How long will it take Voyager 1 to reach another solar system?
1 Answer
Nov 22, 2017
Voyager I will get close to another solar system in about 40,000 years.
Explanation:
Distances in space are so vast that Voyager I has barely left our solar system after travelling for 40 years.
In the direction in which Voyager I is travelling, the nearest solar system is 17.6 light years away. It will take Voyager some 40,000 years to get there.
Even then it will not really enter the solar system as it will be about 1.7 light years away at its closest point.
Voyager won't be sending data back from this encounter as it will completely run out of power long before it gets there. Even if it were able to transmit data, it would take 17.6 years to reach Earth and the signal would probably be undetectable.
