pictures of voyager one

• The Contents
• The Making of
• Where Are They Now
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Q & A with Ed Stone

golden record

Where are they now.

• frequently asked questions
• Q&A with Ed Stone

Images on the Golden Record

The following is a listing of pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft. The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University, et. al. Dr. Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind and thunder, birds, whales, and other animals. To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings from Earth-people in fifty-five languages, and printed messages from President Carter and U.N. Secretary General Waldheim. Each record is encased in a protective aluminum jacket, together with a cartridge and a needle. Instructions, in symbolic language, explain the origin of the spacecraft and indicate how the record is to be played. The 115 images are encoded in analog form. The remainder of the record is in audio, designed to be played at 16-2/3 revolutions per minute. It contains the spoken greetings, beginning with Akkadian, which was spoken in Sumer about six thousand years ago, and ending with Wu, a modern Chinese dialect. Following the section on the sounds of Earth, there is an eclectic 90-minute selection of music, including both Eastern and Western classics and a variety of ethnic music. Once the Voyager spacecraft leave the solar system, they will find themselves in empty space. It will be forty thousand years before they make a close approach to any other planetary system.

A list of images included on The Golden Record, but are not viewable, is listed at the bottom of this page .

Calibration circle

The calibration circle image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Credit: Jon Lomberg Please note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

Solar location map

The solar location map image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Credit: Frank Drake Please note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

Mathematical definitions

The mathematical definitions image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Physical unit definitions

The physical unit definitions image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Solar system parameters

The solar system parameters image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Solar spectrum

The solar spectrum image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Credit: National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, Cornell University (NAIC) Please note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

The Mercury image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Credit: NASA Please note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

The Mars image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

The Jupiter image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

The Earth image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Egypt, Red Sea, Sinal Peninsula and the Nile

The Egypt, Red Sea, Sinal Peninsula and the Nile image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Chemical definitions

The chemical definitions image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

DNA structure

The DNA structure image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

DNA structure magnified, light hit

The DNA structure magnified, light hit image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Diagram of conception

The diagram of conception image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Fetus diagram

The fetus diagram image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Diagram of male and female

Nursing mother.

The nursing mother image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Credit UN/DPI Photo Please note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

Diagram of family ages

The diagram of family ages image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Diagram of continental drift

The diagram of continental drift image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Structure of Earth

The structure of Earth image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Heron Island (Great Barrier Reef of Australia)

The Heron Island (Great Barrier Reef of Australia) image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Credit: Dr. Jay M. Pasachoff Please note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

Diagram of vertebrate evolution

The diagram of vertebrate evolution image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Sketch of bushmen

The sketch of bushmen image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Man from Guatemala

The man from Guatemala image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Credit: UN/DPI Photo Please note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

Sprinters (Valeri Borzov of the U.S.S.R. in lead)

The sprinters (Valeri Borzov of the U.S.S.R. in lead) image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Credit: History of the Olympics, Picturepoint, London Please note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

The schoolroom image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Children with globe

The children with globe image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Supermarket

The supermarket image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Credit: National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) Please note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

Fishing boat with nets

The fishing boat with nets image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Demonstration of licking, eating and drinking

The demonstration of licking, eating and drinking image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

House construction (African)

The house construction (African) image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

House (Africa)

The house (Africa) image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Modern house (Cloudcroft, New Mexico)

The modern house (Cloudcroft, New Mexico) image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

UN Building Day

The UN building day image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

UN Building Night

The UN building night image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

X-ray of hand

The X-ray of hand image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Woman with microscope

The woman with microscope image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Street scene

The street scene image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Rush hour traffic (Thailand)

Modern highway.

The modern highway image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Airplane in flight

The airplane in flight image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Radio telescope (Arecibo)

The radio telescope (Arecibo) image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Page of book (Newton, System of the World)

The page of book (Newton, System of the World) image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Astronaut in space

The astronaut in space image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Titan Centaur launch

The Titan Centaur launch image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

Violin with music score (Cavatina)

The violin with music score (Cavatina) image is one of the pictures electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.

