Voyager 1:
Overview
Following on the pathfinding heels of
Pioneer 11, Voyager 1
flew 124,000 kilometers (77,000 miles) above
Saturn's cloudtops in 1980,
targeted for a close look at Saturn's large moon
Titan. Titan proved to be so heavily
shrouded by a thick, nitrogen-rich atmosphere that Voyager's cameras could not image the
moon's surface, but other instruments gathered Titan data. Voyager 1 returned stunning
images of Saturn and its
rings,
showing that the rings are far more complex than ever imagined. Unusual ring features
called "spokes" may be particles electrostatically levitated above the ring
plane. Some rings defied explanation, being elliptical, discontinuous, or multi-stranded.
Several small satellites were found guiding ring material between them, providing clues to
age-old questions about the formation and lifetime of planetary rings. With the completion
of its Saturn observations, Voyager 1's prime mission was complete, and the spacecraft
became a solar physics laboratory, monitoring fields and particles in the interplanetary
medium. In February 1991, from a vantage point 3.7 billion miles from the
Sun and 32 degrees above the plane of
the ecliptic, Voyager 1 returned an historic "family portrait" of nearly all the
planets in our solar system. Voyager 1 is continuing its journey toward interstellar space,
and is now farther from Earth than any other spacecraft.
Read More About Voyager 1
Visit the Voyager 1 Website
