According to NASA's report, Voyager 1 reached the "magnetic highway" region for the first time in July of this year and has solidly been in that region since re-entering in late August. The area is known as a "magnetic highway" due to the Sun's magnetic field lines lining up interstellar magnetic field lines in the area where Voyager 1 is currently located. Once Voyager 1 leaves the solar system, scientists predict that the direction of the magnetic field lines will change, making it clear when we've finally sent a man-made object into interstellar space.
"ALTHOUGH VOYAGER 1 STILL IS INSIDE THE SUN'S ENVIRONMENT, WE NOW CAN TASTE WHAT IT'S LIKE ON THE OUTSIDE BECAUSE THE PARTICLES ARE ZIPPING IN AND OUT ON THIS MAGNETIC HIGHWAY," said Edward Stone, a Voyager project scientist from the California Institute of Technology "WE BELIEVE THIS IS THE LAST LEG OF OUR JOURNEY TO INTERSTELLAR SPACE."
As for when Voyager 1 might make it out of the solar system, Stone believes it should break free within the next "couple" years.
Right now, the Voyager 1 is aout 11,475,200,000 miles from Earth. There, it takes over 17 hours for signals to reach Earth. Currently, the craft is still powered by it's solar panels, and sends back data about the number of charged particles it finds. After it leaves the solar system, the craft will slowly loose power until it dies and stops sending data. However, the craft will continue moving. The lack of gravity, or anything, outside the solar system means there is no friction to slow it down. So it will just keep floating and floating until it hits something, somewhere.