• Due to copyright restrictions, only a subset of the images on the Golden Record are displayed above.
• All of these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

List of additional images, not featured in gallery, but exist on The Golden Record:

• The Sun, Hale observatories
• Cells and cell division, Turtox/Cambosco
• Anatomy 1, World Book
• Anatomy 2, World Book
• Anatomy 3, World Book
• Anatomy 4, World Book
• Anatomy 5, World Book
• Anatomy 6, World Book
• Anatomy 7, World Book
• Anatomy 8, World Book
• Human sex organs, Sinauer Associates, Inc.
• Conception , Albert Bonniers; Forlag, Stockholm
• Fertilized ovum, Albert Bonniers; Forlag, Stockholm
• Fetus, Dr. Frank Allan
• Birth, Wayne Miller
• Father and daughter (Malaysia), David Harvey
• Group of children, Ruby Mera, UNICEF
• Family portrait, Nina Leen, Time, Inc.
• Seashore, Dick Smith
• Snake River and Grand Tetons, Ansel Adams
• Sand dunes, George Mobley
• Monument Valley, Shostal Associates, Inc.
• Forest scene with mushrooms, Bruce Dale
• Leaf, Arthur Herrick
• Fallen leaves, Jodi Cobb
• Snowflake over Sequoia, Josef Muench, R. Sisson
• Tree with daffodils, Gardens Winterthur, Winterthur Museum
• Flying insect with flowers, Borne on the Wind, Stephen Dalton
• Seashell (Xancidae), Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
• Dolphins, Thomas Nebbia
• School of fish, David Doubilet
• Tree toad, Dave Wickstrom
• Crocodile, Peter Beard
• Eagle, Donona, Taplinger Publishing Co.
• Waterhole, South African Tourist Corp.
• Jane Goodall and chimps, Vanne Morris-Goodall
• Bushmen hunters, R. Farbman, Time, Inc.
• Dancer from Bali, donna Grosvenor
• Andean girls, Joseph Scherschel
• Thailand craftsman, Dean conger
• Elephant, Peter Kunstadter
• Old man with beard and glasses (Turkey), Jonathon Blair
• Old man with dog and flowers, Bruce Baumann
• Mountain climber, Gaston Rebuffat
• Gymnast, Philip Leonian, Sports Illustrated
• Cotton harvest, Howell Walker
• Grape picker, David Moore
• Underwater scene with diver and fish, Jerry Greenberg
• Cooking fish, Cooking of Spain and Portugal, Time-Life Books
• Chinese dinner party, Time-Life Books
• Great Wall of China, H. Edward Kim
• Construction scene (Amish country), William Albert Allard
• House (New England), Robert Sisson
• House interior with artist and fire, Jim Amos
• Taj Mahal, David Carroll
• English city (Oxford), C.S. Lewis, Images of His World, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
• Boston, Ted Spiegel
• Sydney Opera House, Mike Long
• Artisan with drill, Frank Hewlett
• Factory interior, Fred Ward
• Museum, David Cupp
• Golden Gate Bridge, Ansel Adams
• Train, Gordon Gahan
• Airport (Toronto), George Hunter
• Antarctic Expedition, Great Adventures with the National Geographic National Geographic
• Radio telescope (Westerbork, Netherlands), James Blair
• Sunset with birds, David Harvey
• String Quartet (Quartetto Italiano), Phillips Recordings

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Rae Paoletta • Mar 03, 2022

The best space pictures from the Voyager 1 and 2 missions

Launched in 1977, NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 missions provided an unprecedented glimpse into the outer solar system — a liminal space once left largely to the imagination. The spacecraft provided views of worlds we’d never seen before, and in some cases, haven’t seen much of since.

The Voyager probes were launched about two weeks apart and had different trajectories, like two tour guides at the same museum. Only Voyager 2 visited the ice giants — Uranus and Neptune — for example.

The Voyagers hold a unique position in the pantheon of space history because they’re still making it; even right now, Voyagers 1 and 2 are the only functioning spacecraft in interstellar space. Both hold a Golden Record that contains sights and sounds of Earth in case alien life were to find one of the spacecraft.

As the Voyager missions voyage on, it’s good to look back at how they captured our solar system before leaving it.

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The Pale Blue Dot – Revisited

The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of Earth taken Feb. 14, 1990, by NASA’s Voyager 1 at a distance of 3.7 billion miles (6 billion kilometers) from the Sun. The image inspired the title of scientist Carl Sagan's book, "Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space," in which he wrote: "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us."

The revised image was processed by JPL engineer and image processing enthusiast Kevin M. Gill with input from two of the image's original planners, Candy Hansen and William Kosmann.

