Voyager1 and Voyager2 are two human made Spacecraft that have gone to interstellar space . The interstellar space is the space between the stars in a galaxy . In a simple word interstellar space is the space between two stars . In voyager mission there is two spacecraft one is voyager 1 and another one is voyager 2 . Both are the twins spacecraft for voyager mission ,the voyager mission (Voyager1 and Voyager2) are organized by American space agency National Aeronautics and space administration (NASA) . The voyager 1 spacecraft launched by NASA's jet propulsion laboratory in the date of 5th September 1977 from Capencanaveral , Florida, USA using titan III E-centaur (Pc-6\ titan space no 23E-6 \ Centaur D-1T) rocket and voyager 2 spacecraft launched by NASA jet propulsion laboratory on 20th August 1977 , from Capecanaveral, Florida, USA by titan-cenpaur rocket. The mass of voyager1 spacecraft is 1,592 pounds(721.9kg). The mass of voyager 2 is 1592 pounds(721.9kg).
➤➤Some scientific instrument which are feed into the voyager 1 spacecraft are :
1) Imaging science system (ISS)
2) Ultraviolet spectrometer(UVS)
3) Infrared Interferometer Spectrometer (IRIS)
4) Planetary Radio Astronomy Experiment (PRA)
5) Photopolarimeter (PPS)
6) Triaxial fluxgate magnetometer(MAG)
7) Plasma Spectrometer(PLS)
8) Low-energy charge particles experiment(LECP)
9) Plasma Waves experiment (PWE)
10) Cosmic Ray Telescope (PRS)
11) Radio Prime System (RSS)
➤➤ Some facts about voyager 1 spacecraft :
1) Voyager 1 was the first spacecraft to cause the heliosphere , the boundary where the influences outside our solar system are stronger than those from our sun .
2) Voyager 1 is the first human made object to venue into interstellar space.
3) It discover a thin link around Jupiter and to new jovian moon ; the be and metis.
4) At Saturn , voyager 1 found 5 new moons and a new ring called The G-ring
➤➤key dates :
➢5th September 1977 launch
➢5th march 1979 Jupiter Flyby
➢12th November 1980 Saturn Flyby
➢17th February 1998 began the most distance human made object after overtaking NASA's Pioneer 10
➢1st January 1990 voyager interstellar mission (VIN) Officially Regain
➢16th August 100 astronomical units reached (1 astronomical units = distance between sun and earth )
➢1st August 2012 voyager 1 enter interstellar space .
➤➤In Depth: Voyager 1
NASA's Voyager 1 was launched after Voyager 2, but because of a faster route, it exited the asteroid belt earlier than its twin, having overtaken Voyager 2 on Dec. 15, 1977.
It began its Jovian imaging mission in April 1978 when it was about 165 million miles (265 million kilometers) from the planet. Images sent back by January 1979 indicated that Jupiter’s atmosphere was more turbulent than during the Pioneer flybys in 1973-1974.
Beginning Jan. 30, 1979, Voyager 1 took a picture every 96 seconds for a span of 100 hours to generate a color time-lapse movie to depict 10 rotations of Jupiter.
On Feb. 10, 1979, the spacecraft crossed into the Jovian moon system and in early March, it discovered a thin ring circling Jupiter (less than 19-miles or 30 kilometers-thick).
Voyager 1’s closest encounter with Jupiter was at 12:05 UT March 5, 1979, at a range of about 174,000 miles (280,000 kilometers), following which it encountered several of Jupiter’s moons, including Amalthea (at a 261,100-mile or 420,200-kilometer range), Io (13,050 miles or 21,000 kilometers), Europa (45,830 miles or 733,760 kilometers), Ganymede (71,280 miles or 114,710 kilometers), and Callisto (78,540 miles or 126,400 kilometers), in that order, returning spectacular photos of their terrains and opening up completely new worlds for planetary scientists.
Among the most interesting findings was on Io, where images showed a bizarre yellow, orange, and brown world with at least eight active volcanoes spewing material into space, making it one of the most (if not the most) geologically active planetary bodies in the solar system. The presence of active volcanoes suggested that the sulfur and oxygen in Jovian space may be a result of the volcanic plumes from Io which are rich in sulfur dioxide.
The spacecraft also discovered two new moons, Thebe and Metis.
