The limits of the solar system

1
The limits of the solar system
2
The Odyssey of the Voyager spacecraft
3
Locations of the Voyager

• Voyager 1 105.9 au from Sun (March 2008) 9.82
  billion miles 14 light hours
• Voyager 2 85.5 au

4
What is there in the outer solar system?

• Still more objects (minor planets, Kuiper Belt
  Objects, comets)
• The Boundary of the Solar System (the
  heliospheric termination shock)

5
The Heliospheric boundary between the solar wind
and the interstellar medium
6
The University of Iowa radio instruments on
Voyager 1 and 2 picked up the termination shock
years before we got there
7
Radio emission from deep space

• Voyager spacecraft radio receiver

8
Satellites of the outer planets

• A main and interesting class of solar system
  objects. 2 of the 3 objects of most interest for
  life elsewhere in the universe

9
Satellites of Jupiter
Jupiter as it would be seen in a small telescope
10
Virtually nothing was known about the Moons of
Jupiter prior to the arrival of spacecraft in the
1970s

• Io
• Europa
• Ganymede
• Callisto
• 8 others known before space age
• A total of 63 now known (mostly tiny)

11
The Galilean satellites of Jupiter
12
The Galilean satellites of Jupiter (cont)
13
Titan largest moon of Saturn
14
Titan as seen at infrared wavelengths