PALE blue dots. There is now a companion to Voyager 1鈥檚 famous snap looking at our planet from the depths of space: a radar image of the probe taken from Earth, 11.5 billion kilometres away.
NASA鈥檚 declaration last week that the elderly space probe has definitely left the solar system 鈥� after years of false alarms 鈥� was lauded as a historic moment in our species鈥� exploration of the cosmos, akin to circumnavigating our own planet. Rightly so. But that鈥檚 not the end of the story for Voyager 1.
Excitingly, the probe will continue to report back on what it finds (see 鈥�Where to next for interstellar pioneer Voyager 1?鈥�). So in the true spirit of science, Voyager 1 and its human handlers are continuing to look forward, not back. It鈥檚 not just the first craft to leave the sun鈥檚 dominion, but our first emissary to interstellar space. May it be the first of many.
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This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淪ay hello, wave goodbye鈥�
