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July 9, 1979: Voyager 2’s Jupiter visit

Today in the history of astronomy, Voyager 2 makes its closest approach to Jupiter.

  • Voyager 2 closely studied Jupiter in July 1979.
  • It discovered Jupiter has a thin ring system.
  • Voyager 2 found evidence of a subsurface ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa.
  • Its Jupiter discoveries allowed for mission extension to Uranus and Neptune.

On July 9, 1979, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft came within 404,003 miles (650,180 kilometers) of Jupiter. Launched in August 1977, the Voyager probes were originally planned to study Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 1 arrived at Jupiter in March 1979, and Voyager 2 followed a few months later. Equipped with narrow- and wide-angle cameras, an interferometer, an ultraviolet spectrometer, a magnetometer, and more, Voyager 2 showed that the Great Red Spot was a storm system and revealed Jupiter’s thin ring system. Its investigations of the gas giant’s moons included confirming active volcanism on the moon Io and taking high-resolution images of Europa that suggested a ocean beneath its icy crust. Its success allowed Voyager 2 to extend its mission, becoming the only spacecraft to perform close-up explorations of Uranus and Neptune before continuing the journey into interstellar space.

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