In order to explore the mysteries of the universe, humans have launched countless probes into space. NASA successively launched Voyager 1 and 2 , heading outside the solar system.
Voyager 1 and 2 tracks
Now, Voyager 1 has flew more than 120 billion kilometers of , becoming the farthest artificial creature. Why did the last photo it took cause people to think deeply?
The furthest man-made Voyager 1
In September 1977, carrying the hope of mankind, Voyager 1 set off from the earth and began a journey without a destination.
was loaded on Voyager 1 at that time. It was an "golden record" , which recorded greetings and various music in 55 languages. I hope that one day it will be discovered by alien civilizations.
Content depicted on the record
record is made of gold and diamond . According to experts, this record can be stored in the universe for 31 billion years.
This has become the hope for humans to interact with alien civilizations.
After entering the 21st century, Voyager 1 arrived at the edge of the solar system - Kuiper belt . Before going through this area, he took a photo, which made all scientists fall into deep thought.
Contemplative photos
photos look ordinary, with the dark deep space as the background, and there is no eye-catching place.
However, when you look closely, you will find that in the center of the photo, there is a small dot that needs to be observed with a magnifying glass.
But do you know? It is just such a small point that has hampered humans for thousands of years earth !
Dark blue dots: Earth
At this time, the earth appears so small in the solar system .
What kind of existence does the earth really exist for the entire universe?
Maybe it's worse than a grain of sand, and the smaller human may not even be as good as a grain of dust.
This makes scientists think in their hearts, is it really meaningful for human beings to exist in the universe?
These problems are unknown, but we at least know that the entire universe is really vast.
How big is the universe
When Voyager 1 set off from the earth, it took more than 40 years to fly through the Kuiper belt and arrive in the real universe.
But has it really traveled through solar system ?
People generally believe that the Kuiper belt is the edge position of the solar system, because it is the farthest distance that the high-energy particle scattered by the sun can reach.
Kuiper belt structure is shown in the figure
High-energy particles gather in the edge zone to form a natural barrier, isolate most of the cosmic rays and protect the solar system.
However, some scientific studies have shown that is far away in the horizon, the Alt cloud is the boundary of the solar system . The Alt cloud is the "shell" that fades after the sun is formed. With the red shift of the universe, the Alt cloud gradually breaks away from the control of the solar system and scatters out to the surroundings.
Therefore, only by passing through the Alt Cloud can one be considered as walking out of the solar system. So, how much time does it take to pass through the Alt Cloud?
Astronomers observed that the radius of the Ort cloud is about 1 light year, equivalent to 9460730472580 kilometers.
The farthest man-made Voyager 1 took 40 years to sail 20 billion kilometers.
is used to calculate that if the Voyager wants to fly out of the solar system, it will take about 19,000 years to .
Solar system structure
This data is enough to be described as astronomical numbers compared with human lifespan.
Theoretically, Voyager 1 cannot fly so far because the nuclear battery it loads is almost out of power.
What is the ending of Voyager detector ?
After the battery runs out, Voyager 1 will float in space, and may be affected by the gravity of the solar system and return to the solar system.
may be affected by the galaxy next door and enter other star system , or drop it on an unknown planet.
Voyager 1's ending is full of unknowns.
Voyager 1
However, the star system including the entire Oort Cloud solar system is just "tip of the iceberg" of the entire universe .
The star systems like the solar system are countless in the universe, so take the Milky Way , which we are most familiar with, as an example.
contains about 200 billion stars, and the solar system is inconspicuous, like a candy grain in a sugar jar.
The diameter of the entire Milky Way is about 100,000 light-years. Compared with the Voyager's flight distance, we can find that it will be a difficult and long journey for humans to get out of the Milky Way in the future.
However, the Milky Way is not the end point of human exploration. In the entire observable universe, , the Milky Way still seems extremely small.
The observable universe's radius is approximately 46 billion light years.
The observable universe is not worth mentioning.
so how big is the universe? Even astronomers do not know about this problem. Judging from the current level of technological development in humans, it is impossible to have any understanding of the entire universe for a long time.
If one day, Voyager or other detectors can walk out of the Milky Way , perhaps humans will know what the universe is like.
The Milky Way is constantly moving
Since the Voyager cannot reveal the mysteries of the universe to mankind, what is the significance of launching them at the beginning?
The significance of the Voyager
For humans, the Voyager has a great effect. It provides humans with unprecedented information on the planetary information of the solar system during the process of crossing the solar system.
Here we have to mention the flight trajectory of Voyager 1. Its trajectory is basically flying along the planets in the solar system. On the one hand, it can observe the relevant information of the planets, and on the other hand, it can use the gravity of the planet to form the "slingshot effect" to reduce energy consumption.
Slingshot effect diagram
1979, Voyager sent back the precious picture of Jupiter cyclone to humans for the first time, refreshing people's understanding of Jude .
After that, Voyager 1 stayed near the trajectory of Saturn and took nearly 10,000 color photos around the trajectory of Saturn.
This move undoubtedly deepened people's understanding of the solar system, promoted the development of astronomy, and laid the foundation for future mankind to explore Saturn.
By 2013, Voyager 1 had arrived at the narrow solar system boundary .
Solar system boundary concept map
At this time, the contribution made by Voyager 1 has far exceeded the R&D investment in people at that time.
The solar system planet that Voyager 1 failed to explore will be taken over by its sister Voyager 2 .
Currently, Voyager 1 moves at about 4 astronomical units per year, 10% faster than Voyager 2's speed.
Voyager 1 is also the farthest man-made creature from humans. According to its current operating speed, it will arrive in Proxima Centauri after in 70,000 years.
The distance between Centaurus and the solar system
Although it is almost impossible to do it, even if it stops running, it still makes sense to humans.
Because the construction materials of Voyager 1 are extremely special, they can float in the universe for more than 100,000 years, and the records loaded with human information will be preserved for longer years.
Voyager 1
People vividly call Voyager 1 "Drift Bottle" , and space is like a vast ocean.
Perhaps one day, this drifting bottle will be picked up by a certain alien creature with a destiny, and it is learned that there is also a planet called Earth in the Milky Way where advanced intelligent life has been reproduced.
But Fermi Paradox points out that if there are more advanced civilizations in the universe, why has human never observed relevant signals or electromagnetic waves in ?
electromagnetic wave distance
Theoretically speaking, advanced smart creatures have a tendency to expand outward, and "footprints" will inevitably be left in the process.
But we have not found any so far.
Therefore, when it comes to finding alien life forms, we must look at it rationally, neither overestimating nor pessimistic.
