20 Jan 2017

A sort of Google maps for finding your way around the cosmos. This is what the Hubble telescope and the two Voyager probes are doing, which are travelling beyond the edges of the solar system and could provide us with the first map of interstellar space.

A sort of Google maps for finding your way in space. This is what the alliance between the NASA/ESA Hubble telescope and the two Voyager probes are producing, travelling beyond the edges of the solar system. The Voyager shuttles, launched in 1977, have completed their mission to explore Jupiter and Saturn, but are still operating. Voyager 1 was the first probe to dive into what is known as interstellar space, and which is still very much a mystery to us.

Together with its sibling Voyager 2, it is currently sampling small regions of the Universe, travelling at around 60,000 km per hour. This is where Hubble comes in. The space telescope offers a much wider view, providing astronauts with a precise picture of the environment in which the two probes are moving. An initial analysis of the data from Hubble has already allowed scientists to reconstruct the interstellar area where the two Voyagers are located, shining a light on the path ahead. The results show a very complex environment, containing clouds of hydrogen bonded with other chemical elements. These are the first Street View shots of this space navigator, that could very soon provide us with a precise map of galactic geography beyond our planetary system.