Original – Highest-Resolution (1990)

(tif) (4.32 MB)

Original (1990)

(jpg) (414.21 KB)

Pale Blue Dot Revisited (2020)

(tif) (29.85 MB)

Voyager 1's Historic Flyby of Jupiter in Photos

On March 5, 1979, NASA's Voyager 1 flew by Jupiter , the largest planet in the solar system, in a historic encounter with the largest planet in our solar system. The photos of Jupiter beamed back by Voyager 1 were amazing, as was the science they returned. See Voyager 1's most amazing photos of Jupiter and its moons in our gallery here. 

Parts of a Whole

Voyager 1 and 2 launched in 1977 to explore the cosmos. Voyager 1 took a series of images of Jupiter, which were compiled to create this mosaic of one entire hemisphere of the planet.

While the two spacecraft were originally designed for a five-year mission to explore Jupiter and Saturn, their successes and reliability allowed for additional exploration of Uranus, Neptune and more.

Credit: JPL

Standing Out in the Cosmos

Voyager 1 took three separate photos, using three different color filters, of Jupiter this day in 1979. Back on Earth in the Image Processing Lab at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the images were combined, creating this colorful and breathtaking view of the Jovian planet.

Credit: JPL/NASA

A Planet and Two Moons

Io, Europa and Jupiter pose for a family photo. Io seems almost caught in Jupiter's Great Red Spot and glows with a very different color from Europa. Europa, on the other hand gives away very little detail about its composition with a glance from such a distance.

Jupiter's Night Light(s)

From within Jupiter's shadow Voyager 1 sent home this image detailing the planet's north pole, an aurora in action and possibly even some lightning. The image itself was taken over a long exposure of 3 minutes, 12 seconds with a wide angle camera.

A Window Inside?

Researchers believe this large brown oval, which was imaged Mar. 2, 1979, could allow a view into lower cloud levels of Jupiter if studied more closely.

Just above the brown spot lies the pale orange North Temperate Belt bordered to the south by the high speed North Temperate Current which moves with wind speeds up to 260 mi/hr (120 meters/sec).

A Big Ol' Spot

In early March 1979,  Voyager 1 collected this image of the Great Red Spot and some other surrounding atmospheric activity. The smallest white ovals featured are 20 miles (30 km) across, some of which were observed four decades ago, at formation. The different disturbances in Jupiter's atmosphere move around the planet at different speeds.

Such Beautiful Contrast

Just below Jupiter's Great Red Spot, the planet's atmosphere has a great variation of textures and patterns. Using special computer processing, these details are enhanced to enable study in hopes of deepening understanding of the Jovian atmosphere.

Ring Around the Jupiter

On Mar. 4, 1979, this multiple exposure image provided the first evidence of a ring around the Jovian planet. Stars in the image appear as broken hairpins resulting from Voyager 1's motion during the more than 11 minute exposure. The image successfully completed it mission of searching for such rings at Jupiter.

The Galilean Moons of Jupiter

In 1610, Galileo Galilei observed these four moons orbiting Jupiter. As a result, the group is referred to as the Galilean satellites of Jupiter. Shown here the relative sizes are compared — Io, on the top left; Europa, on the top right; Ganymede, on the bottom left; and Callisto, on the bottom right. 

Ganymede and Callisto are larger than planet Mercury while Io and Europa are similar in size to Earth's moon. Io consists of active volcanoes and likely has a sulfurous composition. Ganymede and Callisto appear to consist mainly of water and water ice. Europa's make up is still largely a mystery waiting to be solved.

Active Volcanoes

To create this image of Jupiter's Io, several photos of the moon were snapped by Voyager 1 on Mar. 4, 1979. Centered on the moon a circular element has been connected to an known erupting volcano while across the image similar features can be identified. Io is the first-known body, other than Earth, where active volcanism has been seen.

Photobomber

While mapping Jupiter, Io snuck into the frame. Voyager 1 captured the side of the moon Jupiter never sees, revealing never-before-seen details of the Jovian satellite: several circles with dark centers and bright rims may be craters unknown on the moon until now. Without further study, researchers won't know if they are impact of volcanic craters.

Surprising Natural Colors

A color image of Jupiter's closest Galilean moon, Io, stuns viewers with its rich colors. Scientists believe the orange and red hues arise from sulfur compounds, salts and other volcanic sublimates. While volcanic craters and lava flows may explain the dark spots across the image.

Loki, In Detail

The detailed structure of Loki, a volcano on Jupiter's Io, visualized clearly here in a Voyager 1 image. In this photo, the majority of the eruptive activity emanated from the possible rift in the dark linear feature. Also, a u-shaped "lava-lake" component reveals strange details, possibly solid sulfur "icebergs" in a liquid sulfur lake. This region claimed the hottest area on this moon at about 150 degrees Celsius.

