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Spacecraft escaping the Solar System
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This page shows the current positions and other interesting data of the five spacecraft which are leaving the Solar System on escape trajectories - our first emissaries to the stars. On this scale, the nearest star to the Sun would be approximately 100 meters away, and it would take Voyager 1 about 70,000 years to cover that distance.
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View from 90° above ecliptic plane
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View from 10° above ecliptic plane
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| Pioneer 10 | Pioneer 11 | Voyager 2 | Voyager 1 | New Horizons | | Distance from Sun (AU) | 140.711 | 118.191 | 142.421 | 170.156 | 64.239 | | Speed relative to Sun (km/s) | 11.868 | 11.131 | 15.261 | 16.921 | 13.589 | | Speed relative to Sun (AU/year) | 2.504 | 2.348 | 3.219 | 3.569 | 2.867 | | Ecliptic latitude | 3° | 14° | -38° | 35° | 2° | | Declination | 25° 57' | -8° 52' | -59° 29' | 12° 16' | -20° 5' | | Right ascension | 5h 11m | 18h 57m | 20h 11m | 17h 18m | 19h 22m | | Constellation | Taurus | Scutum | Pavo | Ophiuchus | Sagittarius | | Distance from Earth (AU) | 141.022 | 118.306 | 142.593 | 169.872 | 64.434 | | One-way light time (hours) | 19.55 | 16.40 | 19.77 | 23.55 | 8.93 | | Brightness of Sun from spacecraft (Magnitude) | -16.0 | -16.3 | -15.9 | -15.5 | -17.7 | | Spacecraft still functioning? | no | no | yes | yes | yes | | Launch date | 1972-Mar-03 | 1973-Apr-06 | 1977-Aug-20 | 1977-Sep-05 | 2006-Jan-19 |
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