Voyager 1 leaves the solar system

[BreakingBad]

That would work if everything in the universe stayed in the same place. It doesn't. Voyager crossed and will continue to cross the path of several planets, moons, ect. On the other hand, they could trace the radio signal.

Interesting thought, but hypothetically I suspect an alien race capable of space travel could extrapolate voyagers origins.  Not to mention the craft wont really be that distant in galactic terms in the next thousands of years.

From physics we know that voyagers current trajectory will be tangent to the last gravitational body it interacted with, which I think was one of our gas giants like Neptune or Saturn.  So in other words, voyagers exact opposite course will be where it escaped the gravitational pull of the planet (like a stone leaving the sling).

Now, since then that planet has moved in orbit around the sun, and the sun and our solar system have moved as well within the galaxy.  So the exact opposite of voyagers course will follow a path to some empty point in space.

The thing is that empty point in space will be in cosmic distances,  still very close to our solar system.  Considering that our nearest star, alpha century, is what, 4-5 light years away?

Anyway that is my deduction, but for gods sakes Jim, I'm a civil engineer not a physicist.

[Karnak]

It also would not be hard to simply rewind time on a computer and see where it's path intersected with a star system.  The rewind would also move the star systems back along their travel paths as the orbit the galactic core.

[Shuffler]

They are an advanced civilization... they would simply talk to the probe.

[rpm]

Typical answering a question with a question from you.  You are worse than zero.

Based upon a known arrival and it not simply smashing into Earth, I would bet they likely could.   

Wow, you're a little wound up over this. Apparently you have some unresolved issues with me over something. Lighten up Francis.

I was trying to give a scenario where it might not land in the hands of the brightest kids in the Galaxy...

[Chalenge]

Voyager is nothing more than a space hazard to any intelligent species it might encounter. It will be nearly 40,000 years before it passes near another star and in this case "near" means 1.7 light years. Basically its just a floating monument to the arrogance of humans. At least we got some useful information from it during its time in the system.

[GScholz]

It also would not be hard to simply rewind time on a computer and see where it's path intersected with a star system.  The rewind would also move the star systems back along their travel paths as the orbit the galactic core.

True. In fact it wouldn't be difficult even for us puny humans with today's computers and knowledge of the movements of interstellar bodies. However, if the probe gets captured by another star and enters an orbit, backtracking becomes impossible.

[icepac]

We can only hope that Slim Whitman's "indian love call" was included on the gold record.

[RTHolmes]

You don't think that a species smart enough to discover "Voyager" in space might not be able to perform the calculations necessary to deduce the path Voyager followed, including deviations as incurred by gravitational deviations?

I dont, at least after its been through a few gravity wells and travelled massive distances in interstellar space, which iirc is thought to be quite gusty. chaos

[rpm]

We can only hope that Slim Whitman's "indian love call" was included on the gold record.

That was Voyager 2.