The Voyager spacecraft is being launched from Earth into interstellar space. Moreover, the number of spaceships far from Earth, a considerable part of them every year, is decreasing. How is this possible? The chart above shows where Voyager II was in the process of leaving the solar system.
Why is the Voyager spacecraft getting closer and closer to Earth?
During the months of each year, the actual distance between the Voyager spacecraft and Earth is much shorter, and you may know that Voyager was launched into space in the 1970s, and that it had already explored other planets in the 1980s. Since then, it has tried to travel outside the solar system. In 2012, Voyager One entered the interstellar space station. Later, in 2018, NASA announced that Voyager II had also entered the interstellar space station. They are all exploring outwards and have never returned to Earth as a result. So can they get closer to Earth?
The answer is that for several months of each year, the Earth moves in orbit faster than the spacecraft leaves it. The Earth orbits the Sun much faster than Voyager. Earth travels in space at 67,000 mph (30 km/s), Voyager I at 38,210 mph (17 km/s), and Voyager II at 35,000 mph (15 km/s). Therefore, for a period of time each year, the Earth orbits the Sun much faster than the speed at which a spacecraft moves. So they are getting closer and closer to Earth, but only temporarily. They never change movement, so only we can change .
In the video, Voyager follows their orbit away from Earth, encounters other planets (affecting the orbits of other planets), and heads out, away from the solar system.
Take a closer look at Voyager II's relationship to Earth
Let's take Voyager II as an example. Every year from February to early June, Voyager II moves closer to Earth. We use astronomical units (AU) to measure the distances between objects in space. This measurement is based on the distance from the Earth to the Sun, which is an astronomical unit.
This chart shows the distance between Voyager II and Earth from January 2013 to December 2030. Since the Earth rotates around the Sun, the accelerated speed means that a considerable part of each year, Voyager II and the Earth will temporarily approach, so in the image above, its distance is not shown in a straight line. Image credit: TheSkyLive.
Roundup: The Voyager spacecraft is on a never-ending journey away from Earth. So why is the distance between spacecraft and Earth decreasing by a few months every year? Because in a matter of months, the Earth is moving toward the spacecraft in an orbit around the sun faster than the spacecraft is leaving us.
Related knowledge
One U.S. program, the Voyager Project, uses two spacecraft, Voyager One and Voyager TWO. They were launched in 1977 and took advantage of the positions of Jupiter and Saturn to get close to them and transmit their data to Earth. After the successful launch, the new decision was to launch Voyager II near Uranus and Neptune for use in collecting data and transmitting it back to Earth again.
In 2022, Voyager is still flying near the space station, and they are responsible for collecting and transmitting some useful data to Earth.
Voyager did many unexpected things and found many surprising scenes. And also promised to live longer than the man who invented him. Just like a great work or a constant operation, he has the value and meaning of his own existence, a existence that is beyond its control and has its own destiny.
— Stephen J. Pyne[1]
As of 2022, Voyager 1 is flying relative to the Sun at a speed of 61,185 km/h (38,019 mph or 17 km/s). As of February 10, 2022, it had flown very far: 23,252,000,000 km (1.4448×10^10 miles) from the Sun,[2] or 155.8 astronomical units (23.3 billion km; 14.5 billion miles) from Earth. [3] On August 25, 2012, data from Voyager 1 indicated that it had crossed the Heliosphere and entered interstellar space. [4]
As of 2022, Voyager 2 is flying relative to the Sun at a speed of 55,335 km/h (34,384 mph or 15 km/s). As of February 10, 2022, it has flown very far: 19,350,000,000 km (1.202×10^10 miles) from the Sun,[5] and 130.1 astronomical units (19.5 billion km; 12.1 billion miles) from Earth. [3] On November 5, 2019, data from Voyager 2 also indicate that it entered interstellar space like Voyager 1. [6] On November 4, 2019, scientists reported that the Voyager 2 probe would officially reach the outer space region, the interstellar medium (ISM) region, which is not affected by the solar wind, on November 5, 2018. The last time it arrived in the area was reached by Voyager 1 in 2012.
Although Voyager's range makes them no longer affected by the solar wind, they still have a long way to go before leaving the solar system. NASA claims, "If we define the solar system as the sun and everything that orbits primarily the sun, Voyager 1 will remain in range of the solar system until it may fly out of the Ault Cloud after around 14,000 to 28,000 years." ”
Data and photographs collected by voyager cameras, magnetometers and other instruments have revealed unknown details about the four giant planets and their moons in the solar system. Close-up photographs of Voyager depict Jupiter's complex cloud formations, wind, and storm systems, and uncover volcanic activity on its moon, Ganymede. Saturn's rings were found with mysterious braids, knots, and spokes, accompanied by countless "small rings."
On Uranus, Voyager 2 discovered a huge magnetic field around the planet and also discovered its other ten moons. As it flew over Neptune, it discovered three Neptune rings, six previously unknown moons, a planetary magnetic field, and the resulting complex and extensive aurora. As of 2021, Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to visit the two largest ice giants, Uranus and Neptune.
In August 2018, NASA confirmed, based on results from the New Horizon spacecraft, that there was a "wall of hydrogen" on the outer edge of the solar system, which had been first detected by two Voyager spacecraft as early as 1992. [10] [11]
The Voyager spacecraft was built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and was funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NASA also funded their launch, tracking, and everything related to the cost of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Although the original plan cost $865 million, the Voyager interstellar mission was later added, costing an additional $30 million for this.
BY：Kelly Kizer Whitt
FY：Astronomical volunteer team
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