Deep Space
- Thread starter Socrates the Greek
- Start date
Voyager 1 is over 15.89 tetrameters (15.89×1012 meters, or 15.89×109 km, 106.26 AU, 14.72 light-hours, or 9.87 billion miles) from the Sun as of May of 2008.
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"In the upper left-hand corner is an easily recognized drawing of the phonograph record and the stylus carried with it. The stylus is in the correct position to play the record from the beginning. Written around it in binary arithmetic is the correct time of one rotation of the record, 3.6 seconds, expressed in time units of 0,70 billionths of a second, the time period associated with a fundamental transition of the hydrogen atom. The drawing indicates that the record should be played from the outside in. Below this drawing is a side view of the record and stylus, with a binary number giving the time to play one side of the record - about an hour.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"The information in the upper right-hand portion of the cover is designed to show how pictures are to be constructed from the recorded signals. The top drawing shows the typical signal that occurs at the start of a picture. The picture is made from this signal, which traces the picture as a series of vertical lines, similar to[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]ordinary television (in which the picture is a series of horizontal lines). Picture lines 1, 2 and 3 are noted in binary numbers, and the duration of one of the "picture lines," about 8 milliseconds, is noted. The drawing immediately below shows how these lines are to be drawn vertically, with staggered "interlace" to give the correct picture rendition. Immediately below this is a drawing of an entire picture raster, showing that there are 512 vertical lines in a complete picture. Immediately below this is a replica of the first picture on the record to permit the recipients to verify that they are decoding the signals correctly. A circle was used in this picture to insure that the recipients use the correct ratio of horizontal to vertical height in picture reconstruction.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"The drawing in the lower left-hand corner of the cover is the pulsar map previously sent as part of the plaques on Pioneers 10 and 11. It shows the location of the solar system with respect to 14 pulsars, whose precise periods are given. The drawing containing two circles in the lower right-hand corner is a drawing of the hydrogen atom in its two lowest states, with a connecting line and digit 1 to indicate that the time interval associated with the transition from one state to the other is to be used as the fundamental time scale, both for[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]the time given on the cover and in the decoded pictures.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Electroplated onto the record's cover is an ultra-pure source of uranium-238 with a radioactivity of about 0.00026 microcuries. The steady decay of the uranium source into its daughter isotopes makes it a kind of radioactive clock. Half of the uranium-238 will decay in 4.51 billion years. Thus, by examining this two-centimeter diameter area on the record plate and measuring the amount of daughter elements to the remaining uranium-238, an extraterrestrial recipient of the Voyager spacecraft could calculate the time elapsed since a spot of uranium was placed aboard the spacecraft. This should be a check on the epoch of launch, which is also described by the pulsar map on the record cover."[/FONT]
Howdy, Strangers - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"The information in the upper right-hand portion of the cover is designed to show how pictures are to be constructed from the recorded signals. The top drawing shows the typical signal that occurs at the start of a picture. The picture is made from this signal, which traces the picture as a series of vertical lines, similar to[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]ordinary television (in which the picture is a series of horizontal lines). Picture lines 1, 2 and 3 are noted in binary numbers, and the duration of one of the "picture lines," about 8 milliseconds, is noted. The drawing immediately below shows how these lines are to be drawn vertically, with staggered "interlace" to give the correct picture rendition. Immediately below this is a drawing of an entire picture raster, showing that there are 512 vertical lines in a complete picture. Immediately below this is a replica of the first picture on the record to permit the recipients to verify that they are decoding the signals correctly. A circle was used in this picture to insure that the recipients use the correct ratio of horizontal to vertical height in picture reconstruction.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"The drawing in the lower left-hand corner of the cover is the pulsar map previously sent as part of the plaques on Pioneers 10 and 11. It shows the location of the solar system with respect to 14 pulsars, whose precise periods are given. The drawing containing two circles in the lower right-hand corner is a drawing of the hydrogen atom in its two lowest states, with a connecting line and digit 1 to indicate that the time interval associated with the transition from one state to the other is to be used as the fundamental time scale, both for[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]the time given on the cover and in the decoded pictures.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Electroplated onto the record's cover is an ultra-pure source of uranium-238 with a radioactivity of about 0.00026 microcuries. The steady decay of the uranium source into its daughter isotopes makes it a kind of radioactive clock. Half of the uranium-238 will decay in 4.51 billion years. Thus, by examining this two-centimeter diameter area on the record plate and measuring the amount of daughter elements to the remaining uranium-238, an extraterrestrial recipient of the Voyager spacecraft could calculate the time elapsed since a spot of uranium was placed aboard the spacecraft. This should be a check on the epoch of launch, which is also described by the pulsar map on the record cover."[/FONT]
Howdy, Strangers - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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STS-82 EVA VIEW --- This wide shot of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in the Space Shuttle Discovery’s cargo bay, backdropped against Australia, was taken during the third Extravehicular Activity (EVA) to service the orbiting observatory. Astronaut Steven L. Smith (left of center), mission specialist, works near the foot restraint of the Remote Manipulator System (RMS). Astronaut Mark C. Lee, payload commander, who shared space walk chores with Smith, was out of frame.
