Launched in 1977 to explore Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 1 is now in interstellar space — the farthest anything built by people has ever gone. Its signal takes almost a full day to reach us.
The SunEarth
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Looking back past the dish toward home. From 172 AU the Sun is just the brightest star in the sky, and Earth is lost in its glare — only a third of a degree away (spread out here so you can see it).
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Voyager 1 Right Now
Distance from Earth
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Signal time
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One way, at the speed of light
One light-day in
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Distance from the Sun
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Speed
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In space for
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Launched 5 September 1977
In Your Sky
Where it is now
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The Journey
5 Sep 1977
Launch from Cape Canaveral, 16 days after its twin, Voyager 2, on a faster route to Jupiter.
5 Mar 1979
Jupiter. Found erupting volcanoes on Io — the first active volcanoes seen beyond Earth — and a faint ring.
12 Nov 1980
Saturn and Titan. A close pass of Titan revealed a thick orange haze, and Saturn’s gravity flung Voyager 1 up and out of the plane of the planets.
14 Feb 1990
The Pale Blue Dot. From 6 billion km it turned its camera home for a family portrait of the planets — Earth a single pixel in a sunbeam.
17 Feb 1998
Most distant object ever built, overtaking Pioneer 10.
16 Dec 2004
Termination shock at 94 AU, where the solar wind slows below the speed of sound.
25 Aug 2012
Interstellar space. Crossed the heliopause — the edge of the Sun’s bubble — at 121 AU.
Nov 2026
One light-day from Earth. A message sent from here takes 24 hours to arrive, and the reply another 24.
Early 2030s
Silence. Power is expected to run too low for any instrument, and contact will eventually be lost.
In 40,000 years
Drifts within 1.6 light-years of the star Gliese 445 — still carrying its message from Earth.
The Golden Record
A 12-inch gold-plated copper record, bolted to the side of the spacecraft with a stylus and instructions for playing it. It carries 115 pictures, greetings in 55 languages, the sounds of wind, rain, whales and a heartbeat, and 90 minutes of music from Bach to Chuck Berry. The cover shows where Earth is, mapped against 14 pulsars. In the emptiness between the stars it should survive for a billion years or more.
The Spacecraft
Mass
722 kg
About as heavy as a small car
Computer memory
69 KB
Across its three computers
Radio power
23 watts
Heard by 70 m dishes on Earth
3D model: NASA/JPL-Caltech, from NASA’s 3D Resources. Distances are calculated live from Voyager 1’s outbound path and Earth’s orbit. More NASA spacecraft in 3D ›