<blockquote>
  <p>Stars and gases at a wide range of distances from the Galactic center orbit at approximately 220 kilometers per second.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>From <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a></p>

<p>That's much faster than the Voyager probes relative to the Sun (Voyager 1: 17 km/s). Hence the probes will orbit the galactic center roughly the same way as our Solar System, even after occasional hyperbolic encounters with other stars.</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1" rel="nofollow">Voyager 1</a> is travalling in the direction of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiuchus" rel="nofollow">Ophiuchus</a>, seen from Earth. She's at or beyond the border of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliosphere" rel="nofollow">heliosphere</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-07T01:40:18.763Z
Are they then on the same orbit as our solar system, but slightly ahead of us? Will the distance be increasing between the voyagers and solar system on this orbit?
Ska
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-07T02:39:22.140Z
The distance will be increasing for the next few million years; they are faster than the escape velocity from the sun. But they won't escape from the Milky Way, unless they get accelerated by an unpredictable close encounter to a star in a very distant future.
Gerald
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-07T02:45:16.190Z
...Eventually the probes may again come closer to our solar system, but only in timescales of about a galactic year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_year), hundreds of millions of years, if they follow Kepler ellipses around the galactic center. But that's hard to predict over such long time scales.
Gerald
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-04T11:49:47.020Z
Why Ophiuchus? Some specific reason?
Magno C
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-04T14:50:02.067Z
That's probably just a consequence of the Saturn flyby, coming from Jupiter.
Gerald
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-06T05:30:39.790Z
2015-05-09T17:29:54.630Z
2015-05-09T17:29:54.630Z
Gerald
<p>Knowing it has exited the solar system, is it traveling in the direction of the center of the galaxy, away from it, orbiting it, or maybe even going perpendicular from the disk-shaped galaxy?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-10T18:48:18.790Z
Trying to impress my less than astronomical friends about how terrific spaceflight and science is, I have a couple of times pointed to some place on the night sky which looks good at the moment and said: *"There, there is Voyager 1, just now leaving the Solar system!"* (If I don't know, then certainly they don't know, so my fraud is safe). It is universally liked, although I have no clue to where it really is. The follow up question is inevitably: *"And where is Voyager 2?"* (Don't know, it is hiding behind Venus for the moment)
LocalFluff
<galaxy><artificial-satellite><navigation><interstellar-travel><space-probe>
Where is Voyager 1 (or 2) going? In which direction?
Ska
# Where is Voyager 1 (or 2) going? In which direction?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-01-04)

Knowing it has exited the solar system, is it traveling in the direction of the center of the galaxy, away from it, orbiting it, or maybe even going perpendicular from the disk-shaped galaxy?

**Tags:** galaxy, artificial-satellite, navigation, interstellar-travel, space-probe

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Trying to impress my less than astronomical friends about how terrific spaceflight and science is, I have a couple of times pointed to some place on the night sky which looks good at the moment and said: *"There, there is Voyager 1, just now leaving the Solar system!"* (If I don't know, then certainly they don't know, so my fraud is safe). It is universally liked, although I have no clue to where it really is. The follow up question is inevitably: *"And where is Voyager 2?"* (Don't know, it is hiding behind Venus for the moment)  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-01-06. Score: 6 | Accepted answer

> Stars and gases at a wide range of distances from the Galactic center orbit at approximately 220 kilometers per second.

From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way)

That's much faster than the Voyager probes relative to the Sun (Voyager 1: 17 km/s). Hence the probes will orbit the galactic center roughly the same way as our Solar System, even after occasional hyperbolic encounters with other stars.

[Voyager 1](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1) is travalling in the direction of [Ophiuchus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiuchus), seen from Earth. She's at or beyond the border of the [heliosphere](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliosphere).

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Are they then on the same orbit as our solar system, but slightly ahead of us? Will the distance be increasing between the voyagers and solar system on this orbit?  
> **username_2**: The distance will be increasing for the next few million years; they are faster than the escape velocity from the sun. But they won't escape from the Milky Way, unless they get accelerated by an unpredictable close encounter to a star in a very distant future.  
> **username_2**: ...Eventually the probes may again come closer to our solar system, but only in timescales of about a galactic year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_year), hundreds of millions of years, if they follow Kepler ellipses around the galactic center. But that's hard to predict over such long time scales.  
> **username_3**: Why Ophiuchus? Some specific reason?  
> **username_2**: That's probably just a consequence of the Saturn flyby, coming from Jupiter.  

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