Today is the 30th Anniversary of the launch of Voyager 2.
In 16 days, it will be the 30th Anniversary of the launch of Voyager 1.
Their grand tour of the solar system is over, and Voyager 1 is
currently the farthest human-made object from home—9.7 billion
miles—and is well into the heliosheath, zooming away at 3.6 AU/year.
Despite the 16 day head-start, Voyager 2 is only 7.8 billion miles
from Earth, and hasn’t yet made it to the [edge of the solar
system][]. (It took a slower path, staying in the ecliptic, so that it
could visit Uranus, Neptune and Neptune’s moon Triton).
It also took my favorite picture of Saturn:
src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Saturn_%28planet%29_large.jpg/96px-Saturn_%28planet%29_large.jpg">
Despite the detours, Voyager 2 is zooming away nearly as fast as its
twin: a respectable 3.3 AU/year.
Both Voyagers are expected to have power until at least 2020, so
though we may not get another 30 years, we may get to celebrate the
Voyagers’ 50th birthdays in 2027.
Good luck, Voyagers!
src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Voyager_1_entering_heliosheath_region.jpg/800px-Voyager_1_entering_heliosheath_region.jpg">
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070820_voyager_30th.html
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