Activity Afar

An active plume near the Loki volcano shines off the horizon of Io. The mosaic also presents views of fallout deposits from the active plume Pele at the heart-shaped feature to the southeast of Loki.

Credit: JPL/USGS/NASA

Small but Not Insignificant

The smallest of the Galilean moons, Europa displays bright areas, surmised to be ice deposits, and darker spots expected to be rocky surfaces. Long linear structures across the northern hemisphere are features unique on the satellite. One theory suggests these lines could be fractures or faults in the moon's surface.

Similar but Not the Same

From about 2.6 million miles (4.2 million km) away, Voyager 1 snapped this image of Ganymede. Though larger than planet Mercury, the moon is much less dense. Ganymede, while reminiscent of Earth's moon, is four times as bright. Scientists speculate the Jovian moon could have areas, such as the north polar region, covered in water frost creating the brightness seen here.

Explaining the Sights

Several bright impact craters glow brightly in Voyager 1's image of Ganymede from Mar. 5, 1979. Many older impact craters, missing their rays, are visible as well. Some of the erosion may be caused by faulting of the surface materials.

Strange Patterns

Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede was imaged by Voyager 1 on Mar. 5, 1979. The image reveals intricate patterns of ridges and grooves. Scientists believe these features to be deformations in the satellite's thick icy crust.

A Trio of Info

Three images of Jupiter's Callisto combine to create this high resolution photo of the satellite. A large basin-like feature, discovered by Voyager 1, appears clearly on the upper left area of the moon. Across the center of this basin a brighter contrast is seen. Researchers believe these shining areas contain more clean ice as compared to the majority of Callisto's "dirty-ice" surface.

A Triad of Data

A mosaic of Callisto came from three different spacecraft. Voyager 1 contributed the left-side image and Voyager 2 provided the right-side image, both collected in 1979. The third, central portion originated from Galileo in September of 1996.

Credit: JPL/DLR/NASA

A Peak at What's Inside

March 6, 1979, Voyager 1 snapped this image of Callisto, one of Jupiter's largest moons, from almost 200,000 km away. The central focus of the image shows the complex circular structure that mirrors impact basins seen on Earth's moon and planet Mercury. Experts believe the patterns on Callisto demonstrate the planet's low density and lack of internal strength.

Christine Lunsford joined the Space.com team in 2010 as a freelance producer and later became a contributing writer, covering astrophotography images, astronomy photos and amazing space galleries and more. During her more than 10 years with Space.com, oversaw the site's monthly skywatching updates and produced overnight features and stories on the latest space discoveries. She enjoys learning about subjects of all kinds. 

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NASA's Voyager probes have been traveling through space for nearly 46 years. Here are 18 groundbreaking photos from their incredible mission.

• Nearly 46 years after their launch, Voyager 1 and 2 will likely soon reach the end of their scientific mission . 
• NASA recently lost contact with Voyager 2 after sending it a bad command by mistake. 
• Here are 18 pictures the probes took over the course of their forty-plus-year journey. 

The Voyager probes are pioneers of science, making it farther into space than any other manufactured object. But now, they face a terminal problem: their power is running out.

The twin probes were originally sent on a four-year mission to tour the solar system, but they exceeded all expectations and are still going nearly 46 years later. That makes them NASA's longest-lived mission.

Scientists are now doing their best to  keep the probes going for as long as possible. They recently found a clever hack to extend Voyager 2's life for another three years and plan to do the same with Voyager 1.

But these are old machines and NASA is constantly scrambling to fix mistakes. Last year, Voyager 1 started sending garbled data from the outside of the solar system. NASA ultimately figured out one of its computers had gone dead.

Voyager 2 is now in limbo , as the agency revealed Friday it had lost contact with the probe when someone sent a wrong command. It could be the end of Voyager 2's mission if NASA can't fix the mistake, which the agency probably won't be able to do before October.

As the probes are nearing the end of their scientific mission, here are 18 images from Voyager that changed science.

The Voyager probes were designed to visit Jupiter and Saturn.

The Voyager mission included two probes — Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 — which NASA launched in 1977 within a few months of each other.

NASA took advantage of a rare planet alignment to turbocharge their journeys into space.

NASA originally built the probes to last five years, but they have exceeded that lifespan many times .

