WN: Wired News:
"'Voyager 1 has entered the final lap on its race to the edge of interstellar space,' said Edward Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology, in a statement released Tuesday.
Voyager watchers theorized last November that the craft might be reaching this bumpy region of space when the charged solar particles known as the solar wind seemed to slow down from a top speed of 1.5 million miles per hour.
This was expected at the area of termination shock, where the solar winds were expected to decelerate as they bump up against gas from the space beyond our solar system. It is more than twice as distant as Pluto, the furthest planet in our system.
...Wherever they go, the Voyagers each carry a golden phonograph record which bears messages from Earth, including natural sounds of surf, wind, thunder and animals. There are also musical selections, spoken greetings in 55 languages, along with instructions and equipment on how to play the record."
A phonograph record? Ahhhhhhhh! I'm already embarrassed for humanity. When the first aliens find this thing:
"Grooves and a needle?? Have they invented the wheel yet? Ha Ha Ha"
Bastard aliens.