Author Topic: FEATURE: Into the unknown: Voyager 1 begins interstellar space adventure  (Read 10382 times)

Offline Nomadd

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Would something similar be possible in IR? The Voyagers emit several hundred W of thermal power. There's an interesting estimate over on the XKCD forums:

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We have a power source of 420 W at 1.78×1010 km, which gives a brightness of 1×10-19 Wm-2, or an apparent magnitude of 28. That is just visible for a big ground-based telescope....

I'm not convinced that that would be enough, because the Voyagers are much smaller than the resolution of any IR telescope we have.
Have you looked up at night lately? You can't resolve stars either. That doesn't stop you from seeing them.
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.

Offline gospacex

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Absolutely not on the IR front. We have hard time detecting kilometer-sized KBOs at those distances.

Offline edlassoto

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Why does the radio signal come in as an elongated oval?

Offline Nomadd

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Why does the radio signal come in as an elongated oval?
I'd guess that's just the way linear polarized rf shows up on the screen.
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.

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