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 24 2005, 05:45 PM
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Interplanetary Dumpster Diver Group: Admin Posts: 4404 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 |
QUOTE (algorimancer @ May 24 2005, 05:32 PM) 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. No. The power levels are too low, and the scan platform has been turned off. I don't think there is enough power to run the cameras even if they wanted to. At any rate, the first Kuiper belt flyby might have already occured. I hope they can someday pin down information with greater certainty regarding this. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/460095.stm -------------------- |
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May 25 2005, 01:02 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 656 Joined: 20-April 05 From: League City, Texas Member No.: 285 |
Neat, I'm not sure I recall hearing about the Pioneer 10 thing. I would guess that, considering the distance, an optical search in the vicinity of the 1999 position should find the KBO; I wouldn't expect much visible motion.
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May 26 2005, 04:57 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2492 Joined: 15-January 05 From: center Italy Member No.: 150 |
QUOTE (algorimancer @ May 25 2005, 01:02 PM) Neat, I'm not sure I recall hearing about the Pioneer 10 thing. I would guess that, considering the distance, an optical search in the vicinity of the 1999 position should find the KBO; I wouldn't expect much visible motion. Assuming moderate orbit eccentricity, an object orbiting at this distance should move at least 10 degree from position occuped 12.5 years before... not so easy to find, considering that direction of motion is unknown! -------------------- I always think before posting! - Marco -
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Dec 23 2005, 12:18 AM
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8785 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
That must have been a CLOSE encounter for a detectable deflection to happen at all, true?.... .
Most KBOs are real lightweights, considering their low densities. Considering the odds of Pioneer 10 coming anywhere near anything out there, maybe a search within a 10 deg radius of the last known position would actually be worth doing! Odds are that the object is pretty hefty by KBO standards...plus, the BBC article indicated that it might be on a solar escape trajectory, so the history/orbital dynamics of this hypothetical body would be extremely interesting in so many ways... -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Dec 23 2005, 01:37 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 362 Joined: 12-June 05 From: Kiama, Australia Member No.: 409 |
QUOTE (nprev @ Dec 23 2005, 11:18 AM) That must have been a CLOSE encounter for a detectable deflection to happen at all, true?.... . Most KBOs are real lightweights, considering their low densities. Considering the odds of Pioneer 10 coming anywhere near anything out there, maybe a search within a 10 deg radius of the last known position would actually be worth doing! Odds are that the object is pretty hefty by KBO standards...plus, the BBC article indicated that it might be on a solar escape trajectory, so the history/orbital dynamics of this hypothetical body would be extremely interesting in so many ways... Here is a post from Oct 29 on Big TNO thread that I posted after en email enquiry I made of the scientist quoted in this same article QUOTE Like to share with you an email I received today from Giacomo Giampieri
Thank you for your interest in our research, and sorry for the delay in answering your query. The signal we studied in 1999 was very interesting and peculiar. Unfortunately, a single flyby (assuming that the signal was real) does not allow an unambiguous measure of the mass and the orbital parameter of the alleged body. We could determine a rather wide range of possible values for its position, but given that 7 years were already passed, the uncertainty in the body's position was too big to allow for an optical detection. Lacking an independent confirmation of the body existence, we could not draw any final conclusion about the signal that we saw. I hope this answers your query. Best regards, Giacomo Giampieri On 11 Sep 2005, at 04:32, Richard K. wrote:> > Hi > I have been reading with interest an old news article > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/460095.stm > A few quotes from the article above > > “PN 10 experienced a gravitational deflection in December 1992. > This story was reported by BBC News Online Science Editor Dr David > Whitehouse on 28 September 1999” > "On 8 December, 1992, when Pioneer was 8.4 billion km (5.2 billion > miles) away, they saw that it had been deflected from its course for > about 25 days." > > With Pioneer travelling at 15km/s it would indicate a big object > would it not? > > > Has anything come of this, it happened 13 years ago? Was it ever > visually observed from Earth? > > "In a few weeks time, they are expected to be able to place an upper > limit on the mass of the object and make predictions about its > position. Early indications suggest it may be an object that is being > ejected from our Solar System after encountering a major planet." > > I would very much appreciate any information > > Richard K > Australia |
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