wrote:
On Saturday, January 5, 2019 at 4:40:03 PM UTC-5, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
wrote:
Maybe you have a better estimation of where this spacecraft is headed?

Certainly. But it does not appear to have a name, or a designation
(apparently it is not even in the Hipparcos Catalogue).

If it helps, it is a star belonging to Sgr, color index (B−V) 0.98
(something between spectral class K0V and M0V, so I guess a main sequence
red dwarf), that has the equatorial coordinates (J2000.0-based)
α = 18h59m12.86s and δ = −20°49'35.1" (J2000.0-based; figures from Stellarium).

This is using your assumption, which may be wrong, that the heading of NH
has only insignificantly changed since the Pluto flyby.

Pluto has α = 18h59m16.36s and δ = −20°45'26.9" then (∆ ≈ 0°4'12.88"), while
ξ1 Sgr, which of the two ξ’s is closest on the celestial sphere to Pluto,
has α = 18h57m20.48s and δ = −20°39'23.0" (∆ ≈ 0°27'46.07").

IOW, in the general direction of Xi 1,2 Sagittarii, a little bit east.

Too imprecise. Consider the distances. In the worst case, you can fit
approximately 7 × 10¹² potential planetary systems like the Sol System, each
with at least one star, into the volume of the cone between those directions.

(Hint: It will exit the Kuiper Belt in a few years. And keep going.)
Maybe. That depends on *several* *unknowns*.

There isn't enough fuel on board to keep it from leaving the Kuiper Belt
and heading out into interstellar space, never to return. Unless, it were to hit something heavy enough to stop it.

Repeating something which *might* be true does not *make* it true either.

--
PointedEars

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