Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is now over 15.4 billion miles (24.8 billion km) from Earth. It left the solar system in 2012, becoming the first human-made object to enter interstellar space. But when viewed on the scale of our galaxy, its path looks like a scratch on the surface of something unimaginably vast.
Traveling at about 38,000 mph (17 km/s), Voyager 1 will take nearly 40,000 years just to pass near another star – Gliese 445, 17.6 light-years away. To complete a single orbit around the Milky Way’s center? It would take over 400 million years.
The Milky Way is about 100,000 light-years wide. Even after one million years, Voyager 1 will still be drifting through the Orion Spur – a small arm between Sagittarius and Perseus – barely having moved across the galactic map.
And yet, it’s still sending signals home.
Its power source – a radioisotope thermoelectric generator – keeps its instruments alive, though NASA expects contact to fade sometime between 2025 and 2030. When it does, Voyager 1 will continue its silent voyage alone.
Onboard is the Golden Record – a time capsule filled with Earth’s languages, music, and greetings. It’s a message to the cosmos from a small blue planet, carried by a spacecraft that, even after a million years, will still be lingering near home.
It’s a humbling reminder: we’ve made it far. But we've got a long way to go.
https://tinyurl.com/nhzw6y4v
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