Voyager 1 leaves the solar system

Voyager 1 has crossed a new frontier, becoming the first spacecraft ever to leave the solar system, Nasa said today.

Thirty-six years after it was launched from Earth on a tour of the outer planets, the plutonium-powered spacecraft is more than 11.5 billion miles from the Sun, cruising through what scientists call interstellar space – the vast, cold emptiness between the stars, the US space agency said.