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From: cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space
Subject: Re: Voyager Interstellar Trajectory
Message-ID: <2232@optilink.UUCP>
Date: 28 Aug 89 17:01:53 GMT
References: <7525@ecsvax.UUCP> <44600002@primerd> <980@corpane.UUCP> <4255@utastro.UUCP>
Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA
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In article <4255@utastro.UUCP>, terry@utastro.UUCP (Terry Hancock) writes:
> >
# #The answer was that in 8,000 years it will fly by Barnard's Star, in 20,000 or
# #so it will pass Proxima Centauri, and then the Oort cloud.
# #
# 	Okay, so this is completely wrong.  The announcer probably
# confused talk about how long the probe would take to get to those
# stars IF it were headed toward them.  As for the Oort cloud, well,
# they'll have to fend for themselves on that one.
# 
# My QUESTION:
# 	What is the outbound assymptotic trajectory of Voyager as it
# leaves the solar system?  By this, I mean which coordinates 
# (Equatorial, Ecliptic, or Galactic) will it approach asymptotically
# as  viewed from Earth?
# 
# 	I heard that it would pass a nearby star within ~1 ly, which
# star is that? (clearly, the answer to the above will answer that 
# question in itself).
# 
# Terry Hancock

This is a subject near and dear to me.  I asked this question in
1975, when I was working on Voyager.  The scientist I asked said,
"I'll get back to you on it."  He never did.  Most recently, I
have read that the nearest star will be 28 Wolf, in around 40,000
years, and it will approach within a light year of it.

-- 
Clayton E. Cramer {pyramid,pixar,tekbspa}!optilink!cramer
William Bennett: The best argument yet against philosopher-kings.
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