# The Voyager probes and Pluto: What if. . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 3, 2016, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-voyager-probes-and-pluto-what-if/761686 "2016-08-03T20:53:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-voyager-probes-and-pluto-what-if/761686/1 "2016-08-03T20:53:31Z")
Voyager 1 explored only Jupiter and Saturn, and theoretically could have been sent to visit Pluto. Voyager 2 did the Grand Tour, and explored all the giant planets, and may or may not have been easy to swing it to Pluto, as at the time of the Neptune flyby, Pluto was inside the orbit of Neptune, and would have had to backtrack, so to speak. The GQ: If it had been decided that Voyager 1 were to make a Pluto flyby, when would it have arrived? If they were on opposite sides of the Solar System, for example, New Horizons may well have arrived first anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-voyager-probes-and-pluto-what-if/761686/2 "2016-08-03T23:02:45Z")
Neat question. I wonder if the cameras on Voyager 1 would have been good enough to resolve Pluto though that far away from the sun. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-voyager-probes-and-pluto-what-if/761686/3 "2016-08-03T23:18:51Z")
The condition for making it feasible is a lot tougher than just “not on opposite sides of the Sun”. At those distances, even being at slightly different places in their orbits means a huge separation. At any rate, Pluto was known long before the Voyagers were ever planned. If they could have visited Pluto, they would have. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-voyager-probes-and-pluto-what-if/761686/4 "2016-08-04T00:13:24Z")
From NASA’s Voyager [FAQ](http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/faq.html) “Voyager 2, is it planned to ever reach Pluto?” > [@](#): > > Both Voyagers flew beyond the orbit of Pluto/Neptune in 1989, but neither flew by Pluto, which was elsewhere in its orbit at the time. It was never planned that the Voyagers would visit Pluto. > > The original mission of Voyager was to explore Jupiter and Saturn. Two spacecraft were sent on slightly different paths, first to Jupiter and then, with gravity assists, on to Saturn. Voyager 1 could have been aimed on to Pluto, but exploration of Titan and the rings of Saturn was a primary scientific objective. This caused the trajectory to be diverted upward out of the ecliptic plane such that no further planetary encounters were possible for Voyager 1. Once Voyager 1 had successfully gathered data at Titan, Voyager 2 was allowed to go on to Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 2, theoretically, could have been aimed for Pluto, but the aim point would have been inside the planet of Neptune - not very practical. So Pluto was the only outer planet the Voyagers didn’t visit. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-voyager-probes-and-pluto-what-if/761686/5 "2016-08-04T01:51:07Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > From NASA’s Voyager [FAQ](http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/faq.html) “Voyager 2, is it planned to ever reach Pluto?” NASA needs to update their FAQ, since Pluto is no longer a planet. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-voyager-probes-and-pluto-what-if/761686/6 "2016-08-04T01:55:56Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > NASA needs to update their FAQ, since Pluto is no longer a planet. Where in the FAQ do they refer to Pluto as a planet? Pluto is still the name of the dwarf planet, and it _is_ still a real thing. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-voyager-probes-and-pluto-what-if/761686/7 "2016-08-04T05:25:30Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > Where in the FAQ do they refer to Pluto as a planet? This seems to qualify: [QUOTE=NASA FAQ] So Pluto was the only outer planet the Voyagers didn’t visit. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![iljitsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/77aa72/32.png) [@iljitsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iljitsch)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-voyager-probes-and-pluto-what-if/761686/8 "2016-08-04T08:28:51Z")
The statement is still true, because at the time that the Voyagers didn’t visit it, Pluto was classified as an outer planet and the sentence is past tense. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-voyager-probes-and-pluto-what-if/761686/9 "2016-08-04T10:42:53Z")
So, anychance of them running into Planet 9? ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-voyager-probes-and-pluto-what-if/761686/10 "2016-08-04T14:53:03Z")
Pluto was never a planet that’s didn’t get visited by Voyager … > [@AK84](#): > > So, anychance of them running into Planet 9? Do you have a need for their growth tanks there? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-voyager-probes-and-pluto-what-if/761686/11 "2016-08-04T15:05:50Z")
Well, gang, thanks for the responses, but. . . This ain’t a debate about whether Pluto is/was/should be classified as a ‘planet’, and has nothing to do with what I was asking, if anyone should care to read the OP. Just sayin’. . . . ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-voyager-probes-and-pluto-what-if/761686/12 "2016-08-04T15:09:53Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > [snip] … The GQ: If it had been decided that Voyager 1 were to make a Pluto flyby, when would it have arrived? If they were on opposite sides of the Solar System, for example, New Horizons may well have arrived first anyway. 1989 ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-voyager-probes-and-pluto-what-if/761686/13 "2016-08-04T17:05:22Z")
^^Eh. . . did you just pull that one out of your wazoo??? Guess I just wasn’t using the correct search criteria. Alan Stern answered that question two years ago: [Voyager 1 would have arrived in the spring of 1986.](http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/What_If_Voyager_Had_Explored_Pluto_999.html) ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-voyager-probes-and-pluto-what-if/761686/14 "2016-08-04T17:18:51Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > ^^Eh. . . did you just pull that one out of your wazoo??? … [snip] Er … no … that came from my citation above “Both Voyagers flew beyond the orbit of Pluto/Neptune in 1989 …” If you’re interested, I’d be happy to help you calculate all this out over the weekend … it’s just rocket science … not like fluid mechanics or anything hard. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-voyager-probes-and-pluto-what-if/761686/15 "2016-08-04T17:21:28Z")
Uh, yeah. But crossing the orbit is irrelevant if the planet is not fortuitously placed where you’re crossing it. In this case, Voyager 1 would have made the Pluto flyby six years after leaving Saturn. Voyager 2 took nine years to reach Neptune with an assist from Uranus. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-voyager-probes-and-pluto-what-if/761686/16 "2016-08-04T17:34:57Z")
IIRC, one of them at least would have had to have flown through Jupiter’s atmosphere to reach Pluto (as in, it thus couldn’t have reached it at all).