Astronomy Picture Of The Day: Voyager 1, launched in 1977, will reach 1 light-day from Earth this year in November

 

#NASA, #Space, #astronomy, #διάστημα, #Voyager1

Black Hole@konstructivizm

Voyager 1, launched in 1977, will reach 1 light-day from Earth this year in November. Voyager 1 has been flying for nearly 50 years at 38,000 mph.

One light day means radio signals traveling at the speed of light take 24 hours to reach it. When engineers send a command to Voyager 1, they wait two full days for a response one day out, one day back. Voyager 1 was launched in 1977 powered by a plutonium RTG that generates roughly 4 watts of usable power today less than an LED bulb. On that power budget it is transmitting data across 24 light hours of interstellar space to a 70 meter antenna on Earth. It has now traveled farther from Earth than any human made object in history, moving at 17km per second, and it still calls home every day. The most distant thing humanity has ever touched is a 47 year-old spacecraft running on 4 watts, and we can still hear it.