[Decadence]

I was reading about the Voyager Program today and it got me thinking. Which man-made object is furthest away from the Earth right now? Has something we built reached the edge of the solar system yet? I know nothing about how far and how fast something would have to travel to reach the edge of the solar system...anyway, does anyone know the answer?

[Dancook]

I assumed a space time capsule would be furthest away, so found info about these two.


Voyager Golden Record - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Voyager Golden Record is a phonograph record included in the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. It contains sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. It is intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form, or far future humans, that may find it. The Voyager spacecraft are not heading towards any particular star, but in about 40,000 years Voyager 1 will be within 1.6 light years of the star AC+79 3888 in the Ophiuchus constellation.[1]

Pioneer plaque - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Pioneer plaques are a pair of gold anodized aluminum plaques which were placed on board the 1972 Pioneer 10 and 1973 Pioneer 11 spacecraft, featuring a pictorial message, in case either Pioneer 10 or 11 are intercepted by extraterrestrial beings. The plaques show the nude figures of a human male and female along with several symbols that are designed to provide information about the origin of the spacecraft.
The Pioneer spacecrafts were the first human-built objects to leave the solar system. The plaque is attached to the antenna support struts in a position that shields it from erosion by stellar dust.

My space friend tells me "Voyager 1 and 2 are speeding at the edge of the heliosphere"

Voyager program - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[mattrixdesign2]

Originally Posted by Decadence

I was reading about the Voyager Program today and it got me thinking. Which man-made object is furthest away from the Earth right now? Has something we built reached the edge of the solar system yet? I know nothing about how far and how fast something would have to travel to reach the edge of the solar system...anyway, does anyone know the answer?

I think it is one the Voyagers...

[PJTX100]

I thought Vger had been returned to Earth, I think I saw it in a Star Trek movie.

[Dancook]

Originally Posted by mattrixdesign2

I think it is one the Voyagers...

Voyager 1 is winning the race!

[Kebabhead]

Originally Posted by Dancook

Voyager 1 is winning the race!

Lets hope the borg don't intercept

[shodan]

I can imagine them being found by aliens who don't really look at them and just presume they are more space junk satellites from that funny blue planet...

[Dancook]

Originally Posted by shodan

I can imagine them being found by aliens who don't really look at them and just presume they are more space junk satellites from that funny blue planet...

Maybe the raised 'waved' hand on the disc sent, actually means 'WAR' to them

[BMAN07]

Originally Posted by Dancook

Maybe the raised 'waved' hand on the disc sent, actually means 'WAR' to them

Now that would be funny.

[Decadence]

So Voyager 1 has gone miles past Pluto? That's amazing!

[GasDad]

Originally Posted by Decadence

So Voyager 1 has gone miles past Pluto? That's amazing!

But when it went 'past' Pluto - it still had to go 'past' Neptune - which at the time was further from the sun that Pluto.

For From http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/fastfacts.html

[Decadence]

Originally Posted by GasDad

But when it went 'past' Pluto - it still had to go 'past' Neptune - which at the time was further from the sun that Pluto.

For From Voyager - Fast Facts

I can't get my head around that info.

[Dancook]

Originally Posted by Decadence

I can't get my head around that info.

see image attached, the orbits cross


to answer the next question??

The Question
(Submitted March 26, 1997)

Pluto's orbit crosses that of Neptune's, on what date will they eventually collide?


The Answer
Pluto "crossed" Neptune's orbit on January 21, 1979, and temporarily became the 8th planet from the sun. It will cross Neptune's orbit again on Feb. 11, 1999 to resume its place as the ninth planet from the Sun for the next 228 years.
Despite the fact that Pluto and Neptune temporarily change places in their distance from the Sun, they will never collide. This is due to two reasons: First, Pluto's orbit is inclined to the ecliptic. by 17 degrees. (To see an illustration of this, take a look at http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/billa/tnp/overview.html.) So even though we say their orbits "cross", Pluto is actually quite a distance "above"Neptune. Secondly, Pluto orbits the Sun twice for every three orbits of Neptune. The two planets are said to be in a "resonance orbit". For such orbits, the two bodies never get close to each other. In fact, the closest the two planets come to each other is 2 billion kilometers.

[Decadence]

that's great, thanks.

[KhalJimbo]

Originally Posted by Decadence

I was reading about the Voyager Program today and it got me thinking. Which man-made object is furthest away from the Earth right now? Has something we built reached the edge of the solar system yet? I know nothing about how far and how fast something would have to travel to reach the edge of the solar system...anyway, does anyone know the answer?

Why its the Enterprise of course

[xit2050]

in about 40,000 years Voyager 1 will be within 1.6 light years of the star AC+79 3888 in the Ophiuchus constellation

Really, what's the point?

[KhalJimbo]

Originally Posted by xit2050

Really, what's the point?

yes, we'll be travelling at FTL speeds by then and have interstellar communities set up.

