Farewell to a Pioneer.It ventured within 42,000 kilometers of Jupiter's cloud tops, discovered a new ring and two moonlets of Saturn, and flew high enough above the sun's equatorial plane e·qua·to·ri·al plane n. The plane that contains all of the centromeres and their spindle attachments during metaphase of mitosis. to detect the true character of the solar magnetic field Noun 1. solar magnetic field - the magnetic field of the sun interplanetary medium - interplanetary space including forms of energy and gas and dust . Now, after exploring the solar system solar system, the sun and the surrounding planets, natural satellites, dwarf planets, asteroids, meteoroids, and comets that are bound by its gravity. The sun is by far the most massive part of the solar system, containing almost 99.9% of the system's total mass. for nearly 22 years and 6.6 billion km, the Pioneer 11 spacecraft has begun dying a slow death. Hurtling beyond Pluto into the far reaches of the solar system, the craft can no longer power its detectors, explains project manager Fred Wirth of NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. Although NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. stopped daily communication with the aging craft on Sept. 30, it will tune in to Pioneer 11's fading radio signals for about 2 hours every 2 to 4 weeks through late 1996. Around that time, the craft's transmitter "will fall silent and Pioneer 11 will travel as a ghost ship In modern English, the term ghost ship has come to denote at least one of three separate (though occasionally overlapping) definitions, all of which involving, in one respect or other, unexplained circumstances. in our galaxy," says Wirth. Listening to the craft's swan song, he adds, may enable researchers to prolong by a few months the service of its sister craft, Pioneer 10, which now lies nearly 9.4 billion km from Earth. |
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