Few things are as awe-inspiring to me as Voyager 1.
When I was 10 or 11, I had a book that described NASA's intention to launch a probe that would take advantage of a planetary alignment that only takes place once every 176 years. This was due to happen in the late '70s and back then the proposed mission was known as the "Grand Tour".
(http://truth.justdied.com/images/voyager1_2205.jpg)
So Voyager 1 was launched in September 1977. it's currently about 14.5 billion miles away and travelling at over 10 miles per second; in the 24 hours or so that it's taken me to get round to typing this it's become another 900,000 miles or so distant from Earth. It left our solar system and entered interstellar space nearly 10 years ago. It is the most distant man-made object.
Despite this NASA still receives data from it, and can still send instructions from Earth - for example to switch instruments off, or realign its antenna. But it's entering the last couple of years of its useful life now - not because of the distance, but because it's running out of power. It converts heat from decaying plutonium into electricity to power its instruments, antiquated 1970s onboard computer and transmitters, and the stuff only lasts so long.
Its cameras were switched off in 1990, to save memory (the onboard computer only has 70k).
I find it a bit eerie to think about it out there in the bleak coldness of space.
What's even stranger to me is the thought that unless it collides with something, which is (literally) astronomically unlikely, it will just keep going for tens of thousands of years in the vast emptiness of interstellar space.
It's not actually travelling in the direction of the nearest star but if it was, even at a bit over 10 miles per second - I've just done the sums - it would take roughly another 75,000 years to get there.
Quote from: Slim on May 19, 2022, 12:58:48 AMWhat's even stranger to me is the thought that unless it collides with something, which is (literally) astronomically unlikely, it will just keep going for tens of thousands of years in the vast emptiness of interstellar space.
It's not actually travelling in the direction of the nearest star but if it was, even at a bit over 10 miles per second - I've just done the sums - it would take roughly another 75,000 years to get there.
I thought every object, like a star or planet, exerted some gravitational 'pull'. Would it not, naturally, gravitate to the nearest star?
Any period artefacts on board? I was thinking, maybe a pair of Brutus Gold flares, 'Jeans On' by David Dundas on 7" single, Brut aftershave and a script from an episode of Love Thy Neighbour......well, perhaps if it had been a Brit venture ;D
Quote from: David L on May 19, 2022, 07:24:23 AMQuote from: Slim on May 19, 2022, 12:58:48 AMWhat's even stranger to me is the thought that unless it collides with something, which is (literally) astronomically unlikely, it will just keep going for tens of thousands of years in the vast emptiness of interstellar space.
It's not actually travelling in the direction of the nearest star but if it was, even at a bit over 10 miles per second - I've just done the sums - it would take roughly another 75,000 years to get there.
I thought every object, like a star or planet, exerted some gravitational 'pull'. Would it not, naturally, gravitate to the nearest star?
Every object with mass will have an influence but at those distances the pull is very weak indeed, especially compared to the momentum of an object the size of a car travelling at ~ 35,000 mph.
Quote from: Slim on May 19, 2022, 08:25:29 AMQuote from: David L on May 19, 2022, 07:24:23 AMQuote from: Slim on May 19, 2022, 12:58:48 AMWhat's even stranger to me is the thought that unless it collides with something, which is (literally) astronomically unlikely, it will just keep going for tens of thousands of years in the vast emptiness of interstellar space.
It's not actually travelling in the direction of the nearest star but if it was, even at a bit over 10 miles per second - I've just done the sums - it would take roughly another 75,000 years to get there.
I thought every object, like a star or planet, exerted some gravitational 'pull'. Would it not, naturally, gravitate to the nearest star?
Every object with mass will have an influence but at those distances the pull is very weak indeed, especially compared to the momentum of an object the size of a car travelling at ~ 35,000 mph.
Gotcha. What force gives (gave) Voyager its speed? I understand it's travelling in a vacuum so there is no opposing force. Has its speed increased the further away from us it gets?
Quote from: David L on May 19, 2022, 07:32:06 AMAny period artefacts on board? I was thinking, maybe a pair of Brutus Gold flares, 'Jeans On' by David Dundas on 7" single, Brut aftershave and a script from an episode of Love Thy Neighbour......well, perhaps if it had been a Brit venture ;D
Yes there is something ..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record
Two phonograph records (not vinyl, but gold-plated copper) with music, a message from Jimmy Carter and images encoded on them. I've just read that the team responsible for this, led by Carl Sagan, wanted to put
Here Comes The Sun on the record. But EMI wouldn't let them, even though the ex-Beatles liked the idea.
