Voyager 1 crosses Solar System, enters interstellar space

Published: September 21, 2013

Voyager 1 became the first man-made object to cross the Solar System and enter into interstellar space on August 25, 2012. The space probe is at a distance of more than 19 billion km from the Sun.

What is Voyager 1?

Voyager 1 is a space probe launched by NASA in 1977 alongside its identical sister probe Voyager 2 to study the outer Solar System and the interstellar medium – the physical space within a galaxy not occupied by stars or their planetary systems.

Salient facts about Voyager 1:
  • Flew by Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1980, concluding its primary mission and became the first spacecraft to transmit detailed images of the two planets and their moons.
  • In 1990, 9.6 billion km from Earth, it turned around and clicked the entire Solar System.
  • Since then it has been flying toward the edge of the Solar System at some 17 km/s, surrounded by a hot ‘sea’ of charged particles called plasma.
  • Crossed the heliopause and entered interstellar space on August 25, 2012.

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