Talk:2253: Star Wars Voyager 1

Rate of increase

Given that the first Star Wars movie and Voyager I were "released" around the same time, and that over the years Voyager has been getting further away while more Star Wars movies have been realeased, I wonder how often the time it takes for a message to reach Voyager I has been exactly the same as the total runtime of Star Wars movies at that date. Like, how far away was Voyager when Revenge of the Sith was released? This would make for an interesting graph.

RANDALL CAN YOU HEAR ME? MAKE A GRAPH PLS -- Alcatraz ii (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Yes that could be interesting actually. Sadly I believe Randall keeps clear of such sites as this so he will not see you request. Remember to sign your comments, and try not to add new sections in the comments. --Kynde (talk) 08:31, 10 January 2020 (UTC)

After I made the table... If someone find out how long Voyager was away on the release of episode number 2-8 then we can easily make the graph our selves to find out how many times it has happened. For sure it must have occurred between film 3 and 4. And probably again between 6 and 7? --Kynde (talk) 13:46, 10 January 2020 (UTC)

How accurately is the position of Voyager I known? I think this comic came out earlier in the day than usual, and I found myself wondering if there's public data precise enough to calculate this momentous occasion to within an hour, or even a minute. Angel (talk) 10:18, 10 January 2020 (UTC)

I believe this is known extremely precise since we are still in radio contact with it. But for sure there should be a link. Given the title text I think it is not important when it was released. Just a few seconds extra will add long time to Voyagers travel. That time should also be part of the final explanation. As what the possible longest time all episodes could reach given the longest possible calculation of the total time. --Kynde (talk) 10:32, 10 January 2020 (UTC)

Link here: Mission status. Although I'm not sure an historic view of this data exists anywhere... Jotomicron (talk) 10:49, 10 January 2020 (UTC)

Thanks great. I have added a screen shot of the light distance today to the explanation along with the link. I have written most of the explanation by now, table and transcript also. But could probably need some cleanup. I really tried to find a way that Randall did not come up with this comic too late, but maybe the rounding down idea is too far fetched? But then I cannot see any other way to save the title text. --Kynde (talk) 11:57, 10 January 2020 (UTC)

You know, Randall is the only person I know who regularly talks about themed parties. I've never actually known them to be a particularly common thing. Nonetheless, it seems to be a recurring theme on XKCD. Hawthorn (talk) 12:03, 10 January 2020 (UTC)

Maybe but this is not a themed party, just a party to celebrate an event. A theme party to me is when you dress like in the 20s... :p, either one. --Kynde (talk) 13:43, 10 January 2020 (UTC)

Uh oh, now you've done it. The rules of the Meta-verse require that you host an "XKCD party themes" theme party. Iggynelix (talk) 14:40, 10 January 2020 (UTC)

According to wikipedia: the title of "Auld Lang Syne" that Beret Guy signs in the last picture <<may be translated into standard English as "old long since" or, more idiomatically, "long long ago">>, this could be a reference to SW's "Long long time ago..." 162.158.134.112 13:55, 10 January 2020 (UTC)

A few additional thoughts:

It shouldn't be too hard to figure the distance (and therefore radio travel time) to Voyager I back into the past because once it was beyond the last planet visited (Saturn, in 1980) - both Voyagers have mostly been in free-fall under (predominantly) the sun's gravity only - so the math isn't that hard unless you need really razor-sharp precision.

Voyager II would be a lot harder because it also did fly-by's of Uranus and Neptune in '86 and '89 - which each changed it's speed quite noticeably - and those encounters happened after the first three movies were released.

But for a reasonable approximation - Wikipedia already has that chart: [1]. You can see that after about 1981 (ie roughly around episode V and certainly after VI), both distance and velocity graphs are almost a straight line. So even then, the effect of the sun's gravity was really tiny and could probably be neglected unless you need REALLY high precision.

A much bigger issue for party-planning is the diameter of the Earth's orbit around the sun. That's not a negligible factor here - because it adds a variance of about +/- 500 light-seconds to any calculation...and +/-8.3 minutes of seasonal adjustment is critical in figuring out when to hold the party.

SteveBaker (talk) 17:25, 10 January 2020 (UTC)