Quote from: David L on May 19, 2022, 08:34:51 AMQuote from: Slim on May 19, 2022, 08:25:29 AMQuote from: David L on May 19, 2022, 07:24:23 AMQuote from: Slim on May 19, 2022, 12:58:48 AMWhat's even stranger to me is the thought that unless it collides with something, which is (literally) astronomically unlikely, it will just keep going for tens of thousands of years in the vast emptiness of interstellar space.
It's not actually travelling in the direction of the nearest star but if it was, even at a bit over 10 miles per second - I've just done the sums - it would take roughly another 75,000 years to get there.
I thought every object, like a star or planet, exerted some gravitational 'pull'. Would it not, naturally, gravitate to the nearest star?
Every object with mass will have an influence but at those distances the pull is very weak indeed, especially compared to the momentum of an object the size of a car travelling at ~ 35,000 mph.
Gotcha. What force gives (gave) Voyager its speed? I understand it's travelling in a vacuum so there is no opposing force. Has its speed increased the further away from us it gets?
Well - I'm typing at the very boundary of my ignorance here but as far as I recall / am aware, the basic idea was to use gravitational pull of the planets it passed as a sort of slingshot.
Just found a nice piece on that here:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/07/30/how-fast-is-voyager-1-traveling-right-now/
It's actually slowing down, but only very slightly (and by a bit less all the time as it gets more distant from the Sun).
Oddly enough, a day after I started this thread:
Voyager 1 Space Probe Is Suddenly Sending NASA Wacky Data
https://gizmodo.com/voyager-1-spacecraft-nasa-weird-data-1848949154
https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/golden-record-cover/ (https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/golden-record-cover/)
You can buy replicas of this I see. I imagine that the audio content is available to listen to for free somewhere.
Here is the audio released by Nasa on Soundcloud if anyone is interested.
https://soundcloud.com/nasa/sets/golden-record-sounds-of (https://soundcloud.com/nasa/sets/golden-record-sounds-of)
This just came up in my YouTube suggestions.. it's five years old but a nice piece about the Voyager missions.
Just occasionally, when I stretch my mind in a certain way thinking about this, I experience a strange pit of the stomach sensation connected to trying to fathom that space never ends and that Voyager may travel infinitely. It's not just vastness, it's forever, possibly but probably.
Since I started this thread, Voyager 1 has travelled about 280 million miles further away from Earth. But it could remain in communication range until about 2036.
https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/frequently-asked-questions/
Quote from: The Picnic Wasp on April 10, 2023, 08:27:33 PMJust occasionally, when I stretch my mind in a certain way thinking about this, I experience a strange pit of the stomach sensation connected to trying to fathom that space never ends and that Voyager may travel infinitely. It's not just vastness, it's forever, possibly but probably.
It won't travel infinitely. Eventually, even if it never collides with anything, all of its atoms will decay and there'll be nothing left.
Supposedly there will come a time when nothing larger than an atomic particle exists in the entire Universe.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a43129531/how-will-the-universe-end/
I haven't read the article yet, but wouldn't those atom remnants (whatever they might be) still be moving in the initial direction? What becomes of the theory that matter can't be created or destroyed? I should really read the article first.
Quote from: Slim on April 11, 2023, 08:59:02 AMQuote from: The Picnic Wasp on April 10, 2023, 08:27:33 PMJust occasionally, when I stretch my mind in a certain way thinking about this, I experience a strange pit of the stomach sensation connected to trying to fathom that space never ends and that Voyager may travel infinitely. It's not just vastness, it's forever, possibly but probably.
It won't travel infinitely. Eventually, even if it never collides with anything, all of its atoms will decay and there'll be nothing left.
Supposedly there will come a time when nothing larger than an atomic particle exists in the entire Universe.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a43129531/how-will-the-universe-end/
Wow! Quite a read. Makes religion seem easy by comparison.
Religion is indeed very easy.
Really nice short piece about the (now ancient) technology used on the Voyager probes, published a few days ago:
Quote from: Slim on April 11, 2023, 02:10:51 PMReligion is indeed very easy.
Indeed: the supernatural + dire adverse consequences for not obediently believing it, et viola!
As Douglas Adams put it: isn't the garden beautiful and fascinating enough without believing there are faeries at the bottom of it too?
Voyager 1 may be coming to the end of its useful mission, not counting the possibility of being discovered by aliens. Warning: the guy's voice is very irritating.
Yes, irritating but interesting. Boggling should be a much more respected adjective.
Quote from: Matt2112 on August 15, 2023, 03:32:37 PMQuote from: Slim on April 11, 2023, 02:10:51 PMReligion is indeed very easy.
