bellinghman: (Default)
bellinghman ([personal profile] bellinghman) wrote2010-12-14 10:51 am

A long way away, but still close

Voyager 1 is beginning to reach the heliopause.

Voyager 1 is moving at 17 km/s - or roughly Mach 50. [*]

It's been travelling outwards for 33 years.

It's now a total of ... 16 light hours away.

The nearest star is approximately 2000 times further away.

Space. It's big.



*[livejournal.com profile] mobbsy rightly points out that strictly speaking Mach numbers are meaningless in vacuum. Take this as the shorthand for 'the speed that would be Mach 50 at sea level, under standard conditions'.

[identity profile] martyn44.livejournal.com 2010-12-14 11:47 am (UTC)(link)
One step at a time

[identity profile] mobbsy.livejournal.com 2010-12-14 12:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Er... surely that Mach number is entirely wrong, and it'd be near meaningless to give a Mach number for an object in hard vacuum anyway?