Far Encounter: Voyager closes in on Uranus

Voyager closes in on Uranus

It was launched in 1977 and flew by Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1981, sending back spectacular pictures and mountains of data. Last week, still in good health after more than eight years in the void, Voyager 2 had closed to within 46 million miles of Uranus, its next target. The spacecraft's early shots of the mysterious planet, which is four times as large as the earth, were transmitted across 1.8 billion miles of space to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. They depicted Uranus as a fuzzy blue-green ball, showed its five known moons and barely discerned the...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!