All the planets of the Solar System are slowly lining up. All our 8 planets are about to form a straight line. This event is called as parade of the planets which occurs once every 176 years. The last time this happened was almost 40 years ago and it was a great chance to explore the planets in one go. On August 20th 1977, thousands of people gathered in front of Kennedy Space Center to witness the most historic launch ever - Voyager. The probe consisted of a bus 1.5 feet in height and almost 6 feet wide on top of it there was around. On top of it there was around 12 foot wide antenna. Most of the scientific equipment was mounted of boom that extended 8 feet outward. On September 5th 1977, Voyager 1 the identical space probe left our home planet. It sent us pictures of Earth and Moon. It soon overtook Voyager 2 launched 2 weeks earlier. That is why the second probe has the number one in its name and so the journey through dark space began. After travelling 4 Earth - Sun distance, Voyager 1 soon reached Jupiter and took full length photos and specific photos of the planet. The probe also had a radio science system to determine the atmospheric composition weight and gravitational fields of the planets it came across infrared and ultraviolet spectrometers could help measure radiation and temperature invisible to the human eye various sensors were used to examine cosmic rays.
Voyager 1 was the first one to find volcanoes outside Earth. It found volcanoes in Jupiter's satellites Io(I have explained how so in my previous blog.....so.....just putting it out there for advertising purposes). The probe then pointed its cameras at the Great Red Spot that it was a giant cyclone like storm that hasn't stopped for the entire history of observations of Jupiter. It was also the first time a lightning was recorded outside Earth. Five months later, Voyager 2 approached Jupiter too. Jupiter too has rings, but not like Saturn though. It mostly consists of dust due to collision of its rocky satellites. Europa - one of Jupiter's moon almost has its surface covered with ice. Voyager 1 then slingshot around Saturn and moved in upward direction rather than in the line of parade. After some time Voyager 2 did a flyby around Saturn and its moon and soon left its orbit. After five years for the first time from our planet, a human-made approached Uranus. Voyager - 2 discovered 11 new Moons. The probe also found that Uranus was the coldest planet in our Solar System. August 25th 1989 Voyager 2 had already traveled 23 years Earth - Sun distances and arrived at Neptune. It was the first time people received photos of the planet up close. It found 6 Moons and also took the first pictures of the planet's ring. Engineers then turned off the probe's camera to save power for it's main computer and instrument's that measured the Solar System and interstellar wind. Voyager 2 then hurdled off into deep space thus shutting down it's cameras. A few months later Voyager 1 sent its last photo back to Earth. It was a family portrait of our Solar System as a remembrance to not to turn our backs on family and family is the answer to everything......just kidding it's just a Fast and Furious reference. Back to the probes - after turning off their camera they thus started the interstellar journey. For 15 years Voyager 1 had been flying to the edge of the Solar System. On December 16 2004 the probe passed through the termination shock. In 2007 Voyager 2 crossed the same boundary.
August 25 2012, Voyager 1 became the first man made object to interstellar space. After 6 years Voyager 2 achieved the same feat. .Right now Voyager 1 has been functional for almost 44 years and has traveled 153 Earth - Sun distances and is moving forward with the speed of 61,155 km/hr. In 300 years the probes will reach Oort cloud which is a hypothetical region around the Solar System with nothing but asteroids and blocks of ice. Scientists think that they may reach the nearest star planets within 40,000 years. One day these probes may explore new planets and unknown worlds. It's a shame they would not be able to send photos of these.
Fun Fact: There is this disk in these probes which consists of all information regarding humanity and Solar System. It is called as The Golden Record
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Written by: Sowmiya Narayanan
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Reference:
Bright Side
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C61pgdule6w&t=509s
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