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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) | 119.360 | 98.257 | 115.414 | 139.777 | 39.473 | | Speed relative to Sun (km/s) | 11.963 | 11.267 | 15.356 | 16.988 | 14.212 | | Speed relative to Sun (AU/year) | 2.524 | 2.377 | 3.239 | 3.584 | 2.998 | | Ecliptic latitude | 3° | 14° | -36° | 35° | 2° | | Declination | 25° 59' | -8° 50' | -57° 49' | 12° 12' | -20° 45' | | Right ascension | 5h 12m | 18h 47m | 19h 56m | 17h 11m | 19h 0m | | Constellation | Taurus | Scutum | Pavo | Ophiuchus | Sagittarius | | Distance from Earth (AU) | 119.215 | 98.005 | 115.115 | 139.943 | 39.171 | | One-way light time (hours) | 16.52 | 13.58 | 15.96 | 19.40 | 5.43 | | Brightness of Sun from spacecraft (Magnitude) | -16.3 | -16.7 | -16.4 | -16.0 | -18.7 | | 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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