As of August 20 and September 5, 2023, Voyager 2 and Voyager 1 will have been traveling for 46 years, respectively. 

This is what Voyager 1 saw on its approach to Jupiter.

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 reached Jupiter in 1979.

As they flew by the planet, they took about 50,000 pictures of Jupiter. These blew away scientists, as the quality of the pictures was much better than those taken from Earth, according to NASA.

These snaps  taught scientists important facts about the planet's atmosphere, magnetic forces, and geology that would have been difficult to decipher otherwise.

The probes discovered two new moons orbiting Jupiter: Thebe and Metis.

They also spotted a thin ring around Jupiter.

The probe captured this picture as it was looking back at the planet backlit by the Sun. 

Voyager 1 discovered volcanoes at the surface of Io, one of Jupiter's moons.

Next stop: Saturn.

In 1980 and 1981, the probes reached Saturn . The flyby gave scientists unprecedented insight into the planet's ring structure, atmosphere, and moons.

Voyager snapped Saturn's rings in more detail than ever before.

And showed every secret that Enceladus, Saturn's moon, had to offer.

Saturn, snapped as the probe flew away, was shown in a new light.

By 1986, Voyager 2 had made it to Uranus.

By 1986, Voyager 1 has finished its grand tour of the solar system, and few out towards space. But Voyager 2 kept on its exploring our nearest planets, passing 50,600 miles away from Uranus in January 1986. 

Voyager 2 discovered two extra rings around Uranus , revealing the planet had at least 11, not 9. 

Voyager 2 also spotted 11 previously unseen moons around Uranus.

Here is a picture of Miranda, Uranus's sixth-biggest moon.

Voyager 2 was the first spacecraft to observe Neptune from a close distance.

In 1989, 12 years after its launch, Voyager 2 passed within 3,000 miles of Neptune. 

Here's Nepture taken by Voyager 2, in all its blue glory.

Voyager 2 took this unflattering pic of Triton's rough face.

It captured Triton, Neptune's moon in unprecedented detail. 

And snapped Triton's southern hemisphere.

As it flew by, Voyager 2 uncovered Neptune's rings.

As its parting gift, Voyager 2 took this beautiful picture of light grazing Neptune's south pole.

This is Voyager 2's last picture. Since it wouldn't come across another planet on its ongoing journey, NASA switched off its cameras after its flyby of Neptune to conserve energy for other instruments. 

Voyager 1 had one last trick up its sleeve.

As its last photographic hurrah in 1990, Voyager 1 took 60 images of the solar system from 4 billion miles away.

It gave us the Earth's longest selfie, dubbed the "pale blue dot."

This remains the longest-range selfie: a portrait of the Earth taken by a human-made probe from 4 billion miles away. 

After this picture, NASA switched off Voyager 1's cameras to save energy. NASA could switch the probes' cameras back on , but it is not a priority for the mission. 

Beyond the solar system

Though the probes are no longer sending pictures, they haven't stopped sending crucial information about space. 

In 2012, Voyager 1 became the first human-made instrument to cross into interstellar space by crossing the boundary between our solar system and the rest of the universe, called the heliopause. 

Voyager 2 was second, crossing that threshold in 2018 . The probe revealed that there was yet another  layer outside of our heliosphere.

The probes keep sending back measurements from interstellar space, like weird hums likely coming from vibrations made by neighboring stars.

Even after their instruments are switched off, the probes' mission continues.

NASA is planning to switch more of the probes' instruments in the hope of extending their life to the 2030s.

But even after all their instruments become quiet, their mission will carry on. As they drift off, they will still be carrying a golden record that carries crucial information about humanity. If intelligent extraterrestrial life exists, they could use that information to reach out to us.

This article was originally published on June 6, 2022, and is being updated with the latest developments about Voyager 1 and 2. 

• Main content

Voyager 1 and 2: The Interstellar Mission

An image of Neptune taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. Image credit: NASA

NASA has beautiful photos of every planet in our solar system. We even have images of faraway Neptune , as you can see in the photo above.

Neptune is much too distant for an astronaut to travel there with a camera. So, how do we have pictures from distant locations in our solar system? Our photographers were two spacecraft, called Voyager 1 and Voyager 2!

An artist’s rendering of one of the Voyager spacecraft. Image credit: NASA

The Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft launched from Earth in 1977. Their mission was to explore Jupiter and Saturn —and beyond to the outer planets of our solar system. This was a big task. No human-made object had ever attempted a journey like that before.

