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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) | 120.824 | 99.625 | 117.259 | 141.856 | 41.201 | | Speed relative to Sun (km/s) | 11.955 | 11.256 | 15.348 | 16.982 | 14.146 | | Speed relative to Sun (AU/year) | 2.522 | 2.374 | 3.238 | 3.582 | 2.984 | | Ecliptic latitude | 3° | 14° | -36° | 35° | 2° | | Declination | 25° 54' | -8° 44' | -57° 42' | 12° 21' | -20° 24' | | Right ascension | 5h 9m | 18h 52m | 20h 3m | 17h 14m | 19h 13m | | Constellation | Taurus | Scutum | Pavo | Ophiuchus | Sagittarius | | Distance from Earth (AU) | 121.494 | 99.331 | 117.105 | 141.281 | 40.957 | | One-way light time (hours) | 16.84 | 13.77 | 16.23 | 19.58 | 5.68 | | Brightness of Sun from spacecraft (Magnitude) | -16.3 | -16.7 | -16.4 | -15.9 | -18.6 | | 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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