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Voyager II and the giant 'snowman'

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  • 04-01-2019 12:12am
    #1
    tac foley
    Registered Users Posts: 5,504 ✭✭✭


    that is Ultima Thule. Well, now we've seen the images sent back across the void - the last we will ever receive from Voyager II was it leaves the Heliosphere, I'm sure that we wish it well for its future existence on the way to the Oort Cloud.

    Strange to think, in these days when there is blithe talk of 'going to the stars' as though it's simply a matter of inventing some new way of moving, that simply reaching the outer limits of this solar system will take Voyager II another thirty thousand years....


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    #2
    Harry Palmr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    The further we go the bigger it gets!


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    #3
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 32,988 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    tac foley wrote: »
    ... that simply reaching the outer limits of this solar system will take Voyager II another thirty thousand years....

    Makes you realise how insignificant we all are.


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    #4
    Four Phucs Ache
    Registered Users Posts: 1,017 ✭✭✭Four Phucs Ache


    What bends my mind is life such as our own or more advanced within our galaxy, to send receive a signal never mind visit , would / could take multiple expanses of time that exceeds the age of our planet..never mind the human race.....

    Feck it, I've broken my brain again.


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    #5
    coylemj
    Registered Users Posts: 25,331 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    The 'snowman' (aka Ultima Thule) was visited on Jan. 1st by the New Horizons probe. The Voyager I and II cameras were switched off almost 30 years ago though both are still being tracked by the JPL deep space network.

    https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/
    https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html


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    #6
    tricky D
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,700 ✭✭✭tricky D


    If you have not yet seen 'The Farthest', it is highly recommended.

    https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=104449668
    https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=104573463


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    #7
    EdgeCase
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,471 ✭✭✭EdgeCase


    Four Phucs Ache wrote: »
    What bends my mind is life such as our own or more advanced within our galaxy, to send receive a signal never mind visit , would / could take multiple expanses of time that exceeds the age of our planet..never mind the human race.....

    Feck it, I've broken my brain again.

    Well, there's also the possibility that we are missing a few fundamentals of physics and there's some way around that. Considering steam engines in regular service are still within living memory, we've only been this technologically advanced for a few decades and our scientific knowledge really only developed radically over the last maybe 3 centuries at most.

    So who knows what might be stumbled upon, assuming we don't destroy ourselves in the interim.


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    #8
    tac foley
    Registered Users Posts: 5,504 ✭✭✭tac foley


    Sorry, Gentlefolk, I guess I got carried away by the pathos of the whole shebang.

    It's Tuesday today, right?


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    #9
    Harry Palmr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    I was shocked to discover it's Friday :eek:


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    #10
    NickNickleby
    Registered Users Posts: 1,813 ✭✭✭NickNickleby


    tac foley wrote: »
    Sorry, Gentlefolk, I guess I got carried away by the pathos of the whole shebang.

    It's Tuesday today, right?

    ...easily explained, it was a glitch in the matrix. I encounter these quite often:eek:

    Have to echo your sentiment though, the vastness and beauty of it all is awe inspiring.

    I vaguely remember Carl Sagan saying something along the lines of us being witness to the beauty of the Cosmos, like it was a duty. and perhaps an honour.


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    #11
    ps200306
    Registered Users Posts: 1,589 ✭✭✭ps200306


    NIMAN wrote: »
    Makes you realise how insignificant we all are.
    Makes me realise how significant we are. New Horizons and the Voyagers will pass nothing but snowballs for thousands of years. Yet here we are in the middle of it all, with electric toasters 'n' stuff.


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    #12
    JupiterKid
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 12,571 Mod ✭✭✭✭JupiterKid


    Ultima Thule, over 4 billion miles from Earth, a smallish Kuiper Belt Object, as taken from the New Horizons probe, which is leaving the solar system for good, just like Voyager 1 and 2, and the earlier Pioneers. Looks like a snowman!

    index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=43974


    It took over six hours just to beam this image back, given the huge distances involved. Mission director Alan Stern has said that it will take about 2 years to beam back all the data, and hinted that one more KBO might be visited by New Horizons.


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    #13
    tac foley
    Registered Users Posts: 5,504 ✭✭✭tac foley


    Looks just like the sort of a place where the Clangers might live.


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