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Old 03-20-2013, 04:14 PM   #564
dreadgeek
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Default Voyager 1 at the absolute limit of the solar system

So the Voyager 1 probe has reached the absolute outer edge of Sol's influence. Earlier today it was announced that Voyager 1 had left the solar system and had now entered interstellar space but that might be a bit premature. There are still charged particles from the Sun being detected but when the direction of those charged particles change (meaning that they are inbound to the system and not outbound from it) then the probe will truly be in interstellar space.

How far is Voyager 1 from Earth? It is 72 light hours. That means it takes a radio signal, which is just a form of light, 72 hours to travel from the spacecraft to Earth. Light travels at 186,282 miles per second. That's 670,615,200 miles per hour so 48,284,294,400 miles away. Purely for sake of comparison the Moon is 1.5 light seconds away (~250,000 miles) and the Sun is 8 light minutes away (93 million miles).

This is now the farthest out anything made by the hands of humanity has ever been from Earth.

Cheers
Aj
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