The two spacecraft took tens of thousands of pictures of Jupiter and Saturn and their moons. The pictures from Voyager 1 and 2 allowed us to see lots of things for the first time. For example, they captured detailed photos of Jupiter's clouds and storms, and the structure of Saturn's rings .

Image of storms on Jupiter taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft. Image credit: NASA

Voyager 1 and 2 also discovered active volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io , and much more. Voyager 2 also took pictures of Uranus and Neptune. Together, the Voyager missions discovered 22 moons.

Since then, these spacecraft have continued to travel farther away from us. Voyager 1 and 2 are now so far away that they are in interstellar space —the region between the stars. No other spacecraft have ever flown this far away.

Where will Voyager go next?

Watch this video to find out what's beyond our solar system!

Both spacecraft are still sending information back to Earth. This data will help us learn about conditions in the distant solar system and interstellar space.

The Voyagers have enough fuel and power to operate until 2025 and beyond. Sometime after this they will not be able to communicate with Earth anymore. Unless something stops them, they will continue to travel on and on, passing other stars after many thousands of years.

Each Voyager spacecraft also carries a message. Both spacecraft carry a golden record with scenes and sounds from Earth. The records also contain music and greetings in different languages. So, if intelligent life ever find these spacecraft, they may learn something about Earth and us as well!

A photo of the golden record that was sent into space on both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

More about our universe!

Where does interstellar space begin?

Searching for other planets like ours

Play Galactic Explorer!

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45 years ago: voyager 1 begins its epic journey to the outer planets and beyond, johnson space center.

Forty-five years ago, the Voyager 1 spacecraft began an epic journey that continues to this day. The second of a pair of spacecraft, Voyager 1 lifted off on Sept. 5, 1977, 16 days after its twin left on a similar voyage. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, managed the two spacecraft on their missions to explore the outer planets. Taking advantage of a rare planetary alignment to use the gravity of one planet to redirect the spacecraft to the next, the Voyagers planned to use Jupiter’s gravity to send them on to explore Saturn and its large moon Titan. They carried sophisticated instruments to conduct their in-depth explorations of the giant planets. Both spacecraft continue to return data as they make their way out of our solar system and enter interstellar space.

In the 1960s, mission designers at JPL noted that the next occurrence of a once-every-175-year alignment of the outer planets would happen in the late 1970s. A spacecraft could take advantage of this opportunity to fly by Jupiter and use its gravity to bend its trajectory to visit Saturn, and repeat the process to also visit Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Launching several missions to visit each planet individually would take much longer and cost much more. The original plan to send two pairs of Thermoelectric Outer Planet Spacecraft on these Grand Tours proved too costly leading to its cancellation in 1971. The next year, NASA approved a scaled-down version of the project to send a pair of Mariner-class spacecraft in 1977 to explore just Jupiter and Saturn, with an expected five-year operational life. On March 7, 1977, NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher announced the renaming of these Mariner Jupiter/Saturn 1977 spacecraft as Voyager 1 and 2. Scientists held out hope that one of them could ultimately visit Uranus and Neptune, thereby fulfilling most of the original Grand Tour’s objectives – Pluto would have to wait several decades for its first visit.

Each Voyager carried a suite of 11 instruments to study the planets during each encounter and to learn more about interplanetary space in the outer reaches of the solar system, including: 

• An imaging science system consisting of narrow-angle and wide-angle cameras to photograph the planet and its satellites.
• A radio science system to determine the planet’s physical properties.
• An infrared interferometer spectrometer to investigate local and global energy balance and atmospheric composition.
• An ultraviolet spectrometer to measure atmospheric properties.
• A magnetometer to analyze the planet’s magnetic field and interaction with the solar wind.
• A plasma spectrometer to investigate microscopic properties of plasma ions.
• A low-energy charged particle device to measure fluxes and distributions of ions.
• A cosmic ray detection system to determine the origin and behavior of cosmic radiation.
• A planetary radio astronomy investigation to study radio emissions from Jupiter.
• A photopolarimeter to measure the planet’s surface composition.
• A plasma wave system to study the planet’s magnetosphere.

Voyager 1 lifted off on Sept. 5, 1977, atop a Titan IIIE-Centaur rocket from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida. Two weeks after its launch, from a distance of 7.25 million miles, Voyager 1 turned its camera back toward its home planet and took the first single-frame image of the Earth-Moon system. The spacecraft successfully crossed the asteroid belt between Dec. 10, 1977, and Sept. 8, 1978.

