Voyager

Voyager, 1977 to now: two spacecraft launched sixteen days apart, past Jupiter and Saturn, and Voyager 2 on to Uranus and Neptune. No spacecraft has visited either planet since.

9 photographs · 1977 to 1990 · Mission 7 of 14
9 photographs
Jupiter's Great Red Spot and a white oval, Voyager 1, February 1979
Voyager 1 · February 1979PIA01384

Watching a Storm Turn

Astronomers had been recording the Great Red Spot for three centuries. Voyager was the first to watch it move.
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Crescent Saturn casting its shadow on the rings, Voyager 1, 16 November 1980
Voyager 1 · 16 November 1980PIA01969

Shadow on the Rings

Voyager 1 was four days past the planet and looking back. Seen from Earth, Saturn never shows a crescent.
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The planet Uranus, Voyager 2, January 1986
Voyager 2 · January 1986PIA18182

Uranus Seen Once

Voyager 2 passed in January 1986. No spacecraft has been back to the planet since.
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Titan Centaur rocket lifting off, seen through trees, Voyager 2, 20 August 1977
Voyager 2 · 20 August 1977PIA01480

Launched First, Numbered Second

Voyager 2 left Cape Canaveral sixteen days ahead of Voyager 1, on the slower road.
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Saturn with Tethys, Dione and the ring shadows, Voyager 1, 3 November 1980
Voyager 1 · 3 November 1980PIA00024

The Planet Through the Gap

Two moons, and the edge of Saturn showing through the division that splits the rings.
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Jupiter as a crescent, Voyager 1, 24 March 1979
Voyager 1 · 24 March 1979PIA01324

Jupiter as a Crescent

From Earth the planet only ever shows a full face. This phase needs a camera that has already gone past it.
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Earth as a tiny point inside a sunbeam, Voyager 1, 14 February 1990
Voyager 1 · 14 February 1990PIA23645

Earth in a Sunbeam

Earth is the single point of light inside the beam, less than one pixel across. Thirty four minutes after the last of these frames, the cameras were switched off for good.
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Earth and the Moon in a single frame, Voyager 1, 18 September 1977
Voyager 1 · 18 September 1977PIA01967

Earth and Moon Together

The first photograph to hold both in one frame. The Moon had to be brightened three times over to appear at all.
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Neptune with the Great Dark Spot, Voyager 2, August 1989
Voyager 2 · August 1989PIA01492

The Storm That Vanished

Voyager 2 is still the only spacecraft to have visited Neptune. Nobody has photographed this storm since.
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Voyager, 1977 to now: two spacecraft launched sixteen days apart, past Jupiter and Saturn, and Voyager 2 on to Uranus and Neptune. No spacecraft has visited either planet since.

9 photographs · 1977 to 1990 · Mission 7 of 14
About Voyager

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 left Florida in the late summer of 1977 and are still sending data from interstellar space. These prints include the first photograph of Earth and the Moon together in one frame, the Great Red Spot of Jupiter in motion, and Saturn and its rings seen from behind. From Voyager 2 alone come Uranus and a storm on Neptune that nobody has photographed since. The last is Earth in a sunbeam, captured by Voyager 1 on 14 February 1990 from about 6 billion kilometres away, the frame known as the Pale Blue Dot.