Following the Jupiter encounter, Voyager 1 completed an initial course correction April 9, 1979, in preparation for its meeting with Saturn. A second correction on Oct. 10, 1979, ensured that the spacecraft would not hit Saturn’s moon Titan.
Its flyby of the Saturn system in November 1979 was as spectacular as its previous encounter.
Voyager 1 found five new moons, a ring system consisting of thousands of bands, wedge-shaped transient clouds of tiny particles in the B-ring that scientists called “spokes,” a new ring (the G-ring), and “shepherding” satellites on either side of the F-ring -- satellites that keep the rings well-defined.
During its flyby, the spacecraft photographed Saturn’s moons Titan, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, and Rhea. Based on incoming data, all the moons appeared to be composed largely of water ice.
Perhaps the most interesting target was Titan, which Voyager 1 passed at 05:41 UT Nov. 12, 1979, at a range of about 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers).
Images showed a thick atmosphere that completely hid the surface. The spacecraft found that the moon’s atmosphere was composed of 90% nitrogen. Pressure and temperature at the surface was 1.6 atmospheres and minus 292 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 180 degrees Celsius), respectively.
Atmospheric data suggested that Titan might be the first body in the solar system, apart from Earth, where liquid might exist on the surface. In addition, the presence of nitrogen, methane, and more complex hydrocarbons indicated that prebiotic chemical reactions might be possible on Titan.
Voyager 1’s closest approach to Saturn was at 23:46 UT Nov. 12, 1980, at a range of about 78,290 miles (126,000 kilometers).
Following the encounter with Saturn, Voyager 1 headed on a trajectory to escape the solar system at a speed of about 3.5 AU (325 million miles or 523 million kilometers) per year, 35 degrees out of the ecliptic plane to the north and in the general direction of the Sun’s motion relative to nearby stars.
Because of the specific requirements for the Titan flyby, the spacecraft was not directed to Uranus and Neptune.
On Feb. 14, 1990, Voyager 1’s cameras were pointed backward and captured about 60 images of the Sun and planets -- the first "portrait" of our solar system as seen from the outside. The images were taken when the spacecraft was about 40 AU from the Sun (3.7 billion miles or 6 billion kilometers).
A mosaic of those images became the “Pale Blue Dot” image made famous by Cornell University professor and Voyager science team member Carl Sagan (1934-1996).
The image has also been called the "Solar System Family Portrait"—even though Mercury and Mars can’t be seen. Mercury was too close to the Sun to be seen, and Mars was on the same side of the Sun as Voyager 1, so only its dark side faced the cameras.
These images were the last of 67,000 images taken by the two Voyager spacecraft. Their cameras were turned off to save power and memory for the interstellar mission.
All the planetary encounters finally were over in 1989 and the missions of Voyager 1 and 2 were declared part of the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM), which officially began Jan. 1, 1990.
The goal of the new mission is to extend NASA’s exploration of the solar system beyond the neighborhood of the outer planets to the outer limits of the Sun’s sphere of influence, and possibly beyond.
Specific goals include collecting data on the transition between the heliosphere—the region of space dominated by the Sun’s magnetic field and solar field—and the interstellar medium.
On Feb. 17, 1998, Voyager 1 became the most distant human-made object in existence when, at a distance of 69.4 AU from the Sun, it overtook Pioneer 10.
On Dec. 16, 2004, Voyager scientists announced that Voyager 1 had reported high values for the intensity for the magnetic field at a distance of 94 AU, indicating that it had reached the termination shock and had now entered the heliosheath. The spacecraft finally exited the heliosphere and began measuring the interstellar environment on Aug. 25, 2012, the first spacecraft to do so.
On Sept. 5, 2017, NASA marked the 40th anniversary of Voyager 1’s launch, as it continues to communicate with NASA’s Deep Space Network and to send data back from four still-functioning instruments -- the cosmic ray telescope, the low-energy charged particles experiment, the magnetometer, and the plasma waves experiment.
Each Voyager carries a message, prepared by a team headed by Carl Sagan, in the form of a 12 inch (30-centimeter) diameter gold-plated copper disc for potential extraterrestrials who might find the spacecraft.
Like the plaques on Pioneers 10 and 11, the record has symbols to show the location of Earth relative to several pulsars.
The records also contain instructions to play them using a cartridge and a needle, much like a vinyl record player.
