旅行者一号最后的任务是回首为太阳系所有行星拍一张照,这样的照片注定是模糊的,行星们只是照片上的一个小点,但你不得不承认这是属于科学家的浪漫,一张独一无二的全家福,This looks more than a dot, but it is in fact less than a pixel, and this is where we live, on a blue dot.
最后10亿英里的飞行将到达海王星Neptune,太阳系最大的行星,根据计划,旅行者二号会在海王星北极上空低空掠过1秒,这是人类唯一一次近距离接触海王星的机会。1989年8月-2日旅行者二号在海王星北极3000英里附近飞过。The craft had survived the three billion mile journey to the edge of the solar system. 照片拍摄到海王星存在大黑斑,大气中有快速移动的云,星球呈深蓝色。旅行者二号还观察了海王星的卫星察东Triton,表面温度是太阳系最低的,约-233.15摄氏度,大气主要成分为冻结氮,表面还发现了间歇喷泉。
Voyager 2 had survived to reach the extremes of the solar system. It had revealed not just the planets themselves, but whole systems of rings and moons unlike anything we’d imagined.
旅行者一号最后一项任务是为太阳系所有行星拍张照。On Valentine’s Day 1990, 13 years after leaving Earth, Voyager 1 was asked to turn its cameras back towards the planets. Now 3.7 billion miles away, by the time Voyager’s pitifully weak signal reached the dishes on Earth, it was just a millionth of a billionth of a watt of power. ..A unique family portrait, the ultimate snapshot of our solar system. This looks more than a dot, but it is in fact less than a pixel, and this is where we live, on a blue dot.
The fact that Voyager’s still alive and there’s still a signal from it, and it’s about to leave the solar system, I think it is wonderful. That it hasn’t just given up, or that we haven’t given up on it. It’s a tribute to what Voyager means to us that we’ve keep it going.