Although Voyager 1 launched two weeks after its twin, it traveled on a faster trajectory and arrived at Jupiter four months earlier. Voyager 1 conducted its observations of Jupiter between Jan. 6 and April 13, 1979, making its closest approach of 216,837 miles from the planet’s center on March 5. The spacecraft returned 19,000 images of the giant planet, many of Jupiter’s satellites, and confirmed the presence of a thin ring encircling it. Its other instruments returned information about Jupiter’s atmosphere and magnetic field. Jupiter’s massive gravity field bent the spacecraft’s trajectory and accelerated it toward Saturn.

Voyager 1 began its long-range observations of Saturn on Aug. 22, 1980, passed within 114,500 miles of the planet’s center on Nov. 12, and concluded its studies on Dec. 14. Because of its interest to scientists, mission planners chose the spacecraft’s trajectory to make a close flyby of Saturn’s largest moon Titan – the only planetary satellite with a dense atmosphere – just before the closest approach to the planet itself. This trajectory, passing over Saturn’s south pole and bending north over the plane of the ecliptic, precluded Voyager 1 from making any additional planetary encounters. The spacecraft flew 4,033 miles from Titan’s center, returning images of its unbroken orange atmosphere and high-altitude blue haze layer. During the encounter, Voyager 1 returned 16,000 photographs, imaging Saturn, its rings, many of its known satellites and discovering several new ones, while its instruments returned data about Saturn’s atmosphere and magnetic field.

On Feb. 14, 1990, more than 12 years after it began its journey from Earth and shortly before controllers  permanently turned off its cameras to conserve power, Voyager 1 spun around and pointed them back into the solar system. In a mosaic of 60 images, it captured a “family portrait” of six of the solar system’s planets, including a pale blue dot called Earth more than 3.7 billion miles away. Fittingly, these were the last pictures returned from either Voyager spacecraft. On Feb. 17, 1998, Voyager 1 became the most distant human-made object, overtaking the Pioneer 10 spacecraft on their way out of the solar system. In February 2020, to commemorate the photograph’s 30th anniversary, NASA released a remastered version of the image of Earth as Pale Blue Dot Revisited .

On New Year’s Day 1990, both spacecraft officially began the Voyager Interstellar Mission as they inexorably made their escape from our solar system. On Aug. 25, 2012, Voyager 1 passed beyond the heliopause, the boundary between the heliosphere, the bubble-like region of space created by the Sun, and the interstellar medium. Its twin followed suit six years later. Today , 45 years after its launch and 14.6 billion miles from Earth, four of Voyager 1’s 11 instruments continue to return useful data, having now spent 10 years in interstellar space. Signals from the spacecraft take nearly 22 hours to reach Earth, and 22 hours for Earth-based signals to reach the spacecraft. Engineers expect that the spacecraft will continue to return data from interstellar space until about 2025 when it will no longer be able to power its systems. And just in case an alien intelligence finds it one day, Voyager 1 like its twin carries a gold-plated record that contains information about its home planet, including recordings of terrestrial sounds, music, and greetings in 55 languages. Engineers at NASA thoughtfully included Instructions on how to play the record.

The voyage continues…

Voyager 1 to Take Pictures of Solar System Planets

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, having completed its mission along with Voyager 2 to explore the outer planets, will use its cameras February 13-14 to take an unprecedented family portrait of most of the planets in our solar system.

The collection of images will be from a unique point-of-view -- looking down on the solar system from a position 32 degrees above the ecliptic plane in which the planets orbit the Sun. No other spacecraft has ever been in a position to attempt a similar series of photos of most of the planets.

Voyager 1, launched in 1977, is now about 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles) from Earth. The Voyager spacecraft are controlled by and their data received at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

"This is not just the first time, but perhaps the only time for decades that we'll be able to take a picture of the planets from outside the solar system," said Voyager Project Scientist Dr. Edward C. Stone of Caltech. No future space missions are planned that would fly a spacecraft so high above the ecliptic plane of the solar system, he said.

Starting shortly after 5 p.m. (PST) on Feb. 13 and continuing over the course of four hours, Voyager 1 will point its wide- and narrow-angle cameras at Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Earth and Venus. Mercury is too close to the Sun to be photographed by Voyager's cameras, and Pluto is too far away and too small to show up in images taken by the spacecraft. Beginning with the dimmest of the targets - Neptune -- and working toward the Sun, Voyager 1 will shutter about 64 images of the planets and the space between them.

