[url=http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2012/10/more-evidence-that-voyager-has-exited-the-solar-system/]Article:[/url]
To summarize, we'd officially deem Voyager 1 out of the Solar System once it had crossed the heliopause, the theoretically boundary in which solar wind emanating from the Sun is balanced, and therefore halted, by interactions with stellar wind emanating from other star systems. Generally, I'd post the majority of the article here, but a lot of it is diagrams and pictures, so I can't do that.
But this would be an absolutely enormous step for mankind's exploration of the cosmos. This'd be the first time a man-made object as exited the Solar System.
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] I0 NotGinger 0I No it won't, we will all be dead and the world will have ended by the time it does anything useful.[/quote] This argument is often given regarding whether or not space exploration is useful. First of all, it will allow the human race to continue as a species. Whether or not that occurs within our lifetime is entirely irrelevant, it is still a necessity. Colonization of extrasolar planets won't come to us on a silver platter, we need to work to achieve that goal. Might as well start now. We can't just sit around and have a an interstellar-capable spaceship pop out of our asses. [Edited on 10.08.2012 9:53 AM PDT]