A Final Visit - Interactive Graphic - NYTimes.com
A Final Visit
Astronauts aboard the shuttle Atlantis are scheduled to begin a final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope on May 11.
A Final Visit
Astronauts aboard the shuttle Atlantis are scheduled to begin a final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope on May 11.
In this image from NASA TV, the Hubble Space Telescope, top, is lifted by the Shuttle Atlantis' robotic arm out of the shuttle's cargo bay Tuesday, May 19, 2009, in preparation for its release
In this image obtained from NASA video, shows astronaut John Grunsfeld(R) and Drew Feustel as they work to equip the Hubble Space Telescope with three more batteries, a pointing sensor and external shielding on May 18, 2009 during the fifth and final space walk. Hubble will remain anchored in the payload bay of Atlantis until Tuesday, when the seven shuttle astronauts expect to finish their ambitious refurbishment of the telescope requiring five daily spacewalks. The work under way aboard Atlantis is intended to extend Hubble observations for at least another five years.
In this image obtained from NASA video, shows astronaut John Grunsfeld(R) and Drew Feustel as they work to equip the Hubble Space Telescope with three more batteries, a pointing sensor and external shielding on May 18, 2009 during the fifth and final space walk. Hubble will remain anchored in the payload bay of Atlantis until Tuesday, when the seven shuttle astronauts expect to finish their ambitious refurbishment of the telescope requiring five daily spacewalks. The work under way aboard Atlantis is intended to extend Hubble observations for at least another five years.
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While standing on the end of Atlantis' remote manipulator system arm, astronaut Michael Good, STS-125 mission specialist and USAF colonel, pays tribute to his commander and crewmates with a military-style salute. Astronaut Mike Massimino works in the background at right. Credit: NASA.
gone for another 5 years
Hubble should resume peering into the cosmos in about three weeks.
"This is a really tremendous adventure that we've been on, a very challenging mission. Hubble isn't just a satellite -- it's about humanity's quest for knowledge," said Grunsfeld outside the shuttle's airlock at the end of the mission. "A tour de force of tools and human ingenuity. On this mission in particular, the only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible. On this mission, we tried some things that some people said were impossible. We've achieved that, and we wish Hubble the very best."
The astronaut also said he hopes the Hubble telescope will be able to use its new instruments to "unlock further mysteries of the universe."
The crew of the Atlantis has been in space for nearly eight days on a mission to repair and upgrade Hubble. The work is expected to not only keep the orbiter running for at least another five years but also to make the telescope more powerful than ever, enabling it to make more, and more important, discoveries.
Hubble should resume peering into the cosmos in about three weeks.
"This is a really tremendous adventure that we've been on, a very challenging mission. Hubble isn't just a satellite -- it's about humanity's quest for knowledge," said Grunsfeld outside the shuttle's airlock at the end of the mission. "A tour de force of tools and human ingenuity. On this mission in particular, the only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible. On this mission, we tried some things that some people said were impossible. We've achieved that, and we wish Hubble the very best."
The astronaut also said he hopes the Hubble telescope will be able to use its new instruments to "unlock further mysteries of the universe."
The crew of the Atlantis has been in space for nearly eight days on a mission to repair and upgrade Hubble. The work is expected to not only keep the orbiter running for at least another five years but also to make the telescope more powerful than ever, enabling it to make more, and more important, discoveries.
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When you have reached the deepest ever site of this cosmos, please send me a post card saying "wish you were here" Bon voyage good human friend.....made and serviced by top caliper humans.
Atlantis Astronauts release the Hubble telescope,
Atlantis Astronauts release the Hubble telescope,
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