Post by Andrei Tchentchik on Aug 14, 2020 10:40:33 GMT 2
(.#464).- Pioneer and Voyager probes may one day approach other stars.
The Pioneer and Voyager probes may one day be closer to other stars.
By: Brice Louvet, science editor
January 4, 2020, 5:08 p.m.
Credits : Nasa
Several probes are intended to leave our system forever (two have already done so). Could they ever be closer to other stars? Yes, but in a very, very, very long time.
In the 1970s, NASA developed and launched four spacecraft aimed at exploring our solar system: the Pioneer 10 and 11 probes (1073), and the Voyager 1 and 2 probes (1977). The latter two have since entered interstellar space. As for the Pioneer probes, they should be able to leave our system in several years. Difficult however to estimate a precise date, since the contacts with the Earth are broken for a long time.
These four probes will thus sail alone in space, moving at several tens of thousands of kilometers per hour. Will they ever meet other star systems? And if so, how quickly could they join them? Astronomers Coryn Bailer-Jones and Davide Farnocchia of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA recently addressed these two questions.
Support from the Gaia telescope
For this work, the researchers relied on data from the Gaia telescope. Launched in 2013, the main objective of the instrument is to map the stars of our Galaxy. The latest dataset, released in 2018, includes position and speed tracking for a subset of 7.2 million objects.
By analyzing the movements of millions of stars, and combining this data with that still available on the paths taken by the probes, the researchers were able to determine when the four probes could approach distant star systems.
They say the four spacecraft will approach approximately 60 stars in the next million years. Interestingly, the Ross 248 binary system, located 10.33 light years from Earth, is expected to be visited by Voyager 2 and Pioneer 10, approximately 8000 years apart.
The four spacecraft will also visit the closest neighbor to Earth; Proxima Centauri, but none will happen before at least 16,000 years. They will also stay at a good distance (at least 1 parsec).
An artist's impression of Proxima Centauri b.
Credits: Wikimedia Commons
A first “meeting” in 90,000 years
Pioneer 10 will probably be the first probe to go through a star system - HIP 117795. You will find it in the constellation Cassiopeia. According to calculations, the spacecraft will pass 0.231 parsecs (0.7 light years) from the star in about 90,000 years.
A little perspective is needed: this "closest distance" is equivalent to about 14,000 times the distance from Earth to Sun. In our system, this is far beyond Pluto's orbit and the Kuiper belt (we almost reach the edge of the Oort cloud). At this distance, the sun looks like a simple bright star.
The researchers also found that the four probes will likely travel a long time before they are potentially struck or captured by another star system - at least 25 billion years. Who knows ... one of these probes may one day be in the "arms" of another civilization.
F I N .
The Pioneer and Voyager probes may one day be closer to other stars.
By: Brice Louvet, science editor
January 4, 2020, 5:08 p.m.
Credits : Nasa
Several probes are intended to leave our system forever (two have already done so). Could they ever be closer to other stars? Yes, but in a very, very, very long time.
In the 1970s, NASA developed and launched four spacecraft aimed at exploring our solar system: the Pioneer 10 and 11 probes (1073), and the Voyager 1 and 2 probes (1977). The latter two have since entered interstellar space. As for the Pioneer probes, they should be able to leave our system in several years. Difficult however to estimate a precise date, since the contacts with the Earth are broken for a long time.
These four probes will thus sail alone in space, moving at several tens of thousands of kilometers per hour. Will they ever meet other star systems? And if so, how quickly could they join them? Astronomers Coryn Bailer-Jones and Davide Farnocchia of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA recently addressed these two questions.
Support from the Gaia telescope
For this work, the researchers relied on data from the Gaia telescope. Launched in 2013, the main objective of the instrument is to map the stars of our Galaxy. The latest dataset, released in 2018, includes position and speed tracking for a subset of 7.2 million objects.
By analyzing the movements of millions of stars, and combining this data with that still available on the paths taken by the probes, the researchers were able to determine when the four probes could approach distant star systems.
They say the four spacecraft will approach approximately 60 stars in the next million years. Interestingly, the Ross 248 binary system, located 10.33 light years from Earth, is expected to be visited by Voyager 2 and Pioneer 10, approximately 8000 years apart.
The four spacecraft will also visit the closest neighbor to Earth; Proxima Centauri, but none will happen before at least 16,000 years. They will also stay at a good distance (at least 1 parsec).
An artist's impression of Proxima Centauri b.
Credits: Wikimedia Commons
A first “meeting” in 90,000 years
Pioneer 10 will probably be the first probe to go through a star system - HIP 117795. You will find it in the constellation Cassiopeia. According to calculations, the spacecraft will pass 0.231 parsecs (0.7 light years) from the star in about 90,000 years.
A little perspective is needed: this "closest distance" is equivalent to about 14,000 times the distance from Earth to Sun. In our system, this is far beyond Pluto's orbit and the Kuiper belt (we almost reach the edge of the Oort cloud). At this distance, the sun looks like a simple bright star.
The researchers also found that the four probes will likely travel a long time before they are potentially struck or captured by another star system - at least 25 billion years. Who knows ... one of these probes may one day be in the "arms" of another civilization.
F I N .
