5 Things You Should Know About Voyager

Voyager 2 was deflected downward by Neptune and is heading southward below the plane of the planets. With a somewhat lower speed than Voyager 1, it is about eighty percent as far from the Sun. Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object in the universe. Image Credit: NASA/Walt Feimer


1. Long-Distance Space Runners 

2. Can You Hear Me Now? 
Both spacecraft are still sending scientific information about their surroundings through NASA’s Deep Space Network. A signal from the ground, traveling at the speed of light, takes about 13 hours one way to reach Voyager 2, and 16 hours one way to reach Voyager 1. 

3. Planetary Tour 
The primary five-year mission of the Voyagers included the close-up exploration of Jupiter and Saturn, Saturn’s rings and the larger moons of the two planets. The mission was extended after a succession of discoveries, and between them, the two spacecraft have explored all the giant outer planets of our solar system — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, 49 moons, and the systems of rings and magnetic fields those planets possess. 

The current mission, the Voyager Interstellar Mission, was planned to explore the outermost edge of our solar system and eventually leave our sun’s sphere of influence and enter interstellar space – the space between the stars. 

4. The Golden Record 

5. Where No Spacecraft Has Gone Before 
Voyager 1 has reached a distant point at the edge of our solar system, where the outward motion of solar wind ceases. The event is the latest milestone in Voyager 1’s passage through the heliosheath, the outer shell of the Sun’s sphere of influence, before entering interstellar space. Interstellar space begins at the heliopause, and scientists estimate Voyager 1 will cross this frontier around 2015. 
