Rhonda and I fired up Netflix and took in a strange episode of Stranger Things season 2. When it finished, we noticed the night was still young. I suggested we check the recently added. She spotted the show on NASA's Voyager mission.
We enjoyed the space documentary (even though rho missed some bits) by Emer Reynolds. It was fun spotting people I knew in the 40th anniversary special. "The Farthest" had a wonderful visual style, featured some of the music from the golden record, snippits with Carl Sagan, and teary scientists. Amazingly successfully. And still going!
I learned a couple of things too. I didn't know, for example, that the rocket launched with solids. Sadly, they revealed that just when the press conference for the Neptune imagery was due, the Challenger exploded. The pain and the glory.
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Rhonda asked me how the probes were powered. Little nuclear reactors. She wondered how the imaging system worked, correctly assuming digital sensors were not available in 1977. I looked it up. Television Vidicon cameras with analog elements. Amazing. I showed her where the current probes were, including the two Pioneers and the recent New Horizons, using Heavens-Above.
Saturday, December 16, 2017
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