Future stellar flybys of the Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft

TL;DR

This study predicts future close encounters between Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft and nearby stars using Gaia data, revealing potential stellar flybys within the next million years.

Contribution

It integrates Gaia astrometric data with spacecraft trajectories to forecast stellar flybys, a novel approach for predicting spacecraft-star interactions.

Findings

Closest encounter with HIP 117795 at 0.23 pc in 90 kyr

All encounters occur within 0.2-0.5 pc in the next million years

High relative velocity of 291 km/s at closest approach

Abstract

The Pioneer 10 and 11 and Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft, launched in the 1970s, are heading out of the solar system. Using the astrometric and radial velocity data from the second Gaia data release, we integrate the trajectories of 7.4 million stars, and the spacecraft, through a Galactic potential in order to identify those stars the spacecraft will pass closest to. The closest encounters for all spacecraft take place at separations between 0.2 and 0.5 pc within the next million years. The closest encounter will be by Pioneer 10 with the K8 dwarf HIP 117795, at 0.23 pc in 90 kyr at a high relative velocity of 291 km/s.