Voyager leaves solar system... Again

[DeepThought]

And they really mean it this time.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24026153

[DeepThought]

Oops, posted in the wrong section.

Could someone be a dear and move this to the astro lounge?

Thanks

[Stargazer33]

One day to return as V'ger and try to kill us all, if my memory serves me correct!

[M4lcs67]

Unbelievable statistics. Amazing....

[baggywrinkle]

In a deep Arnie Sw voice... 'I won't be back....'

This will be our first interstellar astro-archeological artefact, amazing.

[AndyWB]

One day to return as V'ger and try to kill us all, if my memory serves me correct!

Shatner Save Us!

[Gomtuu]

One day to return as V'ger and try to kill us all, if my memory serves me correct!

V'ger was Voyager 6, so we'll have to launch a few more!

[r3i]

Maybe we're in a bigger version of the Truman Show and one day soon Voyager 1 will go splat against the studio wall....

[mitchelln]

I think one of the reasons it's still going is because it's not running gigabytes of software. So much less to go wrong!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I remember watching the launch of Voyager (and most other probes of that era) on TV. I had stacks of NatGeo magazines devoted to their exploits. Still it carries on, and now it has left our solar system. A big thumbs up to all the people involved!

[jonathan]

My favourite space probe.

[Pete Presland]

an amazing acheivement by all involved! what a history Voyager has already had simply inspiring journey, probably inspired a lot of today's astronomers.

i love Carl Sagan's thoughts on the Golden Record on Voyager, "as launching a message in a bottle into the cosmic ocean, it says something very hopeful about life on this planet".

i know it is only a machine, but the thought of it speeding through the lonely depths of interstellar space does leave feeling sad, rather strangely.

[tony]

Really mind boggling isnt it, 36 years at that speed and still going.

I have somewhere in the loft the newspaper that had the headlines "neptune, look now or miss it for life" or something like that, it was a day or two after voyager passed neptune, 1989 i think. I shall have to find it and post a pic.

[pippolotta]

One day to return as V'ger and try to kill us all, if my memory serves me correct!

...don't leave Mr. SPOCK out, he'll save us all :-D

19,2 au (from Earth)

[umadog]

http://xkcd.com/1189/