Voyager approaching edge of our Solar System. Wow.

[KatanaDV20]

Today saw the annoucement that the Voyager 1 spaceprobe is approaching the edge of the Solar System. It is now 17.4 billion kms from the Sun

Image credit: NASA/JPL

That figure is so huge our weeny brains cant even comprehend it!

Image credit: NASA/JPL

Overhead view of Voyager 1s position:
http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/w...=00&fovmul=1&rfov=120&bfov=30&porbs=1&brite=1

As viewed from Voyager 2
http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/w...ul=1&rfov=120&bfov=5&porbs=1&brite=1&showsc=1

Its just amazing how they have even kept track of this probe. It is now the furthest human-made object ever.

Kinda makes you realize what can happen if we put minds to it...and how petty and stupid our bickering is on this little blue planet.

We'll all be long gone when it passes by a nearby star called AC+79 3888, a star in the constellation of Camelopardalis. This will be in about 40,000 years from now.

Pause for a minute and try to comprehend that a man-made object is about to head into interstellar space....cool huh!

Links if youre interested:
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/index.html
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-415
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/voyager-interstellar-terms.html
Solar System Simulator
http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/

 

[Greenlizard0]

Awesome!

 

[233]

pfft just wait till the borg assimilate it

 

[uvarvu]

You just know it's going to return as VGer

 

[Castiel]

V'Ger will return in around 300 years or so, with a new paint job.

 

[Ricochet J]

If space is so dense then what are the chances of it colliding with an astroid?

 

[JRS]

That is so cool.

Now, as long as it doesn't fall into a black hole, get spat out near a planet populated by living machines, and then come back looking for the Creator it's all good!

 

[Mitty]

I read about this earlier on BBC news =) pretty awesome! =D

 

[sanaxe1]

No doubt it will get lost and spend years trying to get back home having many adventures along the way.

 

[cheets64]

Mind blown

 

[Lunatic Dreyfus]

Trousers exploded.

 

[OriginalJonty]

That's awesome. Can't believe it'll take 40000 years to reach the nearest star. Unless it's picked up by alien scrap firms for spare parts.

 

[Cosimo]

The Voyager interstellar journeys are just mind-boggling.

 

[Electronic Dave]

Voyager will be back in 30 years time, when it suddenly realises that it left the iron on, upon return it finds the Earth a hot burning ball due to the effects of global warming, but blames itself for the catastrophe

Quite a distance, but still across the street in terms of universal scale...

 

[Westyfield2]

That's ****ing amazing .

 

[Squink]

I was surprised to read that its radio signals only take 16 hours to get back to earth; I wasn't aware they travelled anything like this fast. I'd thought we'd have been getting data that was months old.

 

[West]

pfft just wait till the borg assimilate it

 

[Guest2]

So what happens when it hits the stuff that looks like orange flame 'bow shock' does it just melt?

How does it transmit these signals/pictures 17.4 billion kms back to earth?

When was it launched? - must have taken a few years to get there, that or its really really fast!

Its still got quite a while to reach one light year (9,454,254,955,488 km apparently)

 

[GravyMonster]

That's amazing

Just read on one of OPs links that the Plutonium fuel both Voyagers are using is due to diminish to a level where it will not power any systems beyond 2025

 

[Tummy]

Amazing.