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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) | 138.123 | 115.777 | 139.136 | 166.468 | 61.275 | | Speed relative to Sun (km/s) | 11.878 | 11.145 | 15.271 | 16.928 | 13.638 | | Speed relative to Sun (AU/year) | 2.506 | 2.351 | 3.221 | 3.571 | 2.877 | | Ecliptic latitude | 3° | 14° | -38° | 35° | 2° | | Declination | 25° 57' | -8° 54' | -59° 14' | 12° 14' | -20° 8' | | Right ascension | 5h 11m | 18h 56m | 20h 9m | 17h 17m | 19h 21m | | Constellation | Taurus | Scutum | Pavo | Ophiuchus | Sagittarius | | Distance from Earth (AU) | 138.218 | 116.100 | 139.473 | 166.360 | 61.677 | | One-way light time (hours) | 19.16 | 16.09 | 19.33 | 23.06 | 8.55 | | Brightness of Sun from spacecraft (Magnitude) | -16.0 | -16.4 | -16.0 | -15.6 | -17.8 | | 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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