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Part of the problem is that we haven't sent anything else out that far (cause you know, it's the first). Most of the rest is that the edge of the solar system is much like the edge of our atmosphere: a broad and hard to pin down thing.
I fully expect scientists to be having arguments about this for quite some time.
-Terry
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"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
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By the time they're done, there probably won't be any doubt any more.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Hmm, no Planet Xena, but on the plus side no Phinons, and pushing back the boundary of exploration. I guess we can call that a tentative win.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
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Why the heck does no one remember the Pioneer 10 and 11 probes? They were sent out first, you know. Ahead of the Voyager probes.
They weren't as sophisticated of course. Mainly they were meant to scout the way. Map the extent and the intensity of both Jupiter and Saturn's magnetic fields. They did have cameras - not as high resolution as those on the Voyagers - and did send back close-up images. Nothing as spectacular as the Voyager images of course. They were spin-stabilized and had limited angles on the cameras.
But they did make some important observations and based on the data received from the Pioneer probes, NASA actually modified several things about the Voyagers before they were launched.
The Voyager probes have since overtaken them and Voyager 1 is the furthest object launched from earth. The Pioneer probes have both lost too much power generation to communicate anymore. so they're effectively "dead".
Still - it's curious to me that in all these news stories no one ever remembers to mention them. It's like their role just seems to have been erased from history almost.
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I would venture to guess, that for the purposes of this news item, the Pioneers are not relevant. They are further behind the Voyagers, and dead to boot, so even when they make it where V1 is now, they won't be able to contribute any new information.
On a personal level, the Pioneers and even V1 were before my time. I only remember hearing about V2 getting close to Neptune - I was 10 at the time and in the heart of my astronomy phase, gobbling any astronomy related tidbit I could get my hands on. V1 left Saturn in 1980 - I was 1.