Indeed: the supernatural + dire adverse consequences for not obediently believing it, et viola!
As Douglas Adams put it: isn't the garden beautiful and fascinating enough without believing there are faeries at the bottom of it too?
I know that pointing out spelling and grammatical mistakes online has become offensive, but I love this one which I missed the first time around. I hope the angels at the foot of your garden eventually show you the rewards of believing in a good God, who might bestow on you the mastery of the larger violin.
I asked about Voyager during our dark skies thing last week in Hexham.. it's just the sheer vastness and distance that just makes your brain melt.. fascinating stuff
Voyager-1 sends readable data again from deep space https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68881369
Quote from: Fishy on April 23, 2024, 01:43:50 PMVoyager-1 sends readable data again from deep space https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68881369
"the issue was resolved by shifting the affected code to different locations in the memory of the probe's computers"
Amazing to think of people moving code around in the RAM of a computer system that's 15 billion miles away and hasn't been physically touched for 46 years, by using a very slow and weak radio link.
Quote from: Slim on April 23, 2024, 01:57:25 PMQuote from: Fishy on April 23, 2024, 01:43:50 PMVoyager-1 sends readable data again from deep space https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68881369
"the issue was resolved by shifting the affected code to different locations in the memory of the probe's computers"
Amazing to think of people moving code around in the RAM of a computer system that's 15 billion miles away and hasn't been physically touched for 46 years, by using a very slow and weak radio link.
I started to try to imagine one billion miles as an understandable concept. I fully understand the number and what it signifies, but one thousand million miles is staggeringly difficult to absorb. Times that by fifteen and it becomes a pointless exercise of brain energy, and to think that in cosmological terms it's not even that far away.
Quote from: The Picnic Wasp on April 23, 2024, 02:33:55 PMQuote from: Slim on April 23, 2024, 01:57:25 PMQuote from: Fishy on April 23, 2024, 01:43:50 PMVoyager-1 sends readable data again from deep space https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68881369
"the issue was resolved by shifting the affected code to different locations in the memory of the probe's computers"
Amazing to think of people moving code around in the RAM of a computer system that's 15 billion miles away and hasn't been physically touched for 46 years, by using a very slow and weak radio link.
I started to try to imagine one billion miles as an understandable concept. I fully understand the number and what it signifies, but one thousand million miles is staggeringly difficult to absorb. Times that by fifteen and it becomes a pointless exercise of Brian energy, and to think that in cosmological terms it's not even that far away.
It's actually pretty close, despite the fact that it takes the light of the sun nearly a day to get there. If you were perched atop it with a paperback in one hand, you could probably read it by sunlight, just about. A bit like moonlight I think.
Quote from: Slim on April 23, 2024, 02:46:25 PMQuote from: The Picnic Wasp on April 23, 2024, 02:33:55 PMQuote from: Slim on April 23, 2024, 01:57:25 PMQuote from: Fishy on April 23, 2024, 01:43:50 PMVoyager-1 sends readable data again from deep space https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68881369
"the issue was resolved by shifting the affected code to different locations in the memory of the probe's computers"
Amazing to think of people moving code around in the RAM of a computer system that's 15 billion miles away and hasn't been physically touched for 46 years, by using a very slow and weak radio link.
I started to try to imagine one billion miles as an understandable concept. I fully understand the number and what it signifies, but one thousand million miles is staggeringly difficult to absorb. Times that by fifteen and it becomes a pointless exercise of Brian energy, and to think that in cosmological terms it's not even that far away.
It's actually pretty close, despite the fact that it takes the light of the sun nearly a day to get there. If you were perched atop it with a paperback in one hand, you could probably read it by sunlight, just about. A bit like moonlight I think.
Is it using that solar power to get the on board computers, transmitters etc to work?
Edit - Google was able to answer that pretty definitively...
https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/frequently-asked-questions/fact-sheet/
QuoteThe Voyagers travel too far from the Sun to use solar panels; instead, they were equipped with power sources called radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). These devices, used on other deep space missions, convert the heat produced from the natural radioactive decay of plutonium into electricity to power the spacecraft instruments, computers, radio and other systems.
I was getting quite annoyed listening to 5 Live's Drive programme while out on a bike yesterday. The two presenters were chattering between themselves and asking if was near the edge of the galaxy? or perhaps the universe? And throughout the programme when the subject came up the rhetoric was that it was "out there in the universe" and so on.
But as Picnic points out, it's still very close to Earth in cosmological terms. If you imagine our planet to be the monument at Charing Cross Station and the edge of the galaxy to be the nearest part of the M25, it's travelled about 2mm.