1. Voyager in Interstellar Space
Professor John Belcher
MIT Department of Physics

3. 100,000 light years across

4. 20 light days across

5. Interstellar Medium Heliopause Termination Shock Heliosphere
Link to movie
Heliosphere

6. Voyager 1 in Interstellar Medium Termination Shock
As of 26 December 2014, Voyager 2 was billion miles from Earth (106.5 Astronomical Units from the Sun), well beyond the orbit of Pluto. Voyager 2 is leaving the solar system at 36,000 miles per hour, which is 3.2 AU per year, or 1 light year per 18,600 years. On the same date, the light travel time from Voyager 2 to Earth was 14 hours, 54 minutes, 31 seconds. Data are returned from the spacecraft at 160 bits per second, using a transmitter with about 25 watts (!) of power.
Heliopause
Voyager 2 in shocked solar wind

7. Galactic Cosmic Rays
Energetic Particles
Accelerated in
Heliosphere

8. History
Voyager 1 crossed the termination shock in December 2004 at 94 AU
The MIT plasma instrument on Voyager 1 has been dead since 1981, but the plasma instrument on Voyager 2 is alive and well.
Voyager 2 crossed the termination shock in Aug 2007 at 84 AU
Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause into interstellar space on August 25, 2012
We are still waiting for Voyager 2 to cross into interstellar space, and for the first direct measurements of the interstellar plasma

9. 50 days of recent heliosheath data from
Voyager 2 MIT Plasma Science Experiment
Last data on Friday May 29, 2015
Instrument operating since August 20, 1977

11. The local bubble is very hot million degree plasma which is totally ionized.
But there is a smaller region in the local bubble, the local fluff, which is much cooler (6500 K), and the sun is presently in that region
Frisch & Huff