Talk:Pioneer 10

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[edit] Leaving the Solar System

I contend that the statement that Pioneer was the first to leave the Solar System when it passed the orbit of Neptune is incorrect as the boundary of the solar system is now said to be the Oort Cloud which presumably Pioneer 10 won't reach for some years to come. 23skidoo 18:42, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)

  • I think you're both right and wrong. Yes "orbit of the outermost planet" is a pretty dated definition. On the other hand, the Oort Cloud isn't a universally-accepted boundary either -- many prefer the heliopause. In any case, definitions of astronomical terms like "boundary of the solar system" and even "planet" are subjects of heated debate, and we shouldn't insist that one particular definition is the only correct one. I've reworded the statement to reflect that fact. ---Isaac R 16:47, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] whats the dif.

The Pioneer Plaque page states the following:

"The mean time for the spacecraft to come within 30 astronomical units of a star is longer than the current age of the galaxy."

However, this page states the spacecraft is heading toward Aldebaran, and will reach it in 2 million years.

-jcrocker

  • No contradiction -- 30 AUs is 30 times the distance of the earth from the sun, about the size of the orbit of Neptune. That's a tiny distance in galactic terms. Aldebaran is 68 lightyears away, which translates to 4 million AUs. On that scale, a flyby can be thousands of AUs from the target and still count as a near miss! ---Isaac R 17:21, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

OK, so it doesn't contradict because we will consider "reaching Aldebaran" to include distances over 30 AUs? Hmmm, ok... so what are the boundaries? The Ort cloud? The heliopause of a star?


[edit] Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Would adding a reference to the movie "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" be appropriate? Pioneer 10 is depicted in this movie. (See last paragraph of http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Pioneer_10 ) 66.92.165.123 10:31, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

  • Why not? Lots of Wikipedia articles contain similar references. However, I'd put it in a separate section called "Fictional References". And crosslink the article on the movie. ¶ Unless an article is long or controversial, there's no reason to be hesitant about making small additions yourself. You might want to read Be bold in updating pages.
As for fiction, in the book "Battlefield Earth", ISTR that the Psyclos found one of the Voyager probes, not Pioneer 10. Gold was the metal the Psyclos were after more than any other, and the Voyager records are gold plated.

[edit] "Outermost Planet"

Matterson52 made a change that seems to reflect a misunderstanding of the article text and misinformation about the planet Pluto. Calling Neptune "the outermost planet" has nothing to do with the discovery of Pluto, which occurred some 38 years earlier. It has to do with the fact that Neptune was, at the time, closer to the Sun than Pluto.

[edit] Last contact attempt on March , 2006

I've added a comment that there will be a final attempt on this date (see http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/pioneer_anomaly/update_200511.html, "Day 2",first paragraph). Are there any other references available that confirm this ?

as it now reads, it says that there was no obvious response but they are "still going over the data." How long will they be going over the data? It's two months later, and I'm wondering if they have given up officially, because it wouldn't do for the wikipedia article to still read "still going over the data" years from now simply because nobody knows or has bothered to revise that part. If the "still" came from a certain press release, perhaps adding a "as of /00/00/00 were still going over the data" would be better? Jafafa Hots 20:50, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Location anomaly

The article would benefit from a knowledgeable person adding a paragraph about Pioneer 10's location anomaly. At a site linked to by Slashdot today there's a discussion about how under our current theory, Pioneer 10 should be in a different location than it is now, so even at this late date the spacecraft is contributing to science. Tempshill 19:01, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

After typing the above, I found a perfectly servicable paragraph over at Pioneer 11 which I copied and pasted here. Tempshill 19:19, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] aldebaran

The page on Aldebaran states that the star is moving away form us at ~11.3 au/yr, faster than Pioneer is moving toward it. Adding a note here, and removing the comment on Aldebaran. Potatoswatter 00:54, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image showing paths of space probes

The background on which these paths are drawn is an image generated by the JPL Solar System Simulator, and attribution should be given. It isn't. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.206.222.8 (talk) 02:24, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] italics

i started to convert some of the italic representations of Pioneer 10 to remove then, but fast realized there's a boatload of them. is there any reason for this? i don't think it's necessary, but if someone feels it improves readability i'm good with that. Anastrophe (talk) 07:14, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

By long-standing convention, also adopted in Wikipedia, names of ships are typeset in italics. —johndburger 03:08, 26 February 2008 (UTC)
very good, thanks for the clarification. at minimum, i'm going to convert the html itals to wiki markup for uniformity. Anastrophe (talk) 05:48, 26 February 2008 (UTC)
Good job, I see you caught some un-italicized mentions too. Consistency is a Good ThingTM. —johndburger 04:00, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
thanks. i debated applying itals to the picture captions as well, but since the text is smaller, i think the effect would likely either be lost, or look gruesome. Anastrophe (talk) 06:07, 27 February 2008 (UTC)