Voyager 1 Passes 100 AU from the Sun 326
An anonymous reader writes "Yesterday, Voyager 1 passed 100 astronomical units from the sun as it continues operating after nearly 30 years in space. That is about 15 billion kilometers or 9.3 billion miles as it travels about 1 million miles per day. Scientists still hope it will find the edge of the solar system and get into interstellar space."
Where do scientists think the edge is... (Score:5, Interesting)
If I'm a space science noob does that make me a "Universal Noob"?
Voyager 1 (Score:3, Interesting)
If you are like me and love reading about Voyager 1 stuff, here's a great blog post with tons of linked info on the Golden Record, the philosophy behind the probe, who worked on it, that sort of thing.
Amazing (Score:5, Interesting)
Kudos JPL.
V'ger 1 and Amateur DSN (Score:5, Interesting)
A fascinating, if somewhat slow-loading, page.
Well, yes. (Score:5, Interesting)
Scientists still hope it will find the edge of the solar system and get into interstellar space."
The alternative is for the Sun to pull it back.
To sail on a dream through eternal nighttime of space To ride on the crest of a wild raging storm To work in the service of life and the living In search of the answers to questions unknown To be part of the movement and part of the growing Part of beginning to understand
Aye, Voyager, the places you've been to The things that you've shown us The stories you tell Aye, Voyager, I sing to your spirit The men who have served you So long and so well
a tip of the prop to the late John Denver
Interstellar 3.0 (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Can we still ping it? (Score:5, Interesting)
the craft's current rate of acceleration as it heads away from the sun is not consistent with current gravitional laws.
From what I've read, it is considered likely that the issue is just some exotic side effect of the conventional physics inside the space craft itself (like waste heat shedding off the craft's antenna exerting a small force on the craft and altering its trajectory slightly). It's possible though that it is an indication of a hole in our existing understanding of gravity.
Not sure what else the craft might be doing. Probably not much. But that little anomaly is pretty interesting.
Plans for a new "Voyager" (Score:5, Interesting)
Couldn't there be a very low power engine of some kind, just enough to provide a minimal thrust for, lets say, a decade. You don't need a lot of thrust in vacuum. Even small but constant acceleration should be sufficient to eventually achieve very high speed and perhaps even outrun the older spacecraft.
What's it doing exactly? (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm curious what's failed on the probe so far. After 30 years, something has to have died.
How does Voyager avoid crashing into Obstacles (Score:4, Interesting)
How is it that Voyager (and other probes) is able to avoid crashing into obstacles (eg: asteroids, commets, planets etc)?
Do they have some kind of navigation system that can sense an object coming towards it and alter its course?
One would think that in 30 years and so many billion miles, it must be *VERY* lucky to have avoided any obstacles in its path?
Can anyone explain?
Which Edge? (Score:4, Interesting)
To put the distance in perspective... (Score:5, Interesting)
If, as seems possible, this amateur radio astronomer can detect signals from Voyager 1, it may also be possible for amateur radio astronomers to detect the presence of very faint signals coming from the furthest objects in the solar system, as the iron within them cuts through the charged particle stream of the interstellar winds, which is all you need to generate a radio wave.
Re:Can we still ping it? (Score:3, Interesting)
Our current understanding of gravity fits the definition of a scientific law, thus there is no need to call it anything else. There is also no problem with these laws occasionaly being changed or thrown out. There is nothing in the definition of a scientific law that says it cannot be thrown out due to new data or understanding. The definition mearly requires that there there have never been repeatable contradictions.
100 AU doesn't seem that far... (Score:4, Interesting)
Quick math :
-The earth travels (about) 3.14 AU / year
- 3.14 * 30 = 94.2 AU over 30 years
(note: I make math errors all the time. No doubt someone will correct this one if its wrong)
Why isn't voyager faster than the earth given it started off going as fast as the earth, and quickly accelerated from that point during takeoff?
Re:How does Voyager avoid crashing into Obstacles (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Which Edge? (Score:4, Interesting)
It's not vacuum - there are still particles in there, albeit not much. "Sound" is a propagation of wave in a medium - this medium can be extremely sparse, but it's still there.
Near Earth, the speed of sound is around 30-50 km per second, and solar wind particles go at speeds of 400 to 700 km/sec - they are supersonic. Once the interstellar wind starts pushing against solar wind, the particles slow down.
Re:How does Voyager avoid crashing into Obstacles (Score:3, Interesting)
Depends on the nature of the universe.
If you believe in that the universe is uniformly expanding, then every point is at the center of the expansion. Since the velocity of voyager isn't that high (relativistically speaking), there is at least some chance that it could eventually get to a state where nothing even going at speed of light can run into it, ever.
Re:Where do scientists think the edge is... (Score:2, Interesting)
The nearest star is 4.2 light years away.
A light-year Light moves at a velocity of about 300,000 kilometers (km) each second. So in one year, it can travel about 10 trillion km. More p recisely, one light-year is equal to 9,500,000,000,000 kilometers.
The AU is defined as the average distance between the Earth and the Sun. It is approximately 150 million km (93 million miles). Mercury can be said to be about 1/3 of an AU from the Sun and Pluto averages about 40 AU from the Sun.
9,500,000,000,000 km Light year
150,000,000,000 km away
So it will take it, Approx 7,988 more years to get to the nearest star.
Check this Nasa pic out....
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060807.html [nasa.gov]
Re:Can we still ping it? (Score:3, Interesting)
1980, whereas Voyager 1 was launched in 1977. So at least technically the OP is right.
Exploitation and take over (Score:2, Interesting)