The audio on the disc includes greetings in 55 languages, 35 sounds from life on Earth (such as whale songs, laughter, etc.), 90 minutes of generally Western music including everything from Mozart and Bach to Chuck Berry and Blind Willie Johnson. It also includes 115 images of life on Earth and recorded greetings from then U.S. President Jimmy Carter (1924– ) and then-UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim (1918-2007).
The two Voyagers are now over 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) from the Sun and far from its warmth. To ensure the vintage robots continue to return the best scientific data possible, mission engineers in 2019 began implementing a new plan to manage them. The plan involves making difficult choices, particularly about instruments and thrusters on the spacecraft.
Jupiter Accomplishments
During the Jupiter leg of its journey, Voyager 1 explored the giant planet, its magnetosphere and moons in greater detail than the Pioneer spacecraft that preceded it. Voyager 1 also used Jupiter as a springboard to Saturn, using the gravity-assist technique.
Voyager 1 succeeded on all counts Jupiter, with the single exception of experiments using its photopolarimeter, which failed to operate.
Jupiter's atmosphere was found to be more active than during the visits of Pioneer 10 and 11, sparking a rethinking of the earlier atmospheric models which could not explain the new features.
The spacecraft imaged the moons Amalthea, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, showing details of their terrain for the first time.
Possibly the most stunning of Voyager 1's discoveries was that Io has extremely active volcanoes, powered by heat generated by the stretching and relaxing the moon endures every 42 hours as its elliptical orbit brings it closer to and then farther from Jupiter. This finding revolutionized scientists' concept of the moons of the outer planets.
The spacecraft also discovered a thin ring around the planet (then making it the second planet known to have a ring), and two new moons: Thebe and Metis.
Saturn Accomplishments
Voyager 1 was the second spacecraft to visit Saturn. It explored the planet and its rings, moons, and magnetic field in greater detail than was possible for its predecessor, Pioneer 11.
Voyager 1 met all of its goals except for the experiments planned for its photopolarimeter, which failed to operate.
The spacecraft found three new moons: Prometheus and Pandora, the "shepherding" moons that keep the F ring well-defined, and Atlas which similarly shepherds the A ring.
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, was found to have a thick atmosphere which hides its surface from visible-light cameras and telescopes. Spacecraft instruments showed it to be mostly nitrogen, like Earth's atmosphere, but with a surface pressure 1.6 times as high as ours.
The spacecraft also imaged the moons Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, and Rhea; revealed the fine structures of Saturn's complex and beautiful ring system; and added the G ring to the list of known rings.
Just as it used Jupiter's gravity to help it reach Saturn, Voyager 1 used a gravity assist at Saturn to alter its course and increase its speed, giving it a trajectory to take it out of the solar system.
Interstellar Accomplishments
In August 2012, Voyager 1 became the first spacecraft to cross into interstellar space.
However, if we define our solar system as the Sun and everything that primarily orbits the Sun, Voyager 1 will remain within the confines of the solar system until it emerges from the Oort cloud in another 14,000 to 28,000 years.
Voyager 2 :
➤➤Some scientific instrument which are feed into the voyager 2 spacecraft are :
1) Imaging Science System (ISS)
2) Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS)
3) Infrared Interferometer Spectrometer (IRIS)
4) Planetary Radio Astronomy Experiment (PRA)
5) Photopolarimeter (PPS)
6)Triaxial Fluxgate Magnetometer (MAG)
7) Plasma Spectrometer (PLS)
8) Low-Energy Charged Particles Experiment (LECP)
9) Plasma Waves Experiment (PWS)
10) Cosmic Ray Telescope (CRS)
11) Radio Science System (RSS)
➤➤ Some facts about Voyager 2 spacecraft:
1) Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to study all four of the solar system's giant planets at close range.
2) Voyager 2 discovered a 14th moon at Jupiter.
3) Voyager 2 was the first human-made object to fly past Uranus.
4) At Uranus, Voyager 2 discovered 10 new moons and two new rings.
5) Voyager 2 was the first human-made object to fly by Neptune.
6) At Neptune, Voyager 2 discovered five moons, four rings, and a "Great Dark Spot."
➤➤ Key dates:
➢Aug. 20, 1977: Launch
➢July 9, 1979: Jupiter flyby
➢Aug. 26, 1981: Saturn flyby
➢Jan. 24, 1986: Uranus flyby
➢Aug. 25, 1989: Neptune flyby
➢Dec. 10, 2018: Entered interstellar space
➢July 8, 2019: Voyager 2 successfully fired its trajectory correction maneuver thrusters
In Depth: Voyager 2
The two-spacecraft Voyager missions were designed to replace original plans for a “Grand Tour” of the planets that would have used four highly complex spacecraft to explore the five outer planets during the late 1970s.
