Voyager 1

steemizen (69)in #education • 9 years ago

Hello Steemians!

As yesterday I introduced you to the Voyager 2 probe, today is time to look at it's twin brother, Voyager 1!

Like Voyager 2, Voyager 1 was launched by NASA, but it was launched a bit later, on September 5, 1977.

The launch of Voyager 1- Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida

The main mission of Voyager one was to by fly Jupiter, Saturn and Titan, Saturn's largest moon.

Voyager 1

Like its twin brother, the Voyager 1 also carries a Golden Record with various sounds, videos, images and data about earth.

The Voyager 1 Golden Record

The first planet that Voyager 1 visited was Jupiter.
The closest approach the probe had to the planet was at a distance of 349,000 km on March 5, 1979, where in the course of 4 months it took pictures of the moons, rings and other objects and phenomena within the Jovian System.
Probably the most important discovery was the volcanic activity on the moon Io.

A big volcanic eruption on Io - Voyager 1

The next station was Saturn, where Voyager 1 explored complex structures of Saturn's rings and studied the atmosphere of Saturn and Titan.
The closes approach took place on November 12, 1980, it discovered that Saturn's atmosphere is mostly made out of hydrogen and found aurora like ultraviolet emission of hydrogen in it.

Image of Saturn 4 days after closest approach - Voyager 1

As it ended it's main mission on November 14, 1980, Voyager 1 was then given the task to make a "Family Portrait" of our Solar System, which it finished on February 14, 1990.

Family Portrait of the Solar System - Voyager 1

On September 12, 2013, Voyager 1 officially entered the interstellar medium and is expected to be somewhat operational to about 2030.
It is heading towards the Oort cloud and is expected to reach it in about 300 years, it is believed that it will be wondering through the Milky Way for a very long time, possibly even forever.