4 ms·
Voyager 1 is going 38,610 mph, 2 is slightly slower than that. Andromeda, one of our closest galactic neighbors is 220,000 light years away. Imagining that Vo
by wlesieutre 8y ago
Voyager 1 is going 38,610 mph, 2 is slightly slower than that.
Andromeda, one of our closest galactic neighbors is 220,000 light years away.
Imagining that Voyager 1 is going in the right direction and ignoring that the Andromeda is going to collide with us regardless, that works out to 3,821,000,000 years to get there. And that's for a very very close galaxy, on an astronomical scale.
Pretty optimistic to think we'll be around on that time scale, but I suppose it could happen.
- JumpCrisscross 8y agoOP said star system. You’re quoting distances to another galaxy.
- wlesieutre 8y agoI’m responding to >Is it necessarily true that our species will not exist when Voyager 1 and 2 fly through in a galaxy far far far away a long long time in the future?
- bitxbitxbitcoin 8y agoThanks for your answer btw, it was exactly what I was looking for as I didn't know the speeds of the Voyagers.
- mprev 8y agoBut might they not travel through another star system in this galaxy before getting anywhere near another galaxy?
- pps 8y agohttps://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/hubble-provides-interstellar-road-map-for-voyagers-galactic-trek https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/hubble-provides-in...
- pps 8y ago"Voyager 1 will eventually come within 1.6 light-years of the star Gliese 445 — in astronomical terms, this will be a near-miss. But don't hold your breath; the "encounter," for lack of a better term, won't occur for another 40,000 years. After that, it gets a little difficult to predict Voyager's journey, as chaotic motions within the galaxy make accurate predictions of stellar movements challenging. But given the wide swaths of empty space between the stars, the spacecraft's visit near Gilese 445 is probably the closest that Voyager 1 will approach another star, ever." https://www.space.com/39161-fate-of-the-voyager-spacecraft.html https://www.space.com/39161-fate-of-the-voyager-spacecraft.h...
- ivalm 8y agoAren't both Voyagers still gravitationally bound to our galaxy? They have escaped the sun but not milky way. In this case they will never leave our galaxy.
- wlesieutre 8y agoGood point. A quick google gives 537 km/s as the Milky Way's escape velocity, or 1,201,000 mph. Not going fast enough for that. Moot point for Andromeda since that's coming here, but it'll never ever get to any other galaxies.
- stmfreak 8y agoVoyager’s stated velocity is relative to the solar system, which imparts its own velocity relative to the Milky Way to Voyager. Another quick google suggests Sol is swinging around the galaxy at 200 km/s so Voyager’s 17 km/s is really nothing.
- wlesieutre 8y agoAlso depends on whether Voyager's velocity is in a useful direction, it could just as easily be counterproductive. But not much difference either way.