It’s not in an orbit. Well, it technically is, but it moved far enough away that that orbit no longer intersects with the solar system’s SOI. That was the whole point of the voyager probes, to go out into deep space. That’s why we sent them out with our mix tapes
It won’t have started getting closer again before the Milky Way collides with the Adromeda galaxy in 5 Billion years, so it and anything we send on a similar path isn’t coming back.
I would believe that if the universe was not constantly expanding, that would be mathematically true. I’m not mathematician, but I think with a constantly expanding universe, that’s not a mathematical certainty.
As I understand it, expansion doesn’t really affect local systems like galaxies directly/significantly. It’s not really a factor for voyager returning or not.
It won’t necessarily come back. Till the orbits of Voyager and the Solar system intersect, we would’ve merged with Andromeda, which would completely change all orbits in unpredictable ways. So no, you cannot say with confidence that Voyager will return back to the Solar system before the Sun dies purely using orbital mechanics.
“Bad” memory that lasts 45 years in interplanetary space.
#BringVoyagerHome
Bring it home…?
As soon as we invent FTL I’m sure we will
might want to sit down on this one
Let’s focus on FTV first
This is going to be one tough RMA…
All orbits are elliptical. Eventually, it will.
It’s not in an orbit. Well, it technically is, but it moved far enough away that that orbit no longer intersects with the solar system’s SOI. That was the whole point of the voyager probes, to go out into deep space. That’s why we sent them out with our mix tapes
You’re saying the same thing by a different route. It’s orbit through the galaxy eventually comes back around to us.
Incidently, this is also why we can’t just send nuclear waste on a solar escape trajectory. It eventually comes back.
It won’t have started getting closer again before the Milky Way collides with the Adromeda galaxy in 5 Billion years, so it and anything we send on a similar path isn’t coming back.
isn’t it on an escape trajectory?
Is it in orbit? And more importantly, is it in orbit around us?
It is, but not around us. It doesn’t matter, because that orbit still comes back around.
I would believe that if the universe was not constantly expanding, that would be mathematically true. I’m not mathematician, but I think with a constantly expanding universe, that’s not a mathematical certainty.
As I understand it, expansion doesn’t really affect local systems like galaxies directly/significantly. It’s not really a factor for voyager returning or not.
It won’t necessarily come back. Till the orbits of Voyager and the Solar system intersect, we would’ve merged with Andromeda, which would completely change all orbits in unpredictable ways. So no, you cannot say with confidence that Voyager will return back to the Solar system before the Sun dies purely using orbital mechanics.