Lyman Strong Spitzer was an American theoretical physicist, astronomer and mountaineer. As a scientist, he carried out research into star formation, plasma physics, and in 1946, conceived the idea of telescopes operating in outer space.
NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has traveled beyond our solar bubble and has entered interstellar space. During a NASA Headquarters briefing, the Voyager team assessing the data determined the craft is in a transitional region immediately outside the solar bubble where some effects from our sun are still evident. New, unexpected data indicate that Voyager 1 has been traveling through the plasma, or ionized gas, that originates in the space between the stars. The spacecraft is now bathed in interstellar plasma, the material ejected from the death of nearby stars millions of years ago.