Voyager 2 Launched Before Voyager 1
Voyager 2 launched on Aug. 20, 1977, about two weeks before the Sept. 5 launch of Voyager 1. Why the reversal of order? The two were sent on different trajectories, and Voyager 1 was put on a path to reach its planetary targets, Jupiter and Saturn, ahead of Voyager 2. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA canceled the plan in January 1972 largely due to anticipated costs (projected at $1 billion) and instead proposed to launch only two spacecraft in 1977 to Jupiter and Saturn. The two spacecraft were designed to explore the two gas giants in more detail than the two Pioneers (Pioneers 10 and 11) that preceded them.
In 1974, mission planners proposed a mission in which, if the first Voyager was successful, the second one could be redirected to Uranus and then Neptune using gravity assist maneuvers.
Each of the two spacecraft was equipped with a slow-scan color TV camera to take images of the planets and their moons and each also carried an extensive suite of instruments to record magnetic, atmospheric, lunar, and other data about the planetary systems.
The design of the two spacecraft was based on the older Mariners, and they were known as Mariner 11 and Mariner 12 until March 7, 1977, when NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher (1919-1991) announced that they would be renamed Voyager.
Power was provided by three plutonium dioxide radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) mounted at the end of a boom.
Voyager 2 began transmitting images of Jupiter April 24, 1979, for time-lapse movies of atmospheric circulation. Unlike Voyager 1, Voyager 2 made close passes to the Jovian moons on its way into the system, with scientists especially interested in more information from Europa and Io (which necessitated a 10 hour-long “volcano watch”).
During its encounter, it relayed back spectacular photos of the entire Jovian system, including its moons Callisto, Ganymede, Europa (at a range of about 127,830 miles or 205,720 kilometers, much closer than Voyager 1), Io, and Amalthea, all of which had already been surveyed by Voyager 1.
Voyager 2’s closest encounter to Jupiter was at 22:29 UT July 9, 1979, at a range of about 400,785 miles (645,000 kilometers). It transmitted new data on the planet’s clouds, its newly discovered four moons, and ring system as well as 17,000 new pictures.
When the earlier Pioneers flew by Jupiter, they detected few atmospheric changes from one encounter to the second, but Voyager 2 detected many significant changes, including a drift in the Great Red Spot as well as changes in its shape and color.
With the combined cameras of the two Voyagers, at least 80% of the surfaces of Ganymede and Callisto were mapped out to a resolution of about 3 miles (5 kilometers).
Following a course correction two hours after its closest approach to Jupiter, Voyager 2 sped to Saturn, its trajectory determined to a large degree by a decision made in January 1981, to try to send the spacecraft to Uranus and Neptune later in the decade.
Its encounter with the sixth planet began Aug. 22, 1981, two years after leaving the Jovian system, with imaging of the moon Iapetus. Once again, Voyager 2 repeated the photographic mission of its predecessor, although it actually flew about 14,290 miles (23,000 kilometers) closer to Saturn. The closest encounter to Saturn was at 01:21 UT Aug. 26, 1981, at a range of about 63,000 miles (101,000 kilometers).
The spacecraft provided more detailed images of the ring “spokes” and kinks, and also the F-ring and its shepherding moons, all found by Voyager 1. Voyager 2’s data suggested that Saturn’s A-ring was perhaps only about 980 feet (300 meters) thick.
As it flew behind and up past Saturn, the probe passed through the plane of Saturn’s rings at a speed of 8 miles per second (13 kilometers per second). For several minutes during this phase, the spacecraft was hit by thousands of micron-sized dust grains that created “puff” plasma as they were vaporized. Because the vehicle’s attitude was repeatedly shifted by the particles, attitude control jets automatically fired many times to stabilize the vehicle.
During the encounter, Voyager 2 also photographed the Saturn moons Hyperion (the “hamburger moon”), Enceladus, Tethys, and Phoebe as well as the more recently discovered Helene, Telesto and Calypso.
Although Voyager 2 had fulfilled its primary mission goals with the two planetary encounters, mission planners directed the veteran spacecraft to Uranus—a journey that would take about 4.5 years.
In fact, its encounter with Jupiter was optimized in part to ensure that future planetary flybys would be possible.