Maybe even a Starfleet Federation of some sorts.

Hmmmm, I think I'm going to watch Star Trek IV tonight

[xit2050]

Originally Posted by Earthworm Jim

yes, we'll be travelling at FTL speeds by then and have interstellar communities set up.

Maybe even a Starfleet Federation of some sorts.

Hmmmm, I think I'm going to watch Star Trek IV tonight

I'm more inclined to think we'll be extinct by then...

[Philly112]

Originally Posted by xit2050

Really, what's the point?

It certainly makes me excited. I mean, when you look at what mankind did with Voyager; god, it's mind boggling the complexity of how it was done. I am just in awe of it all. Like Apollo. No point to it all, just absolutely inspiring.

Phil

[GasDad]

Originally Posted by xit2050

I'm more inclined to think we'll be extinct by then...

Then think of it as our Epitaph.

[kav]

Originally Posted by GasDad

Then think of it as our Epitaph.

I'm thinking more along the lines of a Douglas Adams storyline - mankind on the brink of extinction, they spend months filling a vessel with all the key elements of what makes mankind unique and special, spend millions to launch it into space...and after three hundred years of hurtling through blackest space, it gets casually incinerated in the afterburn of some giant alien spaceship's engine, and we disappear forever without a trace.

[Fen Star]

Originally Posted by Decadence

I was reading about the Voyager Program today and it got me thinking. Which man-made object is furthest away from the Earth right now? Has something we built reached the edge of the solar system yet? I know nothing about how far and how fast something would have to travel to reach the edge of the solar system...anyway, does anyone know the answer?

Allways thought this was pretty cool....

[Philly112]

Originally Posted by Fen Star

Allways thought this was pretty cool....

You know, stuff like that brings me out in goosebumps! Absolutely amazing. We are capable of so much, yet bicker on about inflation and crime figures etc

Phil

[lucasisking]

Voyager 1 is the most distant at 16,555,000,000 km (as of 31/07/2009)

This is twice the distance of Pluto at its furthest point from the sun and about 110 times the distance from earth to sun (au).

Voyager 2 is the second at 12,949,000,000 km

Both have overtaken the Pioneers and are travelling away from us at about 4 au per year.

At current speeds, Voyager 1 will reach the vicinity of the Oort cloud next- in approximately 10,000 years time

Voyager Weekly Reports

[fizzi]

This might help -

Spacecraft escaping the Solar System


taken from the excellent -

http://www.heavens-above.com/?lat=0&...ecified&TZ=CET

[DPinBucks]

Originally Posted by Earthworm Jim

yes, we'll be travelling at FTL speeds by then and have interstellar communities set up.

Maybe even a Starfleet Federation of some sorts.

Hmmmm, I think I'm going to watch Star Trek IV tonight

So after tens of millennia and multiple light years, what will Voyager's stupendous journey discover at AC+79 3888?

Us!!

Just think of the welcome it will receive when it arrives.

[Miyazaki]

Originally Posted by DPinBucks

So after tens of millennia and multiple light years, what will Voyager's stupendous journey discover at AC+79 3888?

Us!!

Just think of the welcome it will receive when it arrives.

I was just thinking the same thing. It'd be like a time capsule kinda thing and some futuristic kid with 9 fingers on each hand gets to open the satellite and look at the gold record within.

[AgentCool]

Ah, Project Voyager. I'm a bit of a space geek and I consider the Voyager missions to be the pinnacle of space exploration, manned or unmanned, and therefore one of the greatest technological achievements in human history. I love the fact that the mission was proposed by a lowly summer intern at NASA (Gary Flandro) who came up with the course projection whilst the big boys were working on getting to Mars. Within just a few years, and following thousands of hours of mind-bogglingly impressive engineering and mathematical work, it became reality and ultimately provided the only photographs of Uranus and Neptune that have ever been taken as well as vastly increasing our knowledge of the Solar System as a whole.

It's also worth pointing out that, even with current technology, this kind of 'Grand Tour' mission would be virtually impossible or impossibly long-winded as the plan relied on all four outer planets being on the same side of the Solar System simultaneously - an alignment which only occurs once every 176 years.

[JagoPlasma]

Originally Posted by Miyazaki

I was just thinking the same thing. It'd be like a time capsule kinda thing and some futuristic kid with 9 fingers on each hand gets to open the satellite and look at the gold record within.

and what will the kid say? i whats this stone age peice of junk. a bit like how todays kids dont know what an LP is
Thats if the americans dont blow it out of the sky thinking its a comet or some alien technology sent to take over the world!

[Miyazaki]

Originally Posted by JagoPlasma

and what will the kid say? i whats this stone age peice of junk. a bit like how todays kids dont know what an LP is
Thats if the americans dont blow it out of the sky thinking its a comet or some alien technology sent to take over the world!

It would be pretty amazing if you think about it. Sort of the same as when recent Egyptologists opened Tutankhamun's tomb.