The CPU from the original PlayStation is guiding a probe to Pluto

[JEMC]

Lafiel said:

JEMC said:

Lafiel said:

yes, the Kuiper belt is located roughly on the orbital plane (with a lot more deviation than the planets show), which is why it's a "belt" and not a "cloud" like the oort cloud that is all around our solar system, but in the directions the voyager probes were sent to "exit the solar system" (exit the territory dominated by solar particles) that one is still far away

and actually the existance of the Kuiper belt was only proven 15 years after the Voyager missions started

What you are saying that while the Voyagers could have found the Kuiper belt, the direction they took (up or down, not important now), made them miss that belt, right?

yes, they missed the belt due to their new directions, but even if they had stayed in the orbital plane all planets are located on it's extremely unlikely they would have "found" the Kuiper belt even though they would be right in the middle of it by now

that's because it's nowhere near as densely packed as we imagine an asteroid/comet belt in games or movies and additionally most of it's objects emit/reflect hardly any light or infra-red - they are blacker than charcoal when viewed in direct sunlight (like the comet Churyumov-Gerassimenko the Rosetta probe is currently orbiting - it's ~90% certain that it's a former Kuiper belt object)

the only way for the voyager probes to detect an object like that would be direct sun occultation, which is a problem as their main antenna (for communication) is constantly faced in that direction (towards earth) since leaving the last planet

Thanks.

It's very clear that you know about this topic. I would have been unable to name the comet the Rosetta landed on.