As a species, humans are about to experience an important milestone, although few will make note of it. But in my ongoing efforts to bring science and technology to the masses, I feel it is my duty to celebrate this event.

For the first time in history, a man made object is leaving our solar system. (I refer here of course to a material object - man made radio waves have been travelling into deep space for decades).

The Voyager 1 probe was launched in 1977 to study the outer planets of our solar system and to eventually enter interstellar space. It had a successful mission studying the planets, and for the last decade or more has been drifting away from the sun towards the edge of the system, where the solar wind no longer exists. 

The next time Voyager will be able to study matter or planets up close will be in a few centuries when it hits the next solar system - but considering its batteries are set to die in the next thirty years that won't be very exciting.

Scientist can't be certain where the exact end of the solar system is, but it is generally believed that sometime in the last year Voyager I passed that point. It is now the farthest man-made object from Earth, the fastest probe ever created, and the first man-made object to enter interstellar space.

It may seem like a trivial matter to people now, but historians will one day look on this as an important step forward in space travel.