What is Voyager 1 ?

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Voyager 1 is about 13 billion miles from Earth in interstellar space, and Voyager 2 is not far behind.

Voyager 1 is in "Interstellar space" and Voyager 2 is currently in the "Heliosheath" -- the outermost layer of the heliosphere where the solar wind is slowed by the pressure of interstellar gas.

“You know it's coming, but it's still sad to recognize it's really over and you can't communicate with the spacecraft anymore.

No human-made object has ever traveled farther than Voyager 1, which has made it about 12.5 billion miles from Earth since its launch in 1977.

Traveling at speeds of over 35,000 miles per hour, it will take the Voyagers nearly 40,000 years, and they will have traveled a distance of about two light years to reach this rather indistinct boundary.

there is a more definitive and unambiguous frontier, which the Voyagers will approach and pass through.

A signal from Voyager 1, traveling at the speed of light, takes 17 hours one way to reach Earth.

The heliosheath is the region of the heliosphere beyond the termination shock. Here the wind is slowed, compressed and made turbulent by its interaction with the interstellar medium.

At its closest point, the inner edge of the heliosheath lies approximately 80 to 100 AU from the Sun.

Part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System, Voyager 1 launched 16 days after its twin, Voyager 2. Having operated for 41 years, 3 months and 5 days as of December 10, 2018, the spacecraft still communicates with the Deep Space Network to receive routine commands and return data.

Scientists can't "see" our first interstellar ambassador in the visible spectrum, but they can detect Voyager 1's signal in radio light.

At the time of the observation, Voyager 1 was 11.5 billion miles (18.5 billion kilometers) away from Earth.

While Voyager 1 is commonly spoken of as having left the Solar System simultaneously with having left the heliosphere, the two are not the same.

The Solar System is usually defined as the vastly larger region of space populated by bodies that orbit the Sun.

Between them, Voyager 1 and 2 explored all the giant planets of our outer solar system, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune; 48 of their moons; and the unique system of rings and magnetic fields those planets possess.

Closest approach to Jupiter occurred on March 5, 1979 for Voyager 1; July 9, 1979 for Voyager 2.

It is the furthest man-made object in space. It has travelled more than 11 billion miles since it was launched nearly 36 years ago.

now Voyager 1 has boldly gone where no spacecraft has gone before – it has left the outer reaches of the Solar System.

The twin Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft are exploring where nothing from Earth has flown before. Continuing on their more-than-40-year journey since their 1977 launches, they each are much farther away from Earth and the sun than Pluto.

Launched on 2 March 1972, Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to travel through the Asteroid belt, and the first spacecraft to make direct observations and obtain close-up images of Jupiter.

Famed as the most remote object ever made by man through most of its mission, Pioneer 10 is now over 8 billion miles away.

In August 2012, Voyager 1 made the historic entry into interstellar space, the region between stars, filled with material ejected by the death of nearby stars millions of years ago.

Voyager 2 entered interstellar space on November 5, 2018 and scientists hope to learn more about this region. Both spacecraft are still sending scientific information about their surroundings through the Deep Space Network, or DSN.

When they were launched in 1977, the Voyagers were designed for a five-year lifespan, but both have outlived that projection by 30 years