Title: Message
I
realized I didn't give myself any really positive options, unless number 1 is
positive. Can't figure out if I'm most afraid of #4 or #3...
-Original Message-From:
scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
Martin PrattSent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 13:34To:
scifinoir2@yahoogroups.comSubject: RE: [scifinoir2] Voyager 1
reaches solar system's final frontier
Leaning strongly toward Option 2.Keith Johnson
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Saw that on the news today. Cool as hell! I remember watching the
launches back in '77 as a teen. Captivating. I figure one of the
following may happen with the Voyager:
In two hundred years it'll return as V'ger, supremely powerful and
self-aware, demanding to know who the hell made it and why
In 2020it'll crash outside NASA with a note attached: "No
littering. Keep your sh% in your own system!"
Nothing
An armada of aliens will surround the planet. They'll thank
us for the map showing the way to Earth, and for the DNA drawing proving
that our biologies are compatible. They'll carry a book titled "To Serve
Man".
-Original Message-From:
scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Brent WodehouseSent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005
19:19To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.comSubject:
[scifinoir2] Voyager 1 reaches solar system's final
frontierhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/space_voyager_dcVoyager
1 reaches solar system's final frontierWed May 25,12:00 PM
ETWASHINGTON (Reuters) - NASA's Voyager 1 has reached the
final frontier ofour solar system, having traveled through a turbulent
place whereelectrically charged particles from the Sun crash into thin
gas frominterstellar space.Astronomers tracking the little
spaceship's 26-year journey from Earthbelieve Voyager 1 has gone
through a region known as termination shock,some 8.7 billion miles
from the Sun, and entered an area called
theheliosheath."Voyager 1 has entered the final lap on its
race to the edge ofinterstellar space," Edward Stone, Voyager project
scientist at theCalifornia Institute of Technology, said in a
statement released Tuesday.Voyager watchers theorized last
November that the craft might be reachingthis bumpy region of space
when the charged solar particles known as thesolar wind seemed to slow
down from a top speed of 1.5 million miles perhour.This was
expected at the area of termination shock, where the solar windswere
expected to decelerate as they bump up against gas from the
spacebeyond our solar system. It is more than twice as distant as
Pluto, thefurthest planet in our system.By monitoring the
craft's speed and the increase in the force of the solarwind, Voyager
scientists now believe the craft has made it through theshock and into
the heliosheath.Predicting the location of the termination shock
was hard because theprecise conditions in interstellar space are
unknown and the terminationshock can expand, contract and ripple,
depending on changes in the speedand pressure of the solar
wind."Voyager's observations over the past few years show the
termination shockis far more complicated than anyone thought," said
Eric Christian, ascientist with NASA's Sun-Solar System Connection
program.Voyager 1 and its twin spacecraft Voyager 2 were launched
in 1977 on amission to explore the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn.
The pair keptgoing, however, and the mission was
extended.Voyager 2 went on to explore Uranus and Neptune, the only
spacecraft tohave visited these outer planets. Both Voyagers are now
part of theVoyager Interstellar Mission to explore the outermost edge
of the Sun'sdomain.Both Voyagers are capable of returning
scientific data from a full rangeof instruments, with adequate
electrical power and attitude controlpropellant to keep operating
until 2020.Wherever they go, the Voyagers each carry a golden
phonograph record whichbears messages from Earth, including natural
sounds of surf, wind, thunderand animals. There are also musical
selections, spoken greetings in 55languages, along with instructions
and equipment on how to play the record.More information and
images can be found online athttp://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/voyager_agu.html"Excuse
me while I whip this out."Cleavon Little , "Blazing Saddles"
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