Traveller Must Battle Termination Shock (NASA, Voyager-1)

IOL ^ | 1-7-2004 | NASA/Goddard Space Flt Center

[blam]

Veger...

[blam]

Ping.

[blam]

"Voyager 1, now the most distant human-made object in the universe, and Voyager 2, close on its heels, continue their ground-breaking journey with their current mission to study the region in space where the Sun's influence ends and the dark recesses of interstellar space begin. "

[dead]

To anybody:

At its current speed, how long would it take Voyager to reach the nearest star (if it were aimed that way)?

I was arguing with my brother who claims it would be halfway there by now, with 26 years to go. I don't think its even close to that far out.

[COEXERJ145]

[AgThorn]

Wow ... still operating 26 years later!! fascinating. And we think 25 MPG is a great accomplishment!! ;-)

[mgstarr]

[CaptRon]

Talk about bang for your buck...

[ChuckShick]

When will it reach the Neutral Zone?

[Sloth]

I was arguing with my brother who claims it would be halfway there by now, with 26 years to go.

Voyager I is moving at about 3.6 AU/year, or 335,000,000 miles... The nearest star is about 4.3 light years away (about 25 trillion miles). At its current speed, it would take about 75,000 years to get there.

[dead]

Thank you.

I knew my brother was insane.

[COEXERJ145]

I wonder when it will return to eliminate all the "carbon units"? LOL!

[DuncanWaring]

Put another way, Voyager is currently about 12 "light-hours" (approximately 1/730 light-year) from earth.

The nearest star (Alpha Centauri?) is roughly 4 light-years away.

[sandydipper]

Still on the road after 13 billion miles - beats the crap outa my '67 Ford.

[sandydipper]

Still on the road after 13 billion miles - beats the crap outa my '67 Ford.

[js1138]

Your brother practices million-man-math.

[winodog]

Wow!! The universe is truly amazing. Heres a tidbit
One million seconds = 11 days
One billion seconds = 31 years
One trillion seconds = 318 centuries!!

[Ravenstar]

The craft is about 12 light hours away, the nearest star is about 4.3 light years away. in another 26 years it will be 1 light day away so 52 years/light day times 365 light days/light year times 4.3 light years so 52 X 365 X4.3 = total time(81614 years).

Ravenstar

[winodog]

Something tells me we could make a car battery that last longer then two years, a tire that last longer then 10,000 miles and a car that gets 100+ miles a gallon.
And I might add to those who disagree that it would not really be all that expensive, but thats just my opinion and I have no facts to back up my useless opinion.

[Orangedog]

The nearest star (Alpha Centauri?) is roughly 4 light-years away.

Almost got it. Proxima Centauri is the closest star. Alpha Centauri is the name of the three-star cluster of which Proxima Centauri is part of. And no, I don't have a life. ;)