The Uranus encounter’s geometry was also defined by the possibility of a future encounter with Neptune: Voyager 2 had only 5.5 hours of close study during its flyby.
Voyager 2 was the first human-made object to fly past the planet Uranus.
Long-range observations of the planet began Nov. 4, 1985, when signals took approximately 2.5 hours to reach Earth. Light conditions were 400 times less than terrestrial conditions. Closest approach to Uranus took place at 17:59 UT Jan. 24, 1986, at a range of about 50,640 miles (81,500 kilometers).
During its flyby, Voyager 2 discovered 10 new moons (given such names as Puck, Portia, Juliet, Cressida, Rosalind, Belinda, Desdemona, Cordelia, Ophelia, and Bianca -- obvious allusions to Shakespeare), two new rings in addition to the “older” nine rings, and a magnetic field tilted at 55 degrees off-axis and off-center.
The spacecraft found wind speeds in Uranus’ atmosphere as high as 450 miles per hour (724 kilometers per hour) and found evidence of a boiling ocean of water some 497 miles (800 kilometers) below the top cloud surface. Its rings were found to be extremely variable in thickness and opacity.
Voyager 2 also returned spectacular photos of Miranda, Oberon, Ariel, Umbriel, and Titania, five of Uranus’ larger moons. In flying by Miranda at a range of only 17,560 miles (28,260 kilometers), the spacecraft came closest to any object so far in its nearly decade-long travels. Images of the moon showed a strange object whose surface was a mishmash of peculiar features that seemed to have no rhyme or reason. Uranus itself appeared generally featureless.
The spectacular news of the Uranus encounter was interrupted the same week by the tragic Challenger accident that killed seven astronauts during their space shuttle launch Jan. 28, 1986.
Following the Uranus encounter, the spacecraft performed a single midcourse correction Feb. 14, 1986—the largest ever made by Voyager 2—to set it on a precise course to Neptune.
Voyager 2’s encounter with Neptune capped a 4.3 billion-mile (7 billion-kilometer) journey when, on Aug. 25, 1989, at 03:56 UT, it flew about 2,980 miles (4,800 kilometers) over the cloud tops of the giant planet, the closest of its four flybys. It was the first human-made object to fly by the planet. Its 10 instruments were still in working order at the time.
During the encounter, the spacecraft discovered six new moons (Proteus, Larissa, Despina, Galatea, Thalassa, and Naiad) and four new rings.
The planet itself was found to be more active than previously believed, with 680-mile (1,100-kilometer) per hour winds. Hydrogen was found to be the most common atmospheric element, although the abundant methane gave the planet its blue appearance.
Images revealed details of the three major features in the planetary clouds—the Lesser Dark Spot, the Great Dark Spot, and Scooter.
Voyager photographed two-thirds of Neptune’s largest moon Triton, revealing the coldest known planetary body in the solar system and a nitrogen ice “volcano” on its surface. Spectacular images of its southern hemisphere showed a strange, pitted cantaloupe-type terrain.
The flyby of Neptune concluded Voyager 2’s planetary encounters, which spanned an amazing 12 years in deep space, virtually accomplishing the originally planned “Grand Tour” of the solar system, at least in terms of targets reached if not in science accomplished.
Once past the Neptune system, Voyager 2 followed a course below the ecliptic plane and out of the solar system. Approximately 35 million miles (56 million kilometers) past the encounter, Voyager 2’s instruments were put in low power mode to conserve energy.
After the Neptune encounter, NASA formally renamed the entire project the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM).
Of the four spacecraft sent out to beyond the environs of the solar system in the 1970s, three of them -- Voyagers 1 and 2 and Pioneer 11 -- were all heading in the direction of the solar apex, i.e., the apparent direction of the Sun’s travel in the Milky Way galaxy, and thus would be expected to reach the heliopause earlier than Pioneer 10 which was headed in the direction of the heliospheric tail.
In November 1998, 21 years after launch, nonessential instruments were permanently turned off, leaving seven instruments still operating.
Through the turn of the century, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) continued to receive ultraviolet and particle fields data. For example, on Jan. 12, 2001, an immense shock wave that had blasted out of the outer heliosphere on July 14, 2000, finally reached Voyager 2. During its six-month journey, the shock wave had plowed through the solar wind, sweeping up and accelerating charged particles. The spacecraft provided important information on high-energy shock-energized ions.
