How fast must Voyager travel to leave the solar system?

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The Voyager probes have sufficient velocity to escape the Sun's gravitational influence, as they exceed the escape velocity necessary for this purpose. While the Sun's gravitational influence extends indefinitely, the Voyagers are not in orbit around the Sun. The escape velocity from the Sun is approximately 617.5 km/s, but the probes are currently traveling at about 15 km/s relative to the Sun. The discussion also touches on the escape velocities of the solar system and the galaxy, with an estimated galactic escape velocity of 550 km/s. Ultimately, the Voyagers are on a trajectory that will eventually place them under the gravitational influence of other stars.
SPB COOPERATOR
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I have read articles about the Voyager probes leaving the solar system (or not) depending on what definition is used. So, another definition - do the Voyagers have sufficient velocity to escape the Sun's gravitati0nal influence?
 
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SPB COOPERATOR said:
...do the Voyagers have sufficient velocity to escape the Sun's gravitati0nal influence?
Yes.
 
Technically, the Sun's gravitational influence extends indefinitely. The Voyager spacecraft , however, are not in an orbit of the Sun - they have more than what is known as the escape velocity. Eventually, the primary gravitational influence will be another nearby star.
 
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Ooops I overlooked the point the the Sun's Ve of 617.5 km/s is from the sun itself, not the solar system. Does the solar system itself have Ve and even the galaxy itself?
 
SPB COOPERATOR said:
Ooops I overlooked the point the the Sun's Ve of 617.5 km/s is from the sun itself, not the solar system. Does the solar system itself have Ve and even the galaxy itself?
This page gives you an estimated galactic escape velocity relative to the Sun of 550 km/s:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way

Voyager is traveling at ##15 km/s## relative to the Sun.
 
UC Berkely, December 16, 2025 https://news.berkeley.edu/2025/12/16/whats-powering-these-mysterious-bright-blue-cosmic-flashes-astronomers-find-a-clue/ AT 2024wpp, a luminous fast blue optical transient, or LFBOT, is the bright blue spot at the upper right edge of its host galaxy, which is 1.1 billion light-years from Earth in (or near) a galaxy far, far away. Such objects are very bright (obiously) and very energetic. The article indicates that AT 2024wpp had a peak luminosity of 2-4 x...

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