fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

News from the edge of the solar system

by Bob Berman
February 26, 2020
in Columns, Nature
0
Artist’s concept drawing of NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft entering interstellar space (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Artist’s concept drawing of NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft entering interstellar space (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Two years ago, the first human-made object left the solar system. That was Voyager 1. Right now, in late August and early September, it’s also the anniversary of the launching of both Voyagers, way back in 1977. If ever there was an epic journey worthy of Homer, it’s this.

These spacecraft were built to study Jupiter and Saturn and their larger moons. To accomplish this, they were designed to last five years. But we all knew that a rare geometric arrangement of the outer planets would unfold from 1977 to 1989, which could let a spacecraft visit every planet beyond Mars. This layout of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune only happens once in 175 years. A precisely aimed craft could swing from one world to the next, using each one’s gravity as a slingshot. Even Pluto was attainable.

But could any spacecraft last long enough to reach all those planets? Congress said flat-out “no” to the notion of going to Pluto. Even designing a craft to last long enough to reach Neptune was thought to be too expensive. Therefore the Voyagers were funded to fly past Jupiter and Saturn only.

But as we received stunning images and breathtaking surprises – at Jupiter in 1979, then Saturn in late 1980 and early ’81 – the additional attempted flybys of Uranus and Neptune were approved. Actually, the extended mission was funded for just Voyager 2, which already suffered from a broken main radio and a worrisome temperamental backup. Sadly, Voyager 1’s deliberate close passage past Saturn’s moon Titan gave it a trajectory that made further planets unattainable. Thus, Voyager 2’s five-year shelf life was now stretched to 12, with fingers crossed. But the craft kept working. We got our first (and still the only) close-up images of green Uranus in 1986 and blue Neptune in 1989.

The end? No way. Thanks to their RTGs, their plutonium-based electrical generators, the ships had enough power to study the “solar wind” as it blew past them, and to seek the edge of the solar system where that wind would be theoretically stopped cold by incoming particles from interstellar space.

Several years ago, the Sun’s particles no longer zoomed past the Voyagers, which instead outraced them. Voyager 1 sensed the heliopause – the boundary at the end of the Sun’s magnetic influence – and entered Interstellar Space, two years ago this week. As Voyager 1 leaves the solar system by rising above the ecliptic plane at an angle of about 35 degrees, it travels 320 million miles farther away annually. Voyager 2 is meanwhile leaving at a downward angle of 48 degrees and a speed of 290 million miles a year. Both spacecraft are expected to return valuable data until roughly the year 2035.

The Voyagers each famously carry a phonograph record in the form of a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk. It will be 40,000 years before the first Voyager passes within a light-year of any star. Should an alien civilization somehow ever find it and figure out how to use the enclosed needle, and play the disk at a speed of 16 2/3 revolutions per minute, they’ll see 115 images of Earth, including autumn foliage from our region. They’ll also hear a 90-minute selection of music of various cultures, from Bach to Chuck Berry, and a potpourri of natural sounds such as wind, surf and birds. Also a “Hello” in 55 languages including Akkadian, which was spoken 6,000 years ago, just in case they visited us back then and still remember the formalities. (That’s not actually why Akkadian was included.)

With all the world’s problems and the pseudoscience that one keeps seeing, it’s hard not to remain in love with the Voyagers. I fondly pat my blue hippie airplane after every landing, when she has kept my passengers and me alive for decades now. But no love affair with a material object can compare with what I – and many others – still feel for those amazing Voyagers.

Happy anniversary, you two.

Tags: members
Thank you for reading Hudson Valley One. We rely on your support to continue providing local, substantive news. Please check out our subscription options to keep local journalism alive in the Hudson Valley.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

PAW celebrates on its 50th anniversary

Next Post

Editorial: No smooth rides

Bob Berman

Bob Berman, Ulster Publishing’s Night Sky columnist since 1974, is the world’s most widely read astronomer. Since the mid-1990s, his celebrated "Strange Universe" feature has appeared monthly in Astronomy magazine, the largest circulation periodical on the subject. Berman is also the long-time astronomy editor of the Old Farmer’s Almanac. He was Discover magazine’s monthly columnist from 1989-2006. He has authored more than a thousand published mass-market articles and been a guest on such TV shows as Today and Late Night with David Letterman. Berman is director of two Ulster County observatories and the Storm King Observatory at Cornwall. He was adjunct professor of astronomy and physics at Marymount college from 1995-2000.

Related Posts

Waghkonk Notes: Glorious day
Columns

Waghkonk Notes: Glorious day

May 12, 2022
What the newspapers said 100 years ago
Columns

What the newspapers said 100 years ago

May 10, 2022
Night Sky: This week’s total lunar eclipse
Columns

Night Sky: This week’s total lunar eclipse

May 10, 2022
Susan Slotnick: And they wound up here 
Columns

Susan Slotnick: And they wound up here 

May 9, 2022
Night Sky: A great eclipse coming up
Columns

Night Sky: A great eclipse coming up

May 6, 2022
Peak time for birders
Nature

Peak time for birders

May 1, 2022
Next Post

Editorial: No smooth rides

Trending News

  • Bubbe’s Deli opens in Gardiner’s former Mountain Harbor 1.6k views
  • Saugertes man faces multiple charges after domestic disturbance 1k views
  • The moon is down in Central Hudson 731 views
  • Expanded High Falls museum provokes rich insights 350 views
  • Ryan and Molinaro run for Congress, Gallagher available to move up 309 views







Latest HV1 Podcast

Weather

Kingston
◉
70°
Sunny
5:31am8:13pm EDT
Feels like: 70°F
Wind: 2mph W
Humidity: 26%
Pressure: 29.89"Hg
UV index: 1
ThuFriSat
70/48°F
82/63°F
97/68°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Ulster County COVID-19 Active Cases

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

×
You have free article(s) remaining. Subscribe for unlimited access.
View Subscription Offers Sign In
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In

© 2022 Ulster Publishing