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Aug 22, 2019 · Thirty years ago, on Aug. 25, 1989, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft made a close flyby of Neptune, giving humanity its first close-up of our solar system’s eighth planet. Marking the end of the Voyager mission’s Grand Tour of the solar system’s four giant planets — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune — that first was also a last: No other spacecraft has visited Neptune since.
Aug 26, 2019 · In January 1986, Voyager 2 became the first spacecraft to investigate Uranus and used that planet’s gravity to alter its trajectory to explore Neptune, the outermost planet of the solar system. Because of Neptune’s great distance from the Sun, engineers made changes to Voyager’s imaging techniques to accommodate light levels only 3% of what they were during the Jupiter encounter.
Neptune has been directly explored by one space probe, Voyager 2, in 1989. As of 2024, there are no confirmed future missions to visit the Neptunian system, although a tentative Chinese mission has been planned for launch in 2024. [1] NASA, ESA, and independent academic groups have proposed future scientific missions to visit Neptune.
1989: Voyager 2 becomes the first and only spacecraft to visit Neptune, passing about 4,800 kilometers (2,983 miles) above the planet's north pole. 2002: Using improved observing techniques, astronomers discover four new moons orbiting Neptune: Laomedia, Neso, Sao and Halimede. 2003: Another moon, Psamathe, is discovered using ground-based ...
Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to study all four of the solar system's giant planets at close range. Voyager 2 discovered a 14th moon at Jupiter. Voyager 2 was the first human-made object to fly past Uranus. At Uranus, Voyager 2 discovered 10 new moons and two new rings. Voyager 2 was the first human-made object to fly by Neptune.
- United States of America (USA)
- 1,592 pounds (721.9 kilograms)
- Voyager 2
Voyager 2, launched August 20, 1977, visited Jupiter in 1979, Saturn in 1981 and Uranus in 1986 before making its closest approach to Neptune on August 25, 1989. Voyager 2 traveled 12 years at an average velocity of 19 kilometers a second (about 42,000 miles an hour) to reach Neptune, which is 30 times farther from the Sun than Earth is.
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Aug 25, 2024 · Thirty-five years ago, on August 25, 1989, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft made a close flyby of Neptune. It gave humanity its 1st close-up of our solar system’s 8th planet. It also marked the end ...
