Exactly 40 years ago, on September 5, 1977, Voyager 1 was launched into space. Although Voyager 1 was launched later than its twin sister Voyager 2, it overtook it and was the first in history to fly out of the solar system. On the anniversary of the launch of Voyager 1, we share amazing facts about it.
Voyager 1 is still flying
Died Leonid Brezhnev, and "Voyager 1" flew. The USSR collapsed, and Voyager 1 flew. Boris Yeltsin came and went, Vladimir Putin came, and Voyager 1 is still flying. Despite the fact that the main mission of the spacecraft was supposed to last only five years - it was assumed that it would fly next to Jupiter, Saturn and its satellite Titan, and then stop transmitting signals to Earth.
Voyager 1 flew a distance that does not fit in the head
Now it is located at a distance of about 20 billion kilometers from the Earth. It's like flying to New York from Moscow almost three million times. Voyager 1 flies at a speed of about 60 thousand kilometers per hour, that is, the same distance to New York it would cover in eight minutes.
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Voyager 1 became the first vehicle to leave the solar system
In August 2012, the spacecraft entered the interstellar medium. The instruments of the spacecraft recorded that the sun, with distance, affected it less and less and observed an increase in the effect of particles of interstellar origin. Where the device is now located can be viewed in a separate NASA application.
The radio signal to the device takes 19 hours
Scientists continue to keep in touch with Voyager 1. The signal to the spacecraft is now 19 hours 20 minutes and 51 seconds, and this time is constantly increasing. Voyager 1 transmits information from those devices that are still on: a magnetometer and detectors of charged particles and cosmic rays.
Other devices, including cameras, are turned off either due to a malfunction or to save energy.
Voyager 1 photographed Earth from record distance
In February 1990, Voyager 1 transmitted one of the last photographs to Earth. The most famous was the one that began to be called "Pale Blue Spot". In this image, the Earth is photographed from a distance of six billion kilometers with a camera with which you can see the headline in the newspaper from 800 meters.
The earth is a small dot on a brown strip.
Aboard Voyager 1 - a message to the aliens
A gilded plate is attached to the Voyager body, on which a message for alien beings is written. In particular, it has a greeting in 50 languages. In addition, classical music, music of different peoples of the world, sounds of nature are recorded there.
Also for aliens, photographs of people, the Earth from space, an airplane, cars, notes, and so on were recorded on the plate in analog form.
Someday Voyager 1 will reach the stars
According to scientists, in 40 thousand years it will fly at a relatively short distance from the star AC + 79 3888 in the constellation Giraffe. “Relatively” is on a cosmic scale. In reality, Voyager 1 will fly more than one light-year away from this star.
Vladimir Tsybulsky
