Voyager 2 is an interstar star and the Parkes Radio telescope was there

NASA's Voyager 2 space ship became the only space ship that entered the interstellar space, and there was a Parkes radio telescope there.

NASA announced on Tuesday morning that Voyager 2 left the "heliosphere" – the sun protection enclosure surrounded by our solar system – about 18 billion kilometers away from Earth and lasting 41 years of travel.

The CSIRO Parkes radio telescope and giant dishes in Canberra's Deep Space Communications Complex (CDSCC) confirmed the escape of the vessel from the local area.

The Voyager 2 milestone, which became the second human-built vessel that reached the interstellar space, was actually reached on November 5, but NASA needed a few weeks to receive unique and historical data and validate the findings.

The Parkes telescope will continue to receive data at the beginning of 2019.

Due to the location of Voyager 2 and the distance from the Earth, the CDSCC and Parkes telescope are the only facility in the world that is capable of contacting the spacecraft.

Voyager 2 can not record its data on board – it is transmitted directly from the instruments back to earth, which makes it essential that as many of these essential data are received.

Our solar system was driven by the "sun wind" – an invisible stream of particles emitted by the sun. This wind deters the "interstellar wind", the flow of dangerous cosmic high-energy particles, which are driving us towards the deep space.

When Voyager 2 is directed towards the edge of the solar system, the instrument on board follows the fall in the number of particles emitted by the sun that hit the vessel.

It fell when the interstellar space was reached. At the same time, the intensity of the galactic cosmic ray increased, which showed that the vessel was outside the sun's protection.

CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall said that CSIRO is here to solve the biggest challenges with science.

"We are proud to help NASA solve the scientific challenge in order to take advantage of this opportunity when Voyager 2 reaches the interstellar space," he said.

"Our team at Parkes has worked with NASA on some of the most important human footsteps in space, including the landing of curious Mars Rover and nearly 50 years ago Apollo 11 Moon landing.

"Our long-standing relationship with NASA has been expanding over 50 years, creating pervasive solutions in science and promoting our common ambition to push the boundaries of research to benefit life on earth."

Director of Astronomy and Space Science CSIRO Dr. Douglas Bock explained how the additional support of Parkes would follow Voyager 2.

"The Canberra Deep Space communication complex, which CSIRO works on behalf of NASA, has been providing command, telemetry and control of the dual Voyager spacecraft since the beginning of 1977," he said.

NASA has incorporated Parkes's 64-meter radio telescope into the "Combination of Force" with the 70-meter CDSCC, Deep Space Station 43 (DSS43), to capture so much scientifically valuable data during this critical period.

"The Parkes telescope will follow Voyager 2 11 hours a day, while a spaceship is visible from Parkes.

"The DSS43 CDSCC will also monitor Voyager 2 for hours, both before and after Parkes, in order to extend the available observation time.

"This is the culmination of CSIRO's decades of experience dealing with large, complex spacecraft and radio astronomy infrastructure."

Voyager 1 has moved into the interstellar space of 2012, while Voyager 2 is on a different route on our solar system.

Voyager 2 was once again driven by Jupiter (1979), Saturn (1981), Uranus (1986) and Neptune (1989), which returned valuable images and data.

The Parkes Telescope is part of Breakthrough Listen, a global initiative to find signs of technological signatures in space.