On Aug. 30, 2007, Voyager 2 passed the termination shock and then entered the heliosheath. By Nov. 5, 2017, the spacecraft was 116.167 AU (about 10.8 billion miles or about 17.378 billion kilometers) from Earth, moving at a velocity of 9.6 miles per second (15.4 kilometers per second) relative to the Sun, heading in the direction of the constellation Telescopium. At this velocity, it would take about 19,390 years to traverse a single light-year.
On July 8, 2019, Voyager 2 successfully fired up its trajectory correction maneuver thrusters and will be using them to control the pointing of the spacecraft for the foreseeable future. Voyager 2 last used those thrusters during its encounter with Neptune in 1989.
The spacecraft's aging attitude control thrusters have been experiencing degradation that required them to fire an increasing and untenable number of pulses to keep the spacecraft's antenna pointed at Earth. Voyager 1 had switched to its trajectory correction maneuver thrusters for the same reason in January 2018.
To ensure that both vintage robots continue to return the best scientific data possible from the frontiers of space, mission engineers are implementing a new plan to manage them. The plane will involve making difficult choices, particularly about instruments and thrusters.
Jupiter Accomplishments
This image shows a crescent Uranus, a view that Earthlings never witnessed until Voyager 2 flew near and then beyond Uranus on January 24, 1986.
During the Jupiter leg of its journey, Voyager 2 explored the giant planet, its magnetosphere and moons in greater detail than had the Pioneer spacecraft that preceded it. Voyager 2 also used it as a springboard to Saturn, using the gravity-assist technique.
Voyager 2 succeeded on all counts. It returned spectacular photos of the entire Jovian system, and time-lapse movies made from its images of Jupiter showed how the planet had changed since Voyager 1's visit.
Its images of Io revealed changes in the moon's surface and the persistence of its volcanic eruptions. The spacecraft resolved the streaks Voyager 1 had shown on Europa into a collection of cracks in a thick and remarkably smooth icy crust.
It also discovered a 14th moon and revealed a third component to the planet's rings.
Saturn Accomplishments
Voyager 2 was to become the third spacecraft to visit Saturn. It gave us another close-range look at Saturn and its moons.
Using its photopolarimeter, an instrument that had failed on Voyager 1, Voyager 2 was able to observe the planet's rings at much higher resolution and to discover many more ringlets. It also provided more detailed images of the ring spokes and kinks, and of the F-ring and its shepherding moons.
Finally, it employed a gravity-assist maneuver at Saturn to help it reach its next destination, Uranus.
Ariel - Highest Resolution Color Picture
The complex terrain of Ariel is viewed in this image, the best Voyager 2 color picture of the Uranian moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL
Uranus Accomplishments
Following its flybys of Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 2 became the first spacecraft to visit Uranus. Voyager 2 remains the only spacecraft to have flown by Uranus.
The planet appeared to have few features but Voyager 2 found evidence of an ocean of boiling water about 500 miles (800 kilometers) below its cloud tops.
Curiously, the average temperature of its Sun-facing pole was found to be the same as that at the equator.
Voyager 2 discovered 10 new moons, two new rings, and a strangely tilted magnetic field stronger than that of Saturn.
A gravity assist at Uranus propelled the spacecraft toward its next destination, Neptune.
Neptune Full Disk View
This picture of Neptune was produced from the last whole planet images taken through the green and orange filters on the Voyager 2 narrow angle camera. Image Credit: NASA/JPL
Neptune Accomplishments
Voyager 2 is the only human-made object to have flown by Neptune. In the closest approach of its entire tour, the spacecraft passed less than 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) above the planet's cloud tops.
It discovered five moons, four rings, and a "Great Dark Spot" that vanished by the time the Hubble Space Telescope imaged Neptune five years later.
Neptune's largest moon, Triton, was found to be the coldest known planetary body in the solar system, with a nitrogen ice "volcano" on its surface.
Interstellar Accomplishments
A gravity assist at Neptune shot Voyager 2 below the plane in which the planets orbit the Sun, on a course out of the solar system.
NASA announced in December 2018 that Voyager 2 had entered interstellar space, the second spacecraft to do so after sister ship Voyager 1.
As of July 2019, Voyager 2 continued to return data from five instruments as it travels through interstellar space.
Eventually, there will not be enough electricity to power even one instrument. Then, Voyager 2 will silently continue its eternal journey among the stars.
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