects are felt even at 19 billion kilometers (about 12 billion miles) away.

For astronomers, it’s a frontier whose exploration has just begun so all data collected by Voyager 1 are very important. The boundary area of the heliosphere, which is the area of space where the solar wind makes its influence felt, was a bit different from what they expected. As a result, the repetition of what happened when the previous coronal mass ejection reached the Voyager 1 confirms that now the scientists have a better understanding of the characteristics of the frontier.

The Voyager 1 space probe is still within the solar system because the Oort cloud is considered to be a part of it. These definitions can cause confusion and this is normal because we’re really talking about places that are very close in astronomical terms but it took 35 years for Voyager 1 to arrive there.

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