A reader points to this discussion of where the Voyager 1 spacecraft is with respect to our solar system, the heliosphere , the Oort cloud, and interstellar space, a topic on which recent reports may have left some people confused: What’s the deal with Voyager 1? – The Maddow Blog
Has Voyager 1 left the solar system? from The Rachel Maddow Show on Vimeo.
This plot is particularly helpful:
You Are Here, Voyager: This artist’s concept puts huge solar system distances in
perspective. The scale bar is measured in astronomical units (AU), with each set
distance beyond 1 AU representing 10 times the previous distance. Each AU is equal to
the distance from the sun to the Earth. It took from 1977 to 2013 for Voyager 1 to reach
the edge of interstellar space. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
I wish scientists wouldn’t use log scales when trying to make things clearer to normal people. It doesn’t help.
I guess you are right but it’s very hard in practical terms to show the distance scale linearly. Space is really big…
Indeed it is, and log scales are an excellent way to make space seem relatively small. A linear scale would show much less detail but would make it clear how incredibly far away Voyager has traveled. Perhaps I’ll attempt making one.