I work out of our office on One Market Street in San Francisco. My standup-desk is right across from our Gallery at One Market. One of our newer exhibits is called Powers of Design. It was first featured at the Technology Entertainment & Design (TED) conference last year. Powers of Design depicts the size of everything from the inconceivably small to the mind-blowingly large. I thought I'd cover the exhibit elements, one at a time, over the next few months. I started small and am working my way up.
Artist rendering of the NASA Voyager 2 spacecraft. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech.
1013 MAGNITUDE
10,000,000,000,000 m
10 billion kilometers
Voyager 2
10 billion Kilometers
Despite what you may think, Voyager 2 did not have a sibling, Voyager 6, which nearly destroyed Earth before being stopped by the robot-stumping James T. Kirk. Designed to study the outer solar system, Voyager 2 was launched in 1977. Its primary mission ended in 1989 after encountering Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—the four gas giants—and it is now on an extended mission beyond the heliosphere.
Voyager carries an audio-visual disc (if discovered by intelligent life) containing photos, scientific information, spoken greetings, and a medley of Earth sounds and music. It is currently 10 billion kilometers from the sun and is expected to transmit until 2025.
Voyager 2's Solar System Tour:
- Closest approach to Jupiter occurred on July 9, 1979.
- Closest approach to Saturn occurred on August 25, 1981.
- Closest approach to Uranus occurred on January 24, 1986.
- Closest approach to Neptune occurred on August 25, 1989.
Despite Voyager 2's impressive itinerary, that's only one-tenth of the Solar System.
Thanks to Global Content Manager, Matt Tierney, for the images and text that comprise the exhibit element. This is just one of the many exhibits in the gallery at One Market in San Francisco. The gallery is open to the public on Wednesdays from 12 pm to 5 pm, and admission is free. Visit us.
Previous posts on this topic include:
- 10-15 Protons and Neutrons
- 10-14 Atomic Nucleus of a Uranium Atom
- 10-13 Nada, Zilch, Zero, Zip
- 10-12 Gamma Rays
- 10-11 Fluorine Ion
- 10-10 Wavelength of Hard X-Rays
- 10-9 Carbon Nanotubes
- 10-8 Molecular Transport Nano Robot
- 10-7 HIV Virus
- 10-6 Red Blood Cells
- 10-5 Sand
- 10-4 Microelectromechanical Systems
- 10-3 Sonata Silicium Watch Components
- 10-2 Lego
- 10-1 Prosthetic Fairing
- 100 Biome Concept Car
- 101 Ma'erkang Housing Reconstruction
- 102 Shanghai Tower
- 103 Bay Bridge
- 104 Masdar City
- 105 Palm Islands
- 106 The Moon
- 107 Earth
- 108 Jupiter
- 109 The Sun
- 1010 Distance Light Travels in 34 Seconds
- 1011 Distance from Jupiter to the Sun
- 1012 Distance from Pluto to the Sun
Future blog posts will cover:
- 1014 The Solar System
- 1015 Cat's Eye Nebula
- 1016 Pillars of Creation
- 1017 Great Orion Nebula
- 1018 M15 Globular Cluster
- 1019 Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy
- 1020 Triangulum Galaxy
- 1021 The Milky Way
- 1022 IC 1101
- 1023 Local Group of Galaxies
- 1024 The Local Supercluster
- 1025 3C 273
- 1026 Outer Limit of the Universe
Measurement is alive in the lab.