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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Jan 9 2006, 04:17 PM
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 34 Joined: 9-January 06 Member No.: 639 |
It makes you wonder which planet it was that might of ejected this KBO. It could also have been the sun that did it. Ahh! The object that pulled Pioneer 10 off course is Planet Vulcan! It wandered too close to Mercury and got swung around by that planet's gravity toward the sun. The sun then ejected Vulcan in the general direction that Pioneer 10 is traveling straight out of our solar system. Audios, Vulcan!
All kidding aside, the mystery object probably got too close to Neptune and was subsequently hurtled clear across the solar system before encountering Pioneer 10 on the way out. It definately makes one wonder what type of object this thing is. It could be another lost Pluto, FY9, or Sedna. Anyway, I too think a search of some kind should take place. Wouldn't it be something to actually physically detect an object besides our spaceprobes on a solar escape trajectory? Later! J P |
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