Talk:Voyager 1

1957 man hole cover

Couldn't the 1957 nuclear test man hole cover possibly be further away from earth. 2600:1700:BE90:4660:4DC6:7FD3:B105:1D7F (talk) 21:39, 10 May 2024 (UTC)

See Operation_Plumbbob#Missing_Neenah_Foundry_lid. "Scientists believe compression heating caused the cap to vaporize as it sped through the atmosphere." Schazjmd (talk) 21:53, 10 May 2024 (UTC)

References

Couple issues

Mostly looking at the 'Far Future' section. Before that, there's a table "End of Specific Capabilities..." that mentions "both probes" as if any reader will know it refers to Voyagers 1&2. Why isn't its distance from the Sun in a box? ...I mean, it increases at a rate of 30,000 km/day. The section mentions that in 50,000 yrs it'll be ~1.5 ly from Sol and its velocity decreased to 17 km/sec. OK. But the section also mentions New Horizons will never "pass" it. What?? So, their trajectories are close enough for them to be considered 'going the same way'?? I don't think so. Suggestion: use "out-distance". That same paragraph has the incorrect implication that it is just NH that is slowing down. Gosh, that would be a great place to mention that V1 is slowing down at an annual (or decadal?) rate of X (I assume due to it still ascending the Solar System's gravitational gradient). Also, the article claims it is (now) in "interstellar space" but still well short of the Oort Cloud - a part of the Solar System. The FIRST time "interstellar space" is mentioned is the place to distinguish between various meanings of that term. If I were an editor, I'd mention that it's, what, 0.0003 light years from Sol, it kinda puts it in perspective (especially if alpha-Proxima's and Gliese 445's distances are mentioned (maybe both current distance and in the case of Gliese's it's distance from Sol when V1 passes by (closest approach). The New Horizons section also contains claims of "never". This is absolute hogwash. There is no way that the trajectories of these probes can be accurately predicted into the deep future (oh, say 1 million or 1 billion years from now). Surely the editors *should* understand that it's virtually certain that none of these probes will attain galactic escape velocity. And given that all 4 bodies, Sol, V1, V2, & NH) are in orbits, then *eventually their distance from Sol will start decreasing (ceteris paribus, as they individually reach the point opposite Sol relative to Sag A*). So, "never" and "ever" should be avoided. Although granted, by the time that matters, Homo Sapiens Sapiens will (likely) long be extinct...71.31.145.237 (talk) 00:34, 14 September 2024 (UTC)

Correction. NASA's site has V1's velocity at 17 kps, that's 1.47 million kilometers a day. Also my logic about V1 being slower in 50,000 years is probably right, but my assumption that the current velocity (estimated, Sol relative) is 21 kps is wrong. (Also, I'm not sure how confident we can be about it's trajectory and velocity upon its exit from the Oort cloud...)71.31.145.237 (talk) 00:42, 14 September 2024 (UTC)