The space wave was detected with the help of Voyager 1 in February, is the longest-lasting thus far documented

Dec 16, 2014 11:58 GMT  ·  By

It just so happens that, contrary to what some might assume, space is not a calm and peaceful place. On the contrary, stars and planets are forever forming and dying. What's more, it appears that the occasional cosmic tsunami wave also occur.

In fact, scientists with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, US, now say that such a cosmic wave that was first detected with the help of the Voyager 1 spacecraft back in February appears to still be ripping through interstellar space.

What the heck is a cosmic tsunami wave anyway?

As detailed by NASA researchers, such waves form whenever a star, be it our Sun or any other, coughs out a magnetic cloud of plasma. The event births a wave of pressure which, in turn, upsets the charged particles floating about in space and, in doing so, creates a shock wave.

Having a star spew out a magnetic cloud of plasma from its surface is known to the scientific community as a coronal mass ejection. Scientists say that, as shown by previous investigations, shock waves birthed by such events can propagate over impressive distances.

“The tsunami causes the ionized gas that is out there to resonate – ‘sing’ or vibrate like a bell,” explains Ed Stone, researcher at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and project scientist for the Voyager mission.

“Most people would have thought the interstellar medium would have been smooth and quiet. But these shock waves seem to be more common than we thought,” adds specialist Don Gurnett with the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

Voyager 1 has so far experienced three shock waves

Together with Voyager 2, which is its sibling, Voyager 1 left our planet several decades ago, in 1977. The two spacecraft were launched just 16 days one after the other and have since traveled quite far away from our planet.

Both spacecraft have so far completed a Jupiter and Saturn flyby, and Voyager 2 has even flown by Uranus and Neptune. In fact, NASA scientists expect that, in just a few years from now, this spacecraft will successfully reach interstellar space.

Voyager 1 has experienced a total of three shock waves resulting from solar coronal mass ejections. As detailed in the video below, the first was documented between October and November 2012, the second between April and May 2003, and the third began in this year's February and might still be ongoing.

For the time being, scientists cannot say for sure how fast this latest shock wave is moving through interstellar space or how broad it might be. Besides, they are yet to determine why it is that, rather than subsiding, it appears to still be ripping through the cosmos.

Researchers plan to continue studying it with the help of the Voyager 1 spacecraft and expect that its behavior will shed new light on the makeup of the universe.

Evidence indicates a cosmic wave is now moving through space (5 Images)

Interstellar space is by no means calm and peaceful
On the contrary, Voyager data indicates shock waves are ripping through itVoyager 1 has until now documented three such shock waves
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