Your Guide to the Solar System and the Night Sky
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public Observing fromLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt
north SunriseRise: 4:43  
clear_day Transit: 12:58  
SunsetSet: 21:12 south
sunny DaytimeWhat's Visible Now
Space Probes » 

Voyager 1

Altitude: -14.9°   Azimuth: 46.3°   Direction: North-East

Voyager 1 is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, to study the outer Solar System and beyond. It is currently the most distant human-made object from Earth, having traveled over 14 billion miles (23 billion kilometers) from the Sun. Voyager 1's mission has included flybys of Jupiter and Saturn, with the goal of studying their moons, rings, and magnetic fields. The probe is now traveling through the heliosheath, the outermost layer of the Sun's heliosphere, and is expected to enter interstellar space in the coming years. Voyager 1 carries a golden record that contains sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, in the event that it is ever encountered by extraterrestrial life.

Voyager 1 is currently in the constellation of Ophiucus. The current Right Ascension of Voyager 1 is 17h 14m 43s and the Declination is +12° 25’ 28” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt).

17h 14m 43s
+12° 25’ 28”
Ophiucus

Today's rise, transit and set times of Voyager 1 from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 77.6°
Max altitude: 50.9°
Azimuth: 282.4°

If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.

Available Resources

Voyager 1 Position and Finder Charts

Below we provide Voyager 1 finder charts showing where the object is right now in the sky with respect to the brightest stars. The first finder chart has a field of view of 50 degrees, while the second one has a field of view of 10 degrees. Click on each finder chart to access a full screen interactive Online Planetarium.

Finder chart of Voyager 1 in Ophiucus on June,10 2023
Map showing Voyager 1 in Ophiucus on June, 10 2023
Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View fullscreen
Finder chart of Voyager 1
Map showing Voyager 1 in Ophiucus on June, 10 2023
Field of view: 10x6 degrees
View fullscreen

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Voyager 1 is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Voyager 1
RA: 17h 14m 43s
Dec: +12° 25’ 28”
Deep sky finder chart for Voyager 1
Field of view: 60x40 arcmins
View fullscreen

Also check out Where is Voyager 1?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Voyager 1 in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Voyager 1 Distance from Earth

The distance of Voyager 1 from Earth is currently 23,830,605,336 kilometers, equivalent to 159.297758 Astronomical Units. Light takes 22 hours, 4 minutes and 50.3431 seconds to travel from Voyager 1 and arrive to us.

23,830,605,336
159.297758
22 hours, 4 minutes and 50.3431 seconds

The following chart shows the distance of Voyager 1 from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with an interval of 1 day.

Chart of the distance of Voyager 1 from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of Voyager 1 from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach of Voyager 1 to Earth

Between 1 January 2013 and 30 December 2099, the closest approach of Voyager 1 to Earth happens on Mon Apr 22 2013 at a distance of 123.348498 Astronomical Units, or 18,452,672,648 kilometers:

Mon Apr 22 2013
18,452,672,648
123.348498

NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

Visualization of Voyager 1 Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Voyager 1 with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Voyager 1 and the planets along their orbits in this diagram accurately represents the current configuration of the objects in the Solar System. This is an experimental feature and it requires a WebGL enabled browser. Please provide us feedback!

Orbit Diagram of Voyager 1

Voyager 1 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Voyager 1 computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Voyager 1 in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
2023 Jun 03 17h 14m 54s +12° 25’ 10” N.A. Ophiucus
2023 Jun 04 17h 14m 53s +12° 25’ 14” N.A. Ophiucus
2023 Jun 05 17h 14m 52s +12° 25’ 17” N.A. Ophiucus
2023 Jun 06 17h 14m 49s +12° 25’ 18” N.A. Ophiucus
2023 Jun 07 17h 14m 48s +12° 25’ 22” N.A. Ophiucus
2023 Jun 08 17h 14m 47s +12° 25’ 23” N.A. Ophiucus
2023 Jun 09 17h 14m 45s +12° 25’ 26” N.A. Ophiucus
2023 Jun 10 17h 14m 44s +12° 25’ 27” N.A. Ophiucus
2023 Jun 11 17h 14m 43s +12° 25’ 28” N.A. Ophiucus
2023 Jun 12 17h 14m 42s +12° 25’ 31” N.A. Ophiucus
2023 Jun 13 17h 14m 39s +12° 25’ 32” N.A. Ophiucus
2023 Jun 14 17h 14m 39s +12° 25’ 32” N.A. Ophiucus
2023 Jun 15 17h 14m 36s +12° 25’ 33” N.A. Ophiucus
2023 Jun 16 17h 14m 35s +12° 25’ 33” N.A. Ophiucus