Which Planet moves the fastest?

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brellis

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Reading about New Horizons' impressive velocity gets me wondering about the speed of the planets, and if a moon going around the fastest planet would be actually moving fastest relative to the sun.<br /><br />Then I wonder, is/was the fastest object in the solar system manmade? [Does Voyager hold the record?] <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>
 
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brellis

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Heh, thanks to the internet, one can find many answers:<br /><br />Mercury owns the record at 47km per second. If I recall, Voyager is trucking along at 17km per second. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>
 
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doubletruncation

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Apparently Pioneer 11 made a very close approach to Jupiter, and at closest approach it was travelling at ~300 km/s. New Horizons though I guess has the distinction of having the highest speed that has ever been achieved for a man-made object without a gravity assist. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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qso1

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One way to look at it is that objects in circular orbits are slower the further their orbits are from the sun, Mercury fastest, Pluto slowest if one does not count planets found after Pluto.<br /><br />Voyager being hurled out of the solar system is following what is probably an open ellipse wich will eventually cause it to leave the system entirely. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>
 
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agnau

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Visit http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/solar/soldata2.html for a lot of good data... The link directly shows you Mercury's stats (scroll down for other planets, saturn and beyond are on a second page)<br /><br />Here's their speeds per that site:<br /><br />M - 47.9 km/s<br />V - 35.0 km/s<br />E - 29.8 km/s<br />M - 24.1 km/s<br />J - 13.1 km/s<br />S - 9.6 km/s<br />U - 6.8 km/s<br />N - 5.4 km/s<br />P - 4.7 km/s
 
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willpittenger

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Would the Voyagers be able to speed up after they leave the system? I am assuming their propellant stocks are used up. Besides, I doubt they would have much DeltaV considering how fast they are going now. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>
 
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qso1

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willpittenger:<br />Would the Voyagers be able to speed up after they leave the system?<br /><br />Me:<br />AFAIK, only if they come under the gravitational influence of a KBO or as yet unknown body that could possibly provide a Jupiter like gravity velocity assist. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>
 
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nexium

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I agree, both the KBOs and the comets in the ort cloud are part of our Solar System, by most definitions. In about 100,000 years (perhaps a million years), Pioneer and Voyager will start to speed up minutely as they approach some other solar system, or perhaps some other massive object presently unknown to astronomers Neil
 
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qso1

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willpittenger:<br />Try the Oort Cloud. I said outside the system. <br /><br />Me:<br />IIRC, the Oort cloud is part of the solar system and by definition, any of the bodies more influenced by the Suns gravity than by the gravity of the milky way is a solar system body. The cloud itself would not possess enough gravity to increase Voyagers velocity. The Oort cloud is supposed to consist of cometary and maybe asteroid bodies. If there is any of those lareg enough, say the size of Ceres. And if Voyager passes close enough to it, then a small velocity increase could occur. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>
 
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