What is the Voyager probe?
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are NASA space probes launched in 1977 to study the outer planets. They are now in interstellar space, the most distant human-made objects ever.
The Voyager probes took advantage of a rare planetary alignment to visit several planets using gravity assists. Voyager 1 flew past Jupiter and Saturn, and Voyager 2 visited Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, remaining the only spacecraft to visit the two ice giants. They discovered volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io and details of Saturn's rings.
Voyager 1 entered interstellar space, beyond the Sun's bubble of solar wind called the heliosphere, in 2012, and Voyager 2 followed in 2018. They are powered by radioactive generators, whose output slowly declines. NASA has been switching off instruments to save power and keep them working as long as possible.
The Golden Record
Each Voyager carries a gold-plated record with sounds and images of Earth, including greetings in 55 languages, music from around the world and natural sounds like thunder and whales. It is a message for any intelligent life that might find it.
Did You Know?
In 1990, Voyager 1 took the famous Pale Blue Dot photo, showing Earth as a tiny speck from about 6 billion kilometers away.