Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: thedoc on 12/11/2013 15:56:19
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Launched in 1977 to study the Solar system's gas giant planets, Voyager 1 is still operating. But now it's so far away that the Solar wind has weakened and a deluge of cosmic particles from intergalactic space is assailing it. Now interstellar space awaits. But where does the Solar system end and this new frontier begin?
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The Oort cloud lies from approx. 5,000 to 100,000 astronomical units from the sun. It is suggested that the outer reaches of this system are affected more by distant stars than by our own star, the sun. So in effect, the end of our solar system lies somewhere within the outer reaches of this vast area referred to as the Oort cloud.
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The little film was excellent. I think the boundary between our star and the outside galactic stars is the position in space where the incoming energy is exactly balanced by the outgoing energy from our star.
CliveS
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will voyager have collected mass due to its own gravity as it passes through dust?
could this lead one day to planet voyager. ;-)
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will voyager have collected mass due to its own gravity as it passes through dust?
Yes, but the accumulation of mass via collection of dust particles will be so slight as to be insignificant.
could this lead one day to planet voyager. ;-)
No, even Pluto has been redefined as a dwarf planet because it's mass is insufficient to qualify as a planet. There is however talk now about requalifying Pluto as a planet, not sure how that will end. In any case, Voyager will need a very long time indeed to acquire enough mass to be assigned that title. In fact, the universe will probably die the forecasted heat death before that remote eventuality occurs.
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BTW, I see that you are rather new to the forum barney so I would like to welcome you to these hallowed halls of wisdom.
Welcome my friend,.......................ENJOY!
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will voyager have collected mass due to its own gravity as it passes through dust?
could this lead one day to planet voyager. ;-)
Voyager will need a very long time indeed to acquire enough mass to be assigned that title. In fact, the universe will probably die the forecasted heat death before that remote eventuality occurs.
Sometime Voyager could smack into a planet, star, black hole, comet, or such. Or, perhaps end up in an accretion disk.
Phenomena such as the Asteroid Belt, Kuiper Belt, Oort Cloud, and such have far lower density than one might expect from watching Hollywood movies. However, a few billion years in the future, I find it doubtful that we'll have two perfectly intact space ships quietly floating through the universe, and the Voyager probes may well be incorporated into a much larger objects.
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thanks Ethos. ive been on before but not for quite a while.
id like to thank every one who indulges my questions on this site.
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If it orbits the sun the it is part of the solar system.
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Wooooah! Mind blown. Awesome! Oooof.