[sci.space] Neptune on the Boobtube

john@frog.UUCP (John Woods) (08/28/89)

In article <980@corpane.UUCP>, sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks) writes:
T> In article <44600002@primerd> petert@primerd.prime.com writes:
V> Well I watched it. Just who were the dweebs that they had commenting? For the
 > most part they didn't know their head from their A[steroids].
"> At one point a caller asked what will happen to Voyager, where will it go
n> when it leaves the system.
e> The answer was that in 8,000 years it will fly by Barnard's Star, in 20,000
w> or so it will pass Proxima Centauri, and then the Oort cloud.
s> GACK!!! How bass-ackwards can you get?!!!
">
No, they're right -- the space aliens from Sirius will pick it up, gas it up
and recharge the RTG, and then wing it around Barnard's Star (or is that
Valeyard's Star...) in a gravity assist to send it back to us.

				:-)		I hope this isn't needed...

-- 
John Woods, Charles River Data Systems, Framingham MA 508-626-1101
...!decvax!frog!john, john@frog.UUCP, ...!mit-eddie!jfw, jfw@eddie.mit.edu

pete@basser.oz (Peter Merel) (08/29/89)

In article <1093@jtsv16.UUCP> brian@jtsv16.jts.com (Brian A. Jarvis) writes:
>In article <980@corpane.UUCP> sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks) writes:
>>The answer was that in 8,000 years it will fly by Barnard's Star, in 20,000 or
>>so it will pass Proxima Centauri, and then the Oort cloud.
...
>said eventually it would be dragged back into the solar system by the
>sun's gravity and could conceivably fly by Earth again in a few centuries.
...

You yanks don't know scientific illiteracy from Uranus. Australia has three
commercial TV operators, all of whom seem to be in some sort of competition
to see who can make the stupidest statement about Voyager. My favourite so
far was a guy called Brian Henderson, who's been the anchorman on one channel
here for about twenty years and is touted as informed and respectable.
He said: "In a stunning scientific breakthrough the latest pictures from
NASA's jet propulsion labs reveal ice volcanoes on Triton ... This makes
Triton the third body in the solar system to exhibit volcanoes, the other
two being Earth itself and the jovian moon, Ten."
-- 
 "We got to figure out the right way to go around and make people not understand
  their bullshit" - SRV.                                       pete@basser.oz.AU
 (pete%basser.oz.AU@UUNET.UU.NET){uunet,mcvax,ukc,nttlab}!munnari!basser.oz!pete

petert@primerd.prime.com (08/30/89)

>/* Written  3:17 pm  Aug 27, 1989 by john@frog.UUCP in primerd:sci.space */
>In article <980@corpane.UUCP>, sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks) writes:
>T> In article <44600002@primerd> petert@primerd.prime.com writes:
>V> Well I watched it. Just who were the dweebs that they had commenting? For the
> > most part they didn't know their head from their A[steroids].
>"> At one point a caller asked what will happen to Voyager, where will it go
>n> when it leaves the system.
>e> The answer was that in 8,000 years it will fly by Barnard's Star, in 20,000
>w> or so it will pass Proxima Centauri, and then the Oort cloud.
>s> GACK!!! How bass-ackwards can you get?!!!
>">
>No, they're right -- the space aliens from Sirius will pick it up, gas it up
>and recharge the RTG, and then wing it around Barnard's Star (or is that
>Valeyard's Star...) in a gravity assist to send it back to us.
   
    Then it will fly back through the the Oort cloud, picking up lots of ice
chunks on the way, and become the most spectular comet of the year 81008.
And then as it loops around the sun it will enter a small wormhole
(fantastic aiming, guys) where it will get shot mega-lightyears through
space, and back through time to get picked up by a vast machine intelligence
in the 23rd century.  This intelligence will insist on calling it V'ger, and
will carry it back to earth just in time for the 1st Star Trek movie.  Boy,
I'm glad we figured this one out!

>				:-)		I hope this isn't needed...

    :-)  Like he said....

>John Woods, Charles River Data Systems, Framingham MA 508-626-1101
>...!decvax!frog!john, john@frog.UUCP, ...!mit-eddie!jfw, jfw@eddie.mit.edu
   
   Say, isn't that right behind Lechmere's?  You aren't connected with those
guys testing out the Sputnik-looking thing in the parking lot nearby are you?

				Later,
				PeterT  @primerd.prime.com 
					500 Old Conn Path, Framingham