VOYAGER 1 & 2

Reaching the edge of the Solar System and beyond

The two unmanned Voyager spacecraft have been on a long journey to escape our Solar System and enter the realms of interstellar space. After achieving the primary mission to explore Jupiter and Saturn, they progressed to explore and image the outer planets and are now studying the outer limits of the Sun’s solar wind and magnetic field as part of the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM).

They have now both passed through the heliosheath, where the compressed solar wind turbulently interacts with the interstellar medium, and crossed the heliopause, which is considered to be the edge of the Solar System. Both are still sending back data to Earth – the first craft able to give us clues about the interstellar medium that fills space beyond our Sun’s influence. Voyager 1 entered interstellar space first on 25 August 2012, with its twin spacecraft following on 5 November 2018 at a distance 122 times the Sun’s distance from Earth.