Vger
Posted on 12/03/2012 5:31:45 PM PST by John W
LOS ANGELES — The unstoppable Voyager 1 spacecraft has sailed into a new realm of the solar system that scientists did not know existed.
Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, have been speeding away from the sun toward interstellar space, or the space between stars.
Over the summer, Voyager 1, which is farther along in its journey, crossed into this new region where the effects from the outside can be felt.
“We do believe this may be the very last layer between us and interstellar space,” said chief scientist Ed Stone of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the spacecraft.
Stone presented Voyager 1’s latest location at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
Scientists were surprised to discover the unexpected region at the fringes of the solar system — a testament to the mysteries of space.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I wonder if the signal will be able to make it through once it makes it out of this field area
It is strange to think about that tiny little man-made object just trucking along so far out there in near nothingness. How many centuries will it keep on drifting through space before it encounters another object of any kind.
61,000 kph.
New Horizons had potential for greater speed but is traveling at around 54,000 kph which is fine for getting a better look at Pluto on its way out.
It will be a verrry long time before any of them come close to any known celestial objects. I suppose there might be some stray rocks out there not tethered to any gravitational field but the chances those vehicles hit one must be (ahem) astronomically small.
Vger
Roughly calculated, the probe is going ~120x the speed of a pistol bullet.
Haulin donkeys.
“Rocket man, burning out his fuse up here alone”
So that’s what Reggie Dwight is singing?
Wow! Amazing. I thought the Oort cloud was part of the solar system? I had no idea the Oort cloud was that far out.
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No, 40 years and we finally know the words to the song Rocket Man.
Traveling away from the Earth at the speed of light, the Aliens intercepted the signal and finally figured it out.
Then they sent a Tweet to Cripplecreek and we all know now!
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