Key numbers used
Voyager 1 speed ≈ 17 km/s (typical quoted value).
1 astronomical unit (AU) = 149,597,870.7 km.
1 year ≈ 365.25 days and 1 day = 86,400 seconds.
Convert Voyager speed to AU per year (digit-by-digit)
Seconds per year = 86,400 × 365.25 = 31,557,600 s.
Distance per year = 17 km/s × 31,557,600 s = 536,479,200 km/year.
Convert to AU: 536,479,200 km ÷ 149,597,870.7 km/AU ≈ 3.586 AU/year.
So Voyager 1 travels about 3.6 AU per year.
Now the times for different Oort Cloud radii
(We divide distance in AU by 3.586 AU/year to get years.)
If the feature is at 1,000 AU:
Time = 1,000 ÷ 3.586 ≈ 279 years.
(This is roughly where a few sources place an inner Oort-like region in some estimates — hence the ~300-year figure.)
If the inner Oort Cloud (Hills cloud) is at 2,000 AU:
Time = 2,000 ÷ 3.586 ≈ 558 years.
If the outer edge is at 100,000 AU:
Time = 100,000 ÷ 3.586 ≈ 27,900 years (≈ 28,000 years).
Many popular summaries round that to ~30,000 years, which is the figure you saw earlier for Voyager passing beyond the outer edge of the Oort Cloud.
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