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The NASA Voyager spacecraft were arguably the most important space mission in history, returning some of the first images of the outer solar system and beyond. Currently the most distant manmade objects, they continue to reveal important data about interstellar space. Join us for a 30-minute lecture featuring one of the original Voyager scientists, followed by a panel Q&A consisting of several astrophysicists to answer your questions about astronomy and space science. Timestamps below: 00:00 Stream Start 00:16 Announcement 5:36 Intro to Speaker 8:38 Voyager Presentation 40:17 Q&A for Voyager Presentation 40:40 "Has Voyager discovered anything new outside of the heliopause?" 42:58 "Will Voyager ever run into another object?" 44:08 "If Voyager launched today, how would it be better?" 46:41 "Has Voyager's speed changed over the decades?" 49:31 "Please re-explain your cosmic ray energy distribution slide." 51:25 "How do you measure the magnetic fields in planets/moons?" 52:48 "Were the distances to the heliopause and termination shock known before Voyager?" 53:38 "When does the nuclear power on Voyager run out?" 57:07 "Are you still involved with the Voyager team today?" 1:00:09 Intermission 1:08:31 Q&A Panel Introductions 1:11:05 "Is there value in putting a telescope outside the Solar System/heliosphere?" 1:16:49 "What causes the misalignment of the magnetic field in Uranus and Neptune?" 1:21:09 "What would we see if we were traveling at near the speed of light?" 1:25:10 "At midday, why does it sometimes get briefly very dark and very cold?" 1:27:25 "Where are the Voyagers relative to the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud?" 1:32:52 "Why do we think the Big Bang happened?" 1:42:57 "Will we be able to receive data from Voyager far in the future?" 1:47:54 "Which planets have aurorae?" 1:49:45 "Is there a space-based receiver for the Deep Space Network?" 1:51:16 "Why are the magnetic fields of Uranus & Neptune misaligned with their rotation axes?" 1:53:50 "Does the Parker Solar Probe heat shield block the instruments?" 1:58:22 "How do we study the Universe before the cosmic microwave background?" 2:03:27 "Is it possible to see multiple images of a galaxy at different times in its life?" 2:07:27 Concluding Remarks Title: The Voyager Mission to the Outer Planets and Interstellar Space Lecturer: Alan Cummings Abstract: In 1977, NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft embarked on an incredible journey. After delivering stunning images of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and many of their moons, the probes sailed on to study the boundary of our heliosphere. Voyager 1 crossed that frontier on August 25, 2012, becoming the first human-made object to enter interstellar space. Voyager 2 crossed on November 5, 2018. Our guest Dr. Cummings, one of the original Voyager scientists, will revisit the highlights of the mission. With enough resources on board to continue returning science data until ~2030, the Voyagers should add more discoveries until they become Earth’s silent ambassadors to the Milky Way, orbiting the center of our galaxy forever. Image Credit: Caltech / NASA JPL
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