Prof. Sam LawlerFeb 28, 2024

I just looked up Voyager 1's current position for a talk and saw something wild: https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/

The distance between Earth and Voyager 1 is actually *decreasing* right now (even though the distance between Voyager 1 and the Sun is increasing). A website bug?

Nope! Earth moves really fast around the Sun. Right now we're moving faster toward Voyager 1 than it's flying away from us

Earth orbits at 30 km/s around the Sun, Voyager is going "only" 17 km/s. I love orbital dynamics!

Voyager - Mission Status

Show threadSupertapani

@sundogplanets Thanks for making me trip on this.

What if Voyager had been launched in March instead of September. Would it move faster?

Feb 28, 2024 at 9:19pmWeb
Show threadProf. Sam LawlerFeb 28, 2024
@Supertapani They had pretty tight launch constraints to try to visit all the planets on the way out of the Solar System. And if it launched in a different season, we'd still have this effect, just at a different time of year.
Show threadSupertapaniFeb 28, 2024

@sundogplanets I forgot everything about probe trajectories, as I pictured you on your asteroid with your goats.

You must hear this a lot 😆