Voyager 1
Spare a thought for the most distant human-made object in space.
Posted 02 Oct 2007, mid-morning.
Tagged with astronomy, nasa, science, space, voyager 1.
What is it?
Voyager 1 is a robotic spacecraft, launched from Cape Canaveral on 5th September 1977; the famous photographer of the Pale Blue Dot. It is now leaving our solar system and heading off into the unknown.
Where is it now?
As of August 2007, Voyager 1 was 9.7 billion miles from Earth and speeding away at over 38,400 miles per hour. At this distance, it takes light close to 14 hours to travel to the craft from Earth. It is the most distant human-made object in space and is also more distant from the Sun than any known natural solar system object.
In short, it's a bloody long way away!
Where is it going?
Who knows? Voyager 1 isn't aiming for any particular star but if the probe continues on route for the next 40,000 years (mark your calendars now!), it will be within 1.7 light years of AC+793888 in the Camelopardalis constellation.
Unfortunately, our friend is only expected to have enough power to talk back to Earth until around 2020. After that, it really is on its own (as far as we know...)
