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Re:Voyager 1 stops communicating with Earth by anon_cow1111 on Friday December 15, 2023 @12:06AM (#38651184)
Wow yes, that was also my main question and it looks like the answer everyone is agreeing on is "interstellar wind pushing back against the solar wind"

BUT- The graph says 2-3 particles/sec hitting the detector, which in sub-atomic terms is like 2 drops of water in an ocean's worth of volume. How much meaningful particle interaction is happening when everything is so close to a true vaccuum? Is this another one of those weird quantum-field-theory things? (Asking as a layman not a physicist obviously)

Re:Voyager 1 stops communicating with Earth by thriftwy on Friday December 15, 2023 @04:54AM (#38652623)
It is certainly not vacuum. Vacuum is when a gas particle is more likely to hit a wall (or other solid object) than other gas particle. It is absolutely not so on the edge of solar system, where low density is compensated by the vastness of space.