Comments on: Is Voyager I outside our solar system?

By: Beanolini

Beanolini — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 14:29:00 +0000

Is Voyager I outside our solar system?

Betteridge's Law says 'No'.

By: Ben Ehlers

Ben Ehlers — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 01:58:00 +0000

I thought the exact same thing the first time I heard radiolab. You get used to it :)

By: niktemadur

niktemadur — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 23:11:00 +0000

Guide Lockstar (α Lyrae, Vega) reacquired.
END magnetometer calibration roll maneuver: MAGROLAB

There it is! So I just missed it by a couple of hours… um, a couple of hours +13 hours and 35 minutes (light distance from Earth).

By: penguinchris

penguinchris — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 22:29:00 +0000

@niktemadur:disqus follow @NASAVoyager2:twitter on Twitter. It tells you in real time the various things that Voyager 2 does (including stellar calibration which it just did two hours ago), as well as occasional updates on Voyager 1.

By: niktemadur

niktemadur — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 21:39:00 +0000

Our sun still has an enormous influence in the Oort Cloud, every single object there is gravitationally bound to AND orbits Sol.

Also, there is the likelihood that we are in a binary system with a brown dwarf, most definitely part of our system yet beyond the heliopause. But Nemesis is hypothetical, indirectly inferred by the periodic extinctions on Earth.

By: GregS

GregS — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 18:28:00 +0000

Whenever I read news or commentary about the presidential election I wish I were leaving the solar system too.

By: Houston Lang

Houston Lang — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 16:18:00 +0000

Next article on Boing Boing; NASA searches under the pool table for another quarter.

By: Ryan Lenethen

Ryan Lenethen — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 16:06:00 +0000

Yeah the galactic police are going to fine Earth for littering, for throwing a tin can away randomly rather than re-cycling it like good little Earthlings…

Or in 100,000,000 years we start a war with some other civilization by hitting their ship, space station, colony, with a physical projectile oddly engraved with our likeness and where we live. That is kind of like spitting in someones eye while staring right at them… Only consolation being that either we will all be dead and extinct by that time or advanced enough to kick their ass or asended to some sort of incorporeal godlike state… whatever comes first.

By: MarcVader

MarcVader — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 14:15:00 +0000

You made me laugh out loud.

By: dbc249

dbc249 — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 13:59:00 +0000

If you need any copy-editing, just ask…I am on here all the time anyway

By: garyg2

garyg2 — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 12:06:00 +0000

I think I agree with you but isn’t the traditional definition of “our solar system” is that where the sun still has an influence? Beyond the heliopause the solar winds cease so could be argued as outside the system. But, IANAAP.

By: niktemadur

niktemadur — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 11:57:00 +0000

Where are the Voyagers right now?
Why here, of course:
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/where/index.html

By: garyg2

garyg2 — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 11:44:00 +0000

Everytime. :)

By: niktemadur

niktemadur — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 11:13:00 +0000

“Rocket ships are exciting, but so are roses on a birthday…”, da de dum dum dum, etcetera… “I guess I’m just an old fashioned spaceman” – Leonard Nimoy

By: niktemadur

niktemadur — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 11:09:00 +0000

Oh man, I found the RadioLab style of presentation very distracting.
Here’s hoping Astronomy Cast does an update on the topic soon, because their last Voyager show was on September 2010:
http://www.astronomycast.com/2010/09/ep-199-the-voyager-program/

By: Seth Hurwitz

Seth Hurwitz — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 11:04:00 +0000

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xagxzo_persis-khambatta-s-star-trek-headsh_lifestyle

By: Ashen Victor

Ashen Victor — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 07:31:00 +0000

My theory is that it will crash against the crystal sphere encasing our solar system and protecting us from the outer space phlogistron.
That or a Mind Flayer spelljammer will enslave it.

By: robuluz

robuluz — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 03:48:00 +0000

Full cost of Voyager Program: Just over $900 M.
Annual Global Perfume Trade: Around $10 B.

Lets get some more money from the private sector for bridges and roads, and continue to advance humanity’s knowledge of the universe, eh?

By: robuluz

robuluz — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 03:41:00 +0000

Jeez. Tough crowd.

By: unclemike

unclemike — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 02:42:00 +0000

Humour trumps reality.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 01:41:00 +0000

Sapce is fun and all but bridges and roads and stuff are needed down here.

By: AwesomeRobot

AwesomeRobot — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 00:57:00 +0000

Magnificent little piece of human engineering.

By: mchan

mchan — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 00:36:00 +0000

Can we hurry up and resume work on manned spacecraft before it comes back all sentient-like and we have to spend half a movie trying to get to it?

By: Rodney Peters

Rodney Peters — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 00:15:00 +0000

I wouldn’t consider blurry and imaginary synonymous, but I guess that’s your call.

By: malindrome

malindrome — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 23:28:00 +0000

What message did we receive from outer space?

By: Finnagain

Finnagain — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 23:02:00 +0000

Don’t you fly away when I’m talking to you!

By: niktemadur

niktemadur — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 22:44:00 +0000

Good questions, and there is NO beacon from Earth, I would bet that there’s on-board stellar calibration instruments, even at those distances the stars wouldn’t have budged enough to screw up the Voyagers’ navigation, which is basically a straight line.

In fact, using Alpha Centauri as a beacon, they recently rotated Voyager 1 90º to point the instruments sideways and try to detect solar wind falling back on itself. They’ll soon do the same with Voyager 2.

By: Gyrofrog

Gyrofrog — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 22:39:00 +0000

I remember when Pioneer 10 passed Pluto and Neptune’s orbits, TRW had a telephone number set up (probably 1-900) where one could call and listen to a brief presentation along with telemtry(?) sounds. (Our friend who worked for TRW joked, “wait till you get your next long-distance bill!”)

Soon afterwards, Not Necessarily the News had Pioneer 10 footage with a voiceover, “Hullo, this is Pioneer 10, I’m out of the solar system right now, so please leave a message…”

By: Jason Conort

Jason Conort — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 22:30:00 +0000

The sad part is I could actually see this happening..lol

By: niktemadur

niktemadur — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 22:26:00 +0000

Voyager 1 entered the heliopause almost 10 years ago, keeping me fascinated with tales from the the fringes of the heliosphere, I find this stage of the missions more amazing than the planet flybys. These guys are beyond the Kuiper Belt, aren’t they?
But I wouldn’t call it “outside our solar system” just yet, I’d reserve that label for beyond the Oort Cloud, and that’s a long way off. A very long way.

OK, so the Pioneers are contentedly chugging along, when a blur whooshes and zooms by. “What the hell was that? Oh, it’s them newfangled Voyagers”.
Then the Voyagers are cruising along, when “ZOOOM!” and “What the hell was that?” Ah yes, the New Horizons, get off my lawn.