The constellation Eridanus (The River), stretching behind the planets from Voyager 1's perspective, will provide the backdrop for the images.

Due to the schedules of several spacecraft being tracked by NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN), the images will be recorded on board Voyager 1 and played back to DSN receivers on Earth in late March. The Voyager imaging team estimates that processing the images to reveal as much detail as possible will take several weeks. Most of the planets will appear as relatively small dots (about one to four pixels, or picture elements, in the 800-by-800 pixel frame of one Voyager image).

The enormous scale of the subject matter makes it unlikely that the entire set of images can be mosaicked to produce for publication a single photograph showing all the planets. Even an image covering the planets out to Jupiter would easily fill a poster-sized photographic print. At the least, imaging team hopes to assemble a mosaicked image composed of the frames showing Earth, Venus and perhaps Mars together.

Voyager 1, rather than Voyager 2, received the solar system photo assignment largely because of Voyager 1's improved viewpoint of the planets.

Voyager 1 completed flybys of Jupiter and Saturn in 1979 and 1980, respectively. Voyager 2 flew past Jupiter in 1979, Saturn in 1981, Uranus in 1986 and Neptune last August. Both are now on missions that will take the spacecraft to the boundary of our solar system and into interstellar space.

According to Voyager engineers and scientists, the only potential damage from pointing the cameras toward the Sun is that the shutter blades of the wide-angle camera might warp. There are no plans, however, to use Voyager 1's cameras after the solar system photo series is completed.

The Voyager mission is conducted by Caltech's JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications.

The remarkable engineering triumph of the Voyager program

In 1977, two spacecraft, Voyager 1 and 2, were launched on their mission from Cape Canaveral to explore Jupiter and Saturn. Not only did they accomplish those missions, but they also continued on to observe Uranus and Neptune, eventually reaching interstellar space, where they continue to operate and send back valuable information to scientists today. On this edition of "Weekend Insight," TPR's Jerry Clayton talks about this remarkable feat of engineering with Voyager project scientist Linda Spilker.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Clayton: Give us a quick overview of the Voyager project that started going on 47 years ago now.

Spilker: The two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977, and their original mission was to visit the four outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, which Voyager 2 did, visiting all four planets. And then after that, continue to study the heliosphere. That's the bubble created by our sun crossing the heliopause. Voyager 1 crossed in 2012. Voyager 2 crossed the heliopause in 2018.

Clayton: Now, Voyager 1 is now the farthest manmade object away from Earth. Is that correct?

Spilker: That's right. Jerry. Voyager 1 is now about 15 billion miles away from the sun, and it's traveling about a million miles per day. So, getting farther away every day and it won't be coming back. It's going to continue in that space between the stars.

Clayton: That distance is mind-boggling. And what's more mind-boggling is that you're able to communicate back and forth with the spacecraft. Now, I know there have been a few communications issues over the years, but back in November of 2023, tell me what happened with Voyager 1? Did you guys think it was over with?

Spilker: Well, Voyager 1 went from one day sending back good science and engineering data until the next day just sending back a single tone, essentially like a dial tone from a phone. And there was no longer any information. And so, we were really worried that we had no information coming from the spacecraft, except we knew it was still there. And so, then the task began to figure out what had happened to Voyager 1.

Clayton: And how did you fix that problem?

Spilker: We tried a series of steps and finally identified that a chip in the flight data subsystem memory had failed, and it was stuck at a bit. And so, it was no longer working the way that it should. So we figured out we needed to move all of the computer programing the subroutines to a good portion of the memory, and then link it all back together and get it to run. And that's exactly what we did.

Clayton: How simple are these systems on board the spacecraft computer-wise compared to technology today?

Spilker: Oh, the Voyager computers are much simpler than the technology we have today. In fact, the total memory of the Voyager computers is about equivalent to what you have on your key fob. So, your cell phone is much more capable than the Voyager computers.

Clayton: So what's next for Voyager 1 and Voyager 2?

Spilker: Well, both Voyagers are going to continue to explore interstellar space. We think that they'll last it, barring any other anomalies out until about the 2030s, at which point the power will be too low to maintain operation of the spacecraft. Each of them carries a golden record , with the sights and sounds of the Earth moving out toward stars in the future. And so they'll become our silent ambassadors, carrying our message of hope and goodwill to the rest of the universe.

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