the voyager 1 and voyager 2 spacecrafts were launched during the 70s to boldly go
where no one has gone before for more than 40 years these spacecraft have been our vanguard
of space programs and have enabled men to uncover secrets of our solar system
and the galaxy welcome the fact nominal and today
let's look at the strangest discoveries made by voyager 1 and voyager 2. secrets of jupiter
voyager 1 and voyager 2's objective was to be our eyes as it explores other solar systems in
the galaxy be our messenger if it encounters other life forms and carry humanity's legacy
if we never manage to expand beyond our solar system nasa was already enthusiastic the moment
the voyagers crossed the asteroid belt to enter the outer block of the solar system
the voyagers were meant for exploring interstellar space but that doesn't mean they couldn't take a
look at our giant neighbors on their way out the first thing the voyager spacecraft sent us
was the fascinating pictures of jupiter's moons europa as usual was the prettiest of them all
the smoothest object in all of the solar system europa revealed many secrets after
voyager 2 sent nasa the pictures of the most fascinating moon of the gas giant
it was first believed that europa had an iron core like our own planet along with a rocky mantle and
an ocean of salty water but thanks to the voyager spacecraft the estimates changed drastically
it is now believed that europa's ocean lies below a shell of ice probably 10 to
15 miles thick and has an estimated depth of 40 to 100 miles nothing is yet confirmed but
thanks to the upcoming europa clipper mission we should know more soon among other moons kalisto
was found withering and cratered and ganymede revealed signs of the active tectonic process
but it was io that stunned everyone images of io showed enormous plumes extending nearly 200 miles
above the surface these were the first volcanoes humans encountered elsewhere in the solar system
subsequent research found that io's volcanic activity was the result of gravitational bullying
io endured from europa and ganymede this volcanic activity produces tides of subsurface sulfur
oxygen and sodium that spew out up to a speed of one kilometer per second to put that into
perspective that's as fast as a 257 weatherby magnum but that was not all jupiter had another
near invisible secret that it was hiding from humanity for ages but for being machines the
voyager spacecrafts did have a keen eye as they managed to reveal jupiter's near-invisible ring
yes like saturn jupiter 2 has a ring around it albeit jupiter's ring is made of dust and thus
it is so hard to catch but what differentiates saturn from jupiter you might ask well the
voyagers would give us a better understanding as it was the next stop in its journey life on saturn
today nasa's cassini huygens and importantly the upcoming dragonfly mission to saturn's moon titan
to search for signs of life allow a debt to the voyager spacecraft voyager 1 entered the saturn
system on november 12 1980. voyager 2 soon followed voyager 1's flyby and encountered
saturn and its moons on august 26 1981. this was a huge moment in history as the observations of
the voyager spacecrafts helped nasa uncover important information about how to search for
extraterrestrial life in and beyond our solar system voyager 1's passage through the saturn
system provided nasa the very first up-close look of saturn's rings observing the detailed structure
of the rings not only helps scientists to prepare voyager 2 to take a closer look at the planet and
its rings but also the moons and especially enceladus before voyager 2's flyby nobody in
the astrophysics circle would have thought a small only 500 kilometer diameter moon could hold such
a wonderful secret when the spacecraft sent the images of this white moon revolving around saturn
we discovered a pristine and bright world teeming with geological activity and the potential of life
in images sent by voyager 2 nasa observed evidence of tectonic fractures and softened craters
the moon was filled with a global liquid water ocean beneath its icy crust
in short it was marking every checkbox for the possibility of extraterrestrial
life later nasa's 2005 cassini mission conducted multiple flybys of the little moon and took images
of geysers erupting from enceladus's southern polar region cassini even flew through the
geyser's plumes sampling what is believed to be water spewing up from the subsurface ocean
the data collected by voyager 1 and voyager 2 also helped cassini the cassini spacecraft carrying the
huygens probe dropped the lander onto titan's surface in 2005. thanks to that little visit we
now know titan also harbors a world of hydrocarbon lakes and water ice we haven't encountered our
first saturn-based extraterrestrial life yet but the answers aren't very far after
cassini and huygens its dragonflies turn to probe titan's dense atmosphere rich in complex carbon
molecules and a surface made of water ice for signs of life in the upcoming decade of 2030.
our solar system is leaky to make sense of voyager 2's latest findings it helps to know
that the sun isn't a quietly burning ball of light our star is a raging nuclear furnace
hurling through the galaxy at about 450 000 miles an hour as it orbits the galactic center
the sun contains twisted braided magnetic fields across its surface which constantly project the
breeze of electrically charged particles which we know as solar wind this gust rushes out in
all directions carrying the sun's magnetic field with it eventually the solar wind smashes into
the interstellar medium which is the debris from ancient stellar explosions that lurk in the spaces
between stars like oil and water the solar wind and the interstellar medium don't perfectly mix
so the solar wind forms a bubble within the interstellar medium called the heliosphere
based on voyager data this bubble extends about 11 billion miles from the sun at its leading edge
surrounding the sun all eight planets and much of the outer objects orbiting our star is that
a good thing yes it's a great thing the protective heliosphere shields everything inside it including
our fragile dna from most of the galaxy's highest energy radiation however as voyager spacecraft
passed through the heliosphere right before saying farewell to our solar system forever they found
a [ __ ] in our solar system's armor voyager 1 zoomed through tendrils of interstellar particles
that had punched into the heliopause like tree roots through rock voyager 2 however saw a trickle
of low energy particles that extended more than a hundred million miles beyond the heliopause
another mystery appeared as voyager 1 came within 800 million miles of the heliopause where it
entered a limbo-like area in which the outbound solar wind slowed to a crawl before it crossed the
heliopause voyager 2 saw the solar wind forming an altogether different kind of layer that oddly
was nearly the same width as the stagnant one seen by voyager 1. so what does all of this information
mean well it seems our solar system's heliopause is not the best fence we could have ordered to
secure the boundary of our solar system it's leaky and punched with holes like swiss cheese
on one hand interstellar cosmic rays can invade the heliosphere through these holes and solar wind
on the other hand can go beyond the boundaries of our solar system should we worry well nobody is
really sure about it for now but the mystery has enough people interested in exploring the answer
who's singing in outer space four and a half decades after launch and over 14 billion miles
from earth voyager 1 officially exited our solar system in 2012 but like the adorable et this
little spacecraft keeps phoning home and will continue to do so until its power supply dies
which unfortunately is bound to happen in the near future this is why the messages it is sending are
so precious very recently voyager has picked up the signature of interstellar space itself a faint
plasma hum comparable to gentle rain interstellar space is supposed to be mostly quiet but it's not
entirely vacant the space between star systems usually has a decent amount of hydrogen and helium
scattered at varying densities the proportions of the gases are similar to those in the sun
someday this interstellar gas will supply the raw material for a new star formation
and due to the waves existing in interstellar space it likes to sing as well so this faint
persistent hum of interstellar gas is a song of the dispersed but large sea of hydrogen and
helium between the stars the hum is caused by the waves of gas swirling around in interstellar space
of course the intensity of hum grows and drops with the density of the interstellar gas cloud's
presence and thus voyager spacecraft in their number days are helping scientists to chart
interstellar space better do you think we will ever be successful in sending mend missions
into interstellar space what kind of life would be possible on the moons of jupiter and saturn
tell us in the comments and once again thanks for watching fact nominal