Time for Some Review

Post # 93  

      I was reading an article about the Voyager1 yesterday.  Although this is extremely old news they were reporting that the spacecraft has left the region of the solar winds just beyond the Kuiper Belt.  This is the region where the power of the solar wind has diminished to the point that it can no longer push out the heavy bombardment of inter stellar cosmic rays and particles.  This was reported about a year or more ago.         
     The article reported that the scientists currently involved with the mission have declared that the Voyager 1 spacecraft has left the Solar System.  I left a fairly long comment on the article  That's why I said it's time for a review. 
      Our Solar System is a lot more huge than just to the end of the planetary orbits.  That's just the beginning.  There are varying views in the astronomical community as to what exactly constitutes the "edge" of the Solar System.  Some say that's it, when you pass the orbits of the eight planets plus Pluto.  To them I say "what about Sedna then?"  (See image below) Sedna is about the same size as Pluto, and its orbit is ten to twelve times as large as Pluto's.  Sedna is a Kuiper Belt orbiting object. 

      That leads to the next group who declare that the edge of the Solar System is the Kuiper Belt and the end of the Solar wind.  The third group (whose camp I am also in) says that the Solar System doesn't end until the sun's gravitational pull is so weak that it can no longer keep objects in orbit.  The Oort cloud objects are orbiting the sun way out past Sedna.  The Oort Cloud is mainly made up of comets.  There are also many asteroids out there too, as well a few planetoids (Pluto sized objects).  New planetoid sized objects are being found out there on a fairly regular basis. 

      These things wouldn't be orbiting the sun if they weren't a part of the "Sol Star System."  To say otherwise would be like telling someone with really curly hair that frizzes way out like about a foot or more that the person stops at the scalp, and that their hair isn't a part of them.  That's just about one full light year out.  Using these criteria, the Voyager 1 has a long way yet to reach the edge of the Solar System.  Heck, it's barely even started. 
      After all these years of traveling it probably sounds good to say that "we" have finally left the Solar System, but that's not the real truth.  On the plus side of this, however, by the time Voyager does leave the Solar System, it might not be long before it enters another system into its own Oort Cloud.  That depends on which direction the Voyagers are heading.  Barnard's Star and Alpha Centari are each about 4 light years away.  Alpha Centari, however is a multiple star system, giving it a much larger gravitational range, thus giving it a much larger Oort Cloud.