r/spaceporn • u/Busy_Yesterday9455 • Dec 11 '24

Voyager 1 phones home from ~1 light-day away! Related Content

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u/Nientea Dec 11 '24

I’ve heard that the manhole cover was traveling so fast it didn’t have time to burn up in the atmosphere before it reached space

42

u/chewy_mcchewster Dec 11 '24

It still needs to " hit " all those air molecules which would cause it to heat up extremely rapidly.. most likely it disintegrated within just a few more milliseconds just out of video range.. I too however, want to imagine it's floating in space on its way to alpha centauri where it will crack a planet due to its kinetic energy

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u/tostado22 Dec 11 '24

And killing their dinosaurs

🎵the ciiiircle... of liiiiiiife🎵

2

u/doppelstranger Dec 11 '24

Moving at a speed on 125k miles/hour isn't "floating". But yeah, it most likely vaporized in the atmosphere.

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u/suburbanplankton Dec 12 '24

"Rods from God"

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u/PCYou Dec 11 '24

It might have created a protective plasma binary layer for that duration. Holding a plasma torch to steel for a short enough time will get it very hot, but it won't disintegrate it instantly. And that thing was huge