Wrote about the Voyager probes yesterday in my blog -
The two Voyager spacecraft are the greatest love letters humanity has ever sent into the void.
Voyager 2 actually launched first, on August 20, 1977, followed by Voyager 1 on September 5, 1977. Because Voyager 1 was on a faster, shorter trajectory (it used a rare alignment to slingshot past both Jupiter and Saturn quicker), it overtook its twin and became the farther, faster probe. As of 2025, Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object ever, more than 24 billion kilometers away, still whispering data home at 160 bits per second.
Wrote about the Voyager probes yesterday in my blog -
The two Voyager spacecraft are the greatest love letters humanity has ever sent into the void.
Voyager 2 actually launched first, on August 20, 1977, followed by Voyager 1 on September 5, 1977. Because Voyager 1 was on a faster, shorter trajectory (it used a rare alignment to slingshot past both Jupiter and Saturn quicker), it overtook its twin and became the farther, faster probe. As of 2025, Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object ever, more than 24 billion kilometers away, still whispering data home at 160 bits per second.
>still whispering data home at 160 bits per second.
And this always amazes me, I heard they need to coordinate some dishes throughout the world to pick up this signal sent by the voyagers.
Is that from its reference or ours? We'll observe it pass one light day one day after it actually does so.
Discussion (266 points, 12 days ago, 120 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45908483