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Post by GTCGreg on Feb 7, 2022 14:03:24 GMT
NASA can probably get a pretty accurate current speed from the Doppler shift of its radio transmissions. That said, your numbers are surprisingly close to NASA’s.
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Post by the light works on Feb 7, 2022 17:23:50 GMT
way closer than mine would be.
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Post by rmc on Feb 8, 2022 12:41:24 GMT
I think Voyager is 21.5(ish) light-hours out.
Using that figure in my math instead of 21.0 light-hours gets me to the 14.4 billion miles away it currently is.
A light-year is stated as 5,878,625,370,000 miles per year.
Hours in a year are 8766 hours.
To get mph of light I divide miles per year by hours per year.
5,878,625,370,000 miles.......1 year ------------------------------------------ * ------------------ = 1 year.....................................8766 hours
5,878,625,370,000 miles --------------------------------------- = 8766 hours
= 670,616,629 mph
So that figure times light-hours gives you the distance in miles.
Let's assume we don't know the exact light-hours, but know the final distance and also now know light speed in mph.
Mph * light-hours = distance
Light-hours = distance / mph
Light-hours = 14,484,875,000 / 670,616,629
Light-hours = 21.59933764
Interestingly, the 14.485 billion miles away is currently shrinking.
Voyager I is coming home! And is currently 21.6 light-hours away.
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Post by rmc on Feb 8, 2022 12:56:25 GMT
Just slipping 21.6 light-hours into what was essentially my previous maths:
(21.6/8766) * 5,878,625,370,000 = miles away.
Above is light-hours divided by hours in a year, otherwise termed as "n" previously.
N was then multiplied against the number of miles in a light-year to obtain the number of miles away it is currently.
That gets about 14,485,319,190 miles away.
And the correct distance is currently 14,484,875,000 miles away.
So, I'd say Voyager is between 21.5 and 21.6 light-hours away. Not 21.0.
. . .
Just curious.
Total miles divided by total hours should result in 38,210 mph and not my 36,000 mph calculated previously.
I'll test my calculated total distance and then the declared total distance by NASA:
14,485,319,190 miles ------------------------------------ = mph = 37,133.6 mph 390,087 hours
Not quite there still. Gah!
14,484,875,000 miles ------------------------------------- = mph = 37,132.4 mph 390,087 hours
That was supposed to be the 38,210 mph it really is going...
Maybe either my total number of flight hours is off, or there is that fact that Voyager didn't start right off at 38,210 mph
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Post by rmc on Feb 8, 2022 13:42:42 GMT
14,484,875,000 miles ------------------------------------- = 37,132.4 mph 390,087 hours
Was incorrect.
So,
14,484,875,000 miles ------------------------------------- = 38,210 mph Flight-hours
14,484,875,000 miles = 38,210 mph * Flight-hours
Gets us.
14,484,875,000 miles ------------------------------------- = Flight-hours 38,210 mph
379,085 hours = Flight-hours
Not 390,087 hours.
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