The Voyager 2 probe, which left Earth in 1977, has become the second human-made object to leave our Solar System.
It was launched 16 days before its twin craft, Voyager 1, but that probe’s faster trajectory meant that it was in “the space between the stars” six years before Voyager 2.
The news was revealed at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in Washington. Voyager 2’s date of departure from the Solar System was 5 November 2018.
On that date, the steady stream of particles emitted from the Sun that were being detected by the probe suddenly dipped. This indicated that it had crossed the “heliopause” - the term for the outer edge of the Sun’s protective bubble of particles and magnetic field.
The probe’s present location is some 18 billion km (11 billion miles) from Earth. It is moving at roughly 54,000km/h (34,000mph).
Brilliant. thanks for the links Omah that was very interesting. It says that the cameras can in fact be turned back on but because it is in complete darkness, it would be pointless. I bet if it suddenly stopped moving, those cameras would be turned on pretty quick.
I wonder if someone or something will spot it in the night sky years from now. Imagine if it came back. :shock:
(While watching this I kept thinking about a local road construction company that has taken 25 years to build a 5 mile stretch of highway. I hope they see this :roll:.)
I was just reading an article which indicates that Voyager 2 has not left the Solar System yet but is in interstellar space. It will not leave the Solar System until it reaches the Ort Cloud.
“Nobody really expected the spacecraft to last this long, to be able to continue out on their journey, to travel through the heliosheath boundary, out across the heliopause into interstellar space,” Mr Nagle said.
But it still has a long way to travel until it reaches the edge of the solar system, which is defined by a halo of objects such as comets known as the Oort Cloud.
Which ever is right it has gone a bloody long way and taken over half my lifetime to do it.
The chief scientist on the mission, Prof Edward Stone, said both probes had now “made it into interstellar space” and that Voyager 2’s date of departure from the Solar System was 5 November 2018.
Scientists define the Solar System in different ways, so Prof Stone has always been very careful not to use the exact phrase “leave the Solar System” in relation to his spacecraft. He is mindful that the Nasa probes still have to pass through the Oort cloud where there are comets gravitationally bound to the Sun, albeit very loosely.
So, you are correct to point out the inaccuracy of the BBC headline …
So it’s flying through space at thousands of miles per hour…
It’s dark…we couldn’t possibly imagine how dark…the sun is now billions of miles away…There is no heat being radiated from the sun…we can’t even see the sun because it’s too dark…How cold will it be? What is the normal temperature of outer space…How are the solar batteries holding up without the sun’s energy?..How do the electronics work in (not just sub zero) but thousands of degrees below freezing? Not to mention any mechanical equipment…
When God bunged us on this small revolving piece of space debris caught in the gravitational pull of the sun, he’s not made it easy for us to get off…In fact, I’d say it was damned near impossible…Even for a minute piece of electrical kit about as strong as an empty crisp packet…Hell! not even my new computer will last that long without breaking down…
I think someone’s feeding us a right load of Bo!!*cks…Question is:- WHY
Space is very, very cold — roughly 2.7 Kelvin (-270.45 Celsius, -454.81 Fahrenheit). This is mostly due to a lack of atmosphere and the vacuum-like nature of space — with very few molecules to energetically bounce around, there can be no heat.
Electrical heaters are used and located throughout the space craft for additional heating during the missions. These heater are powered by the radioisotopes thermonuclear generators (RTGs).
The Voyager 1 has three radioisotopes thermonuclear generators (RTGs) electrically parallel-connected, mounted on a boom. Each RTGs contains 24 pressed plutonium-238 oxide spheres.
These RTGs are used to heat the spacecraft, and electricity is generated about 470 W of electrical power.
Over the last 17 years several heaters have been turned off, dropping the temperature below the originally designed minimum operating temperature of minus 35 degrees Celsius. Currently the operating temperature is slightly below minus 79 degrees Celsius, the coldest this spectrometer has ever endured, but it continues to collect and return data.
It doesn’t use solar power it has a plutonium power plant which will last until 2027(ish) and which generates heat as well as power (apparently - it’s in the newspaper reports)
“Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.” (Douglas Adams)
You need to watch the first ever big film version of Star Trek where ‘Veeja’ returns to earth after hundreds of years intent on destroying us. Veeja of course was Voyager rebuilt by an alien civilization.
Oxygen and other earthly gases turn to solids around minus 218 degrees C, so any cavities filled with air inside Voyager would now be filled with, first a liquid and then a rock…Makes you think doesn’t it…?..
Any kind of battery placed in the freezer (Around Minus 5*C) immediately stops producing electricity because the chemical reaction between the two active ingredients ( Zinc/Alkali Lead/Acid Nickel/Cadmium ) is prevented. Even Plutonium would probably not act in the same way it would in an earth like environment…After all, plutonium must have another metal or chemical for it to react with? It can not produce electricity by itself…
Good questions OGF! The reality is that we are not only interested in what our house (the solar system) looks like, but what the conditions look like once we go through the front door (heliosphere).
So far, the outer reaches of the atmosphere behave (solar wind drops below the speed of sound) and not the empty vacuum once thought, other interesting intergalactic conditions exist. Since one of the instruments stopped working in Voyager 1, Voyager 2 may be able to not only provide us some information about the conditions outside the solar system, it will give us a better idea of what’s going on beyond our little bubble.
This data is being used as a platform for an even bigger project about to be launched called IMAP that will help us better understand how the heliosphere works in protecting us from cosmic rays. That protection is one of the least understood and most important phenomena in our existence. We simply don’t know how the doors, windows, and roof protect us so well.
The use of RTGs to power objects in space is a favorite method for satellites and exploration craft because it is so simple and dependable. Besides using long lasting stable isotopes to produce heat (alpha particles given of in decay bounce around and create heat), RTGs contain no moving parts. They actually depend on the super cold environment in space that you mention to produce electricity.
As OMAH shared, the RTGSs are made up of thermocouples that employ the Seebeck Effect, which voltage is generated when two dissimilar conductive metals are in contact. One end of each thermocouple is placed next to a hot isotope and the other is connected to a heat sink in the cold of space. The temperature difference between the conductive material creates the needed electrical energy. The isotope decay in the RTGs will probably last up to a hundred years or so, but the electricity use to power the remaining three units is dropping at about 4 watts a year, which is why the others have been turned off one by one. The ones chosen to remain are the ones that indicate non-visible wavelengths.
Knowing who we are and why we are, are some of the big questions. Invariably, these kind of explorations also give us technology that is helpful in everyday living.
It’s reaaaaaaalllly good stuff!
(Good grief I hope my wordy, nerdy style hasn’t killed yet another thread. Carry on ).
or it could be knocked back on a return trajectory by a comet or meteorite. Anything is possible.
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