[jacquesm]

'Slowly' is doing a lot of work there. We're talking about very large amounts of time.

[hdgvhicv]

Like 10^200 years

In 10^40 years it will barely have scratched the surface. Unless protons decay.

[pfdietz]

Estimates for sputtering of dust grains are much faster than this.

Granted, there is also growth of dust grains. But surfaces from which atoms can be ejected by UV photons will erode.

Some notes: https://www.astro.princeton.edu/~draine/dust/Draine_IPMU_Lec...

[jacquesm]

I'm imagining the sun going nova and the Voyagers surfing on that wave...

[hdgvhicv]

Voyage is travelling about 1 light year per 22,000 years.

That’s really fast on cosmic scales. If it left when the dinosaurs were wiped out it would be 3,000 light years away by now. Even if it left as late as when humans arrived in North America it would be a light year away.

[rkomorn]

I wonder where (and in what state) they'll be by then.

[jacquesm]

I know what state I will be in by then :)

[rkomorn]

You never know! Maybe at that point all your atoms will have been recycled into a brand new consciousness absorbed into ChatGPT 7.0.

[jacquesm]

Talk about nightmares...

[pfdietz]

The Sun will not go nova.

[jacquesm]

I think I said 'imagine'?