Voyagers & Kbo's, Searching for KBO's w/Voyager cams? |
Voyagers & Kbo's, Searching for KBO's w/Voyager cams? |
May 24 2005, 05:32 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 656 Joined: 20-April 05 From: League City, Texas Member No.: 285 |
I know the Voyager cameras were shut down many years ago, but I wonder whether it would be feasible to reactivate them and use them to survey Kuiper-Belt objects in the vicinity? KBO's had not yet been discovered at the time the cams were shut down, as best as I can recall, but it seems a waste not to put them (or even the star trackers) to use for periodic long-exposure surveys of the local vicinity. I know power is running low, but does anyone know if this is an option? Also, it would make sense to use ground-based telescopes to search for large KBO's near the Voyager spacecraft... it is conceivable that a serendipitous flyby may be feasible.
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May 25 2005, 11:32 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1870 Joined: 20-February 05 Member No.: 174 |
The Selenium-Sulfur Vidicon image tubes in the Voyager Cameras are way way too insensative to be of any use in picking up KBOs. From the middle of the densest part of the belt, the closest, brightest KBO might be several AU <earth orbit radii> away, and in dim outer solar system illumination. "Bright" nearby ones might be 15'th magnitude or so, faint ones maybe 20'th magnitude and fainter.
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