Is Voyager 1 in the right place?

[DarthMarth]

As this skypath shows, as it flies away from the solar system Voyager 1 is receding towards a point in the constellation Ophichus, in a triangle formed by the stars Rasalhague (α Ophiuchi), Rasalgethi (α Herculis), and HIP 84671 (e Ophiuchi). In game, though, Voyager is roughly in the direction of HR 4860, near the constellation Corvus, which is nowhere near Ophiuchus. As this screenshot shows, I can barely fit both locations in one screen. So while the distance to Voyager seems correct, the direction seems way off.

FD, is there a scientific reason for your placement of Voyager where it is? Or failing that, a story reason? ("It was vandals/MIT pranksters/Thargoids/Vogons")

 

[varonica]

As this skypath shows, as it flies away from the solar system Voyager 1 is receding towards a point in the constellation Ophichus, in a triangle formed by the stars Rasalhague (α Ophiuchi), Rasalgethi (α Herculis), and HIP 84671 (e Ophiuchi). In game, though, Voyager is roughly in the direction of HR 4860, near the constellation Corvus, which is nowhere near Ophiuchus. As this screenshot shows, I can barely fit both locations in one screen. So while the distance to Voyager seems correct, the direction seems way off.

FD, is there a scientific reason for your placement of Voyager where it is? Or failing that, a story reason? ("It was vandals/MIT pranksters/Thargoids/Vogons")

It's been over a thousand years since voyager was located in that point in space, have you accounted for it's expected trajectory and even stellar movement over 1,400 years?

 

[DarthMarth]

Its trajectory so far seems to have a definite "vanishing point" that it is approaching. Since it's flying almost directly away from the Sun with nothing to change its trajectory until it encounters another star, I would expect it to keep converging on this point in the near to mid future. As for stellar movement, even Barnard's Star (which has the highest proper motion of any star) will move at most 4 degrees in the next 1286 years; this is still an order of magnitude below the difference between Voyager's current position and the one in ED. If the stars had moved anywhere near that much, I would expect the constellations to have become unrecognizable.

 

[Lestat]

I think David Braden did use the help of NASA or Space.com to try to make the things in the right spot. Maybe what you should do is check on some of the old videos and some Q/A.

 

[varonica]

Its trajectory so far seems to have a definite "vanishing point" that it is approaching. Since it's flying almost directly away from the Sun with nothing to change its trajectory until it encounters another star, I would expect it to keep converging on this point in the near to mid future. As for stellar movement, even Barnard's Star (which has the highest proper motion of any star) will move at most 4 degrees in the next 1286 years; this is still an order of magnitude below the difference between Voyager's current position and the one in ED. If the stars had moved anywhere near that much, I would expect the constellations to have become unrecognizable.

Except gravity, that affects everything everywhere, while the probe is traveling faster than the escape velocity of the solar system at its current location, this doesn't mean that it is moving in a straight line in regards to the sun or the earth, and while it's true that background stars won't move much relatively, you also need to take into account the motion of the solar system in relation to the direction the probe is moving, the paralax effect of the moving solar system on the background stars behind voyager will be much greater in effect than the movement of distant stars because the probe is so much closer to us, and then there's the curving effect on the probes course as the solar system moves on its path through the galaxy, while the Voyager probe has achieved escape velocity it is still affected by the suns gravity, it's not far enough away to escape this and it will have the effect of curving the probes course as it moves away from the solar system.

I am sure FDEV and NASA, as mentioned by Lestat, have taken all these relative motions and gravitional effects into account in plotting the course of the probe and placed them against the background stars where it should be.