Originally posted by ImaFungi
reply to post by IblisLucifer
you spoke of the spacecrafts we sent out of our solar system and how they appeared to change velocity and this had to do with the suns gravity still attracting them back?
would it be possible to send spacecraft forward towards the sun, and on past the sun? the direction our solar system is heading...
The Pioneer anomaly or Pioneer effect is the observed deviation from predicted accelerations of the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 spacecraft after they passed about 20 astronomical units (3×109 km; 2×109 mi) on their trajectories out of the Solar System.
Both Pioneer spacecraft are escaping the Solar System, but are slowing under the influence of the Sun's gravity. Upon very close examination of navigational data, the spacecraft were found to be slowing slightly more than expected. The effect is an extremely small but unexplained acceleration towards the Sun, of 8.74±1.33×10−10 m/s2.
The two spacecraft were launched in 1972 and 1973 and the anomalous acceleration was first noticed as early as 1980, but not seriously investigated until 1994.[1] The last communication with either spacecraft was in 2003, but analysis of recorded data continues.
Since the spacecraft were flying with almost no additional stabilization thrusts during their "cruise", it is possible to characterize the density of the solar medium by its effect on the spacecraft's motion. In the outer solar system this effect would be easily calculable, based on ground-based measurements of the deep space environment. When these effects were taken into account, along with all other known effects, the calculated position of the Pioneers did not agree with measurements based on timing the return of the radio signals being sent back from the spacecraft. These consistently showed that both spacecraft were closer to the inner solar system than they should be, by thousands of kilometres—small compared to their distance from the Sun, but still statistically significant. This apparent discrepancy grew over time as the measurements were repeated, suggesting that whatever was causing the anomaly was still acting on the spacecraft.
As the anomaly was growing, it appeared that the spacecraft were moving more slowly than expected. Measurements of the spacecraft's speed using the Doppler effect demonstrated the same thing: the observed redshift was less than expected, which meant that the Pioneers had slowed down more than expected.
When all known forces acting on the spacecraft are taken into consideration, a very small but unexplained force remains. It appears to cause an approximately constant sunward acceleration of 8.74±1.33×10−10 m/s2 for both spacecraft. If the positions of the spacecraft are predicted one year in advance based on measured velocity and known forces (mostly gravity), they are actually found to be some 400 km closer to the sun at the end of the year.
They expected them to slow down on their way out but a small unexplained acceleration towards the Sun, of 8.74±1.33×10−10 m/s2 is not something they could explain or had foreseen with current models of physics. Their are many explanation and ideas but non have really explained this anomaly
Now as to your question i would like to imagine that if you sent something in the direction of terminal shock of the heliosphere and another the opposite direction it maybe similar to a 2 airplanes 1st flying from New York to San Francisco and 2nd flying from San Francisco to New York
If they both leave at the same time which will arrive first at their destination ?
