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Bob Tregiluselaterite@mastoart.social
Oct 10, 2026, 5:25 PM
Next month Voyager 1, launched 49yrs ago on 5 Sept 1977, will be one light-day from Earth. That's 26 billion kilometers (16 billion miles) from home! That means when Mission Control sends a message, "Hey Voyager 1, what's up?" Two days later the reply, "Not much, just cold and dark out here," will be received. The distance from the Sun to the Earth is 149.6 million km which = one astronomical unit (AU). Voyager 1 is ~174AU from Earth.
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/voyager-1/voyager-1-what-is-a-light-day/
#Astronomy #Astrophysics #Science
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Replies

Eustace H. PlimsollEustaceHPlimsoll@beige.party
Oct 10, 2026, 7:58 PM
@elaterite It actually replied “I think I left the oven on”
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Bob Tregiluselaterite@mastoart.social
Oct 10, 2026, 7:59 PM
@EustaceHPlimsoll 😂
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Braths_d_brath@mastodon.social
Oct 10, 2026, 8:50 PM
@elaterite I wonder how quickly a probe send today with current technology and knowledge could catch up. I suppose it would depend a lot on current planet alignments to sling-shot around them for velocity, but I imagine it should be possible to get something out there at higher speeds.
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Bob Tregiluselaterite@mastoart.social
Oct 10, 2026, 9:23 PM
@s_d_brath Indeed, it all depends on the flight path and gravitational assists. But there is also a minimum velocity for escaping the solar system (solar escape velocity). It looks like Voyager 1 is moving faster than all others. I thought New Horizons (my name is on a CD stuck to its side!) might be going faster, but it is not. It will overtake the two Pioneer probes but never the Voyagers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_artificial_objects_leaving_the_Solar_System#Speed_and_distance_from_the_Sun
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Colin Chickcolinchick@aus.social
Oct 11, 2026, 12:34 AM
@elaterite back in the early nineties I whimsically pondered out loud to my sister, "I wonder if Voyager sings out there to relieve the boredom?"
A few days later she ran with my question and wrote a poem:
Voyager

Alone in the vast velvet
Emptiness,
The brightest light is
Fading,
Communication
Hesitates,
And the only link to home
Is a vacuum.

You carry our
Curiosity
On a journey longer than our
Dreams;
The loneliest piece of
Earth-dust,
Racing patiently into the
Void;

And we wonder:
Do you sing to yourself?

Helen Chick, 31 August 1991
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Bob Tregiluselaterite@mastoart.social
Oct 11, 2026, 12:49 AM
@colinchick Very nice!
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Jered Floydjered@metasocial.com
Oct 11, 2026, 2:36 AM
@colinchick @elaterite @nazgul Lovely!
ICYMI, PJ Harvey released a song about Voyager earlier this year in a similar vein: https://youtu.be/XzCjzFsGl_c
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Bob Tregiluselaterite@mastoart.social
Oct 11, 2026, 2:51 AM
@jered Nice! Beautiful and ethereal!
@colinchick @nazgul
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