neufer wrote: ↑Thu Feb 14, 2019 7:51 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Fiction_Theatre#Season_1 wrote:
Science Fiction Theatre: Are We Invaded? December 31, 1955
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3b5brh
<<A reporter and the daughter of a respected astronomer, watching the stars one evening from their parked car, see what they consider a flying saucer. A stranger appears at the door of the car saying he too saw the light in the sky, and asks if he can be given a lift down the hill into town. Later, the astronomer refuses to believe the couple saw anything more than an optical illusion. To prove the existence of UFOs, the reporter films a documentary of witnesses, while the astronomer promptly demonstrates scientific explanations for each witness's sightings.
But the mysterious stranger has left a photograph at the astronomer's lab- a photograph of our solar system taken from space. The stranger has disappeared, but left a forwarding address: Centauri 6. The sixth planet of the star Alpha Centauri, 4.3 light years from Earth.>>
MarkBour wrote: ↑Thu Feb 14, 2019 7:20 pm
I see no evidence that anyone instructed Voyager 1 or 2 to make any other snapshots looking back, since the time of the composite in this APOD. I think it would be cool to see a photo just looking back at our Sun from the farthest ever. And it would also be nice if one could say, for some image, all of the planets of our Solar system are within the single frame (even if none of them were detectable). My understanding is that the Voyagers are still sending data and able to communicate. There may be reasons that it is impossible to instruct them to make and transmit such an image now.
There are many reasons that it is impossible to instruct them to make and transmit such an image now.
(And all of the planets of our Solar system would never fit in a single frame.)
Code: Select all
Year End of specific capabilities as a result
of the available electrical power limitations
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Voyager 2
1998 Termination of scan platform and UVS observations
2007 Termination of Digital Tape Recorder (DTR) operations
2008 Power off Planetary Radio Astronomy Experiment (PRA)
2016 Termination of gyroscopic operations
2020 Initiate instrument power sharing
2025 Can no longer power any single instrument
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Voyager 1
2007 Termination of plasma subsystem (PLS)
2008 Power off Planetary Radio Astronomy Experiment (PRA)
2016 Termination of scan platform and Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS)
2018 Termination of Data Tape Recorder (DTR) operations
2019 Termination of gyroscopic operations
2020 Start shutdown of science instruments
(the Low-Energy Charged Particles, Cosmic Ray Subsystem, Magnetometer,
and Plasma Wave Subsystem instruments are expected to still be operating)
2025–2030 Will no longer be able to power even a single instrument.
Interesting stuff !
“Never is an awfully long time.”
― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
The wide angle camera on Voyager has a 3
o field of view. Since sin(3
o) = about 0.05, I guess you'd get a view of the entire orbit of a planet when you were about 20 times as far away from it as its orbital radius. Neptune has an orbital radius of 30 AU (if we want Pluto, as much as 50 AU). So, to capture Neptune's entire orbit, Voyager would have to be about 600 AU away, right? Currently Voyager 1 is a mere 145 AU from us.
[quote=neufer post_id=289870 time=1550173911 user_id=124483]
[quote="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Fiction_Theatre#Season_1"]
[b][size=115]Science Fiction Theatre: Are We Invaded? December 31, 1955[/size][/b]
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3b5brh
<<A reporter and the daughter of a respected astronomer, watching the stars one evening from their parked car, see what they consider a flying saucer. A stranger appears at the door of the car saying he too saw the light in the sky, and asks if he can be given a lift down the hill into town. Later, the astronomer refuses to believe the couple saw anything more than an optical illusion. To prove the existence of UFOs, the reporter films a documentary of witnesses, while the astronomer promptly demonstrates scientific explanations for each witness's sightings. [b][u][color=#0000FF]But the mysterious stranger has left a photograph at the astronomer's lab- a photograph of our solar system taken from space.[/color][/u][/b] The stranger has disappeared, but left a forwarding address: Centauri 6. The sixth planet of the star Alpha Centauri, 4.3 light years from Earth.>> [/quote][quote=MarkBour post_id=289869 time=1550172002 user_id=141361]
I see no evidence that anyone instructed Voyager 1 or 2 to make any other snapshots looking back, since the time of the composite in this APOD. I think it would be cool to see a photo just looking back at our Sun from the farthest ever. And it would also be nice if one could say, for some image, all of the planets of our Solar system are within the single frame (even if none of them were detectable). My understanding is that the Voyagers are still sending data and able to communicate. There may be reasons that it is impossible to instruct them to make and transmit such an image now.[/quote]
There are many reasons that it is impossible to instruct them to make and transmit such an image now.
(And all of the planets of our Solar system would never fit in a single frame.)
[code]Year End of specific capabilities as a result
of the available electrical power limitations
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Voyager 2
1998 Termination of scan platform and UVS observations
2007 Termination of Digital Tape Recorder (DTR) operations
2008 Power off Planetary Radio Astronomy Experiment (PRA)
2016 Termination of gyroscopic operations
2020 Initiate instrument power sharing
2025 Can no longer power any single instrument
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Voyager 1
2007 Termination of plasma subsystem (PLS)
2008 Power off Planetary Radio Astronomy Experiment (PRA)
2016 Termination of scan platform and Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS)
2018 Termination of Data Tape Recorder (DTR) operations
2019 Termination of gyroscopic operations
2020 Start shutdown of science instruments
(the Low-Energy Charged Particles, Cosmic Ray Subsystem, Magnetometer,
and Plasma Wave Subsystem instruments are expected to still be operating)
2025–2030 Will no longer be able to power even a single instrument. [/code]
[/quote]
Interesting stuff !
“Never is an awfully long time.”
― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
The wide angle camera on Voyager has a 3[sup]o[/sup] field of view. Since sin(3[sup]o[/sup]) = about 0.05, I guess you'd get a view of the entire orbit of a planet when you were about 20 times as far away from it as its orbital radius. Neptune has an orbital radius of 30 AU (if we want Pluto, as much as 50 AU). So, to capture Neptune's entire orbit, Voyager would have to be about 600 AU away, right? Currently Voyager 1 is a mere 145 AU from us.