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remorsefulDownfall OP t1_je2049y wrote

Reply to comment by RadiatedEarth in ELI5 How do scientists know probes (Like Voyager I) aren't going to get swept up in the orbit of another celestial body? by remorsefulDownfall

It was more the math itself and the simulations and that kind of thing that I was looking for, but I probably could've made that more clear, sorry. I appreciate your answer though, the exact vastness wasn't something that dawned on me outside of basic planetary science taught in school.

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FallenJoe t1_je23ll5 wrote

“Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”

― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Scale is really hard for our meat brains to understand. Here's a fun video that can help a bit to understand, via a medium of printer paper standards.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUF5esTscZI

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EquinoctialPie t1_je2bizh wrote

Here's a website that explains the math to calculate an orbital trajectory. The math isn't really something that can be explained like you're five though. You'll need to have a solid understanding of algebra and trigonometry to be able to use it.

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