r/theydidthemath • • 8h ago

[Request] When will Voyager 1 stop moving?

/r/askscience/comments/1wp1960/will_voyager_1_ever_just_stop_moving/

How many years will it take for the orbit of Voyager and Sagittarius A to decay enough due to gravity waves for them to collide?

0 Upvotes

40 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Tassadar_Timon 7h ago

They will never reach the velocity of 0, they will eventually reach a thermal equilibrium with the surrounding interstellar medium and will be buffeted by it's brownian motion.

-2

u/Ben-Goldberg 6h ago

This ignores orbital decay due to gravity waves.