NASA Marks Voyager 1 Hitting One Light-Day From Earth
The most distant human-made object will pass a milestone reached by no other spacecraft on Nov. 18, more than 16 billion miles away.
NASA will mark a threshold no spacecraft has crossed when Voyager 1 passes one light-day from Earth on Wednesday, Nov. 18 — a distance of more than 16 billion miles (25.9 billion kilometers) reached nearly 50 years after the probe launched in 1977.
The agency said Voyager 1, the most distant human-made object, will hit the milestone at 5:16:07 a.m. EST. A light-day is the distance light travels in 24 hours; the same interval it would now take any signal from Earth to reach the spacecraft.
The milestone is about distance, not time, NASA emphasized. "It's a measure of distance, not time. And it's very, VERY far," the agency said, noting a light-day equals about 16,094,799,096 miles (25,902,068,356 kilometers).
Two events planned
NASA has scheduled two events around the crossing. On Tuesday, Nov. 17, it invites the public worldwide to "Shine Bright for Voyager's Light-Day" by creating a symbolic wave of golden light after sunset. Participants can point a phone or tablet skyward using an automated flasher that spells "VGR" — Voyager's call sign — in Morse code, or flash the letters with a flashlight.
On Thursday, Nov. 19 at 12 p.m. EST (9 a.m. PST), NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California will host a moderated discussion at its von Kármán Auditorium on the status of Voyager 1 and 2 and the science the twin probes continue to gather in interstellar space. A preview of an upcoming NASA+ Voyager documentary, planned for release in 2027 for the mission's 50th anniversary, also is scheduled.
Scheduled participants include Nicky Fox, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate; Jonathan Lunine, JPL chief scientist; Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager; Linda Spilker, Voyager project scientist; Kareem Badaruddin, mission manager; and Jamie Rankin, deputy project scientist at Princeton University.
The twin spacecraft launched in 1977 and transformed understanding of the outer solar system. Voyager 1 entered interstellar space in 2012, becoming the first human-made object to do so. Voyager 2, which took a different path to visit Uranus and Neptune, is on pace to reach one light-day from Earth in November 2035, NASA said.
Sources
- NASA Invites Media, Public to Join Voyager 1 One-Light Day Activities — NASA
- Shine Bright for Voyager's Light-Day — NASA Science
- What Is a Light-Day? — NASA Science