anderson@NRL-CSR.ARPA (Paul Anderson) (11/18/86)
A statement in the last SPACE Digest made me think of something interesting: Has there been any effort to have either Voyager I or Voyager II take a picture of one or more planets, or of the solar system, as they are flying away from it, looking back at it? Of particular interest would be pictures of Pluto; even though these spacecraft may be a long way away from it, they still might be closer to it than we are here. Anybody know anything about this? Paul Anderson anderson@nrl-csr
andrew@alberta.UUCP (11/19/86)
In article <8611181755.AA25367@nrl-csr.ARPA> anderson@NRL-CSR.ARPA (Paul Anderson) writes: >Has there been any effort to have either Voyager I or Voyager II take a >picture of one or more planets, or of the solar system, as they are flying >away from it, looking back at it? Of particular interest would be pictures >of Pluto; even though these spacecraft may be a long way away from it, they >still might be closer to it than we are here. >Anybody know anything about this? >Paul Anderson >anderson@nrl-csr The Voyagers have taken departing shots of every planet they went by, including the Earth and Moon (in the same frame, a first!). Pluto is just a *bit* too far away for it to appear any larger than it does from Earth, remember the Voyager's cameras are < 8 (?) inches in diameter, and Pluto will still be some A.U.'s away at 'closest approach'. I still think the shots of a cresent Saturn were the most remarkable. -- Andrew Folkins ...ihnp4!alberta!andrew The University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Arthur C. Clarke's Law : It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.