- Voyagers 1 and 2 explore the mysterious region between the stars called interstellar space.
- NASA launch Double Tentacle in 1977 On a five-year mission to roam the solar system.
- According to the space agency, Voyager 1 should take 40,000 years to reach another star.
some 14.8 billion miles from the earth Voyager 1 probe Sails through the dark interstellar medium The unknown interstellar space. It is the most distant man-made object from our planet.
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched in 1977 16 days apart with a five-year design life to closely study Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and their moons.
right now 45 years in their missioneach of them made history by boldly venturing beyond the limits of the sun’s influence, known as the heliosphere.
Both intrepid spacecraft continue to send data from beyond the solar system and their cosmic journeys are not over yet.
A diagram showing both of NASA’s Voyager probes in interstellar space in November 2018.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
In 300 years, Voyager 1 will be able to see the Oort Cloud, and in 296,000 years Voyager 2 will be able to pass by Sirius
in the context of Continuous power management effort In recent years, engineers have shut down non-technical systems aboard Voyager spacecraft, like the heaters on their science instruments, in hopes of keeping them running until 2030.
After that, the probes will likely lose the ability to communicate with Earth.
However, even after NASA shuts down its instruments and cancels the Voyager mission, the two probes will continue to drift through interstellar space.
NASA said In about 300 years, Voyager 1 is expected to enter the Oort Cloud, a hypothetical globular domain filled with billions of icy comets. It will take another 30,000 years to reach its end.
Illustration of the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud in relation to our solar system.
NASA
A spaceship takes different routes as it heads into deep space. Voyager 2 is located approximately 12.3 billion miles from Earth today.
It would take Voyager 1 about 40,000 years to reach AC+79 3888, a star in the constellation Camelopardalis, according to NASA.
The agency added that within 296,000 years, Voyager 2 is expected to drift off Sirius, the brightest star in the sky.
“Voyagers are ready to roam the Milky Way — perhaps forever —,” NASA said.
Hubble Space Telescope image of Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky.
NASA, ESA, H Bond (STScI), M Barstow (University of Leicester)
“It’s really great that both vehicles are still in operation.”
NASA designed the twin spacecraft to study the outer solar system. After completing their primary mission, the Voyagers continued to make great strides, making a grand tour of our solar system and capturing breathtaking cosmic vistas.
On February 14, 1990, Voyager 1 captured “Pale blue dotImage from nearly 4 billion miles away. It’s a distinct image of Earth within a beam of diffuse sunlight, and it’s the farthest view of Earth captured by any spacecraft.
The iconic “Pale Blue Dot” image taken by Voyager 1 on February 14, 1990.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
to another a contractVoyager 1 explores interstellar space filled with gas, dust, and charged energy particles. Traveler 2 reached interstellar space in 2018six years after her twins.
Their observations of the interstellar gas through which they navigate have revolutionized astronomers’ understanding of this uncharted space beyond our cosmic backyard.
Susan Dodd, project manager for the Voyager mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said earlier. he said from insideAdding, “They’re still talking to us.”
