Forty years ago, the twin Voyager spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, sending back beautiful images of our Solar System, the like of which had never been seen before.
Between them, the two Voyager spacecraft have visited Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and have explored the outer reaches of the Solar System, the edge of the Sun’s domain and beyond.
The Voyager spacecraft returned thousands of images from the planets and moons of the Solar System over the years.
They showed us the intricacies of Jupiter's Great Red Spot and the complexity of Saturn’s rings.
Voyager 2 is still the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus and Neptune, giving us our first (and still, best) glimpses of these icy worlds.
Here are some of the best of them.
The planet Jupiter, taken by Voyager 1 at a distance of 54 million km from its closest approach. The Great Red Spot dominates the picture and swirling, storm-like features are visible above and to the left of the Spot, showing the turbulent atmosphere. (Credit: NASA/JPL)
Jupiter's Great Red Spot captured by Voyager 1 in February 1979, at a distance of 9.2 million km. The wavy cloud pattern to the right of the Red Spot is variable wave motion in the atmosphere; evidence of large-scale storms. (Credit: NASA/JPL)
Voyager 1's discovered volcanic activity on Jupiter’s moon Io. In this shot we can see the plumes of volcanoes Amirani (top) and Maui (bottom), visible against the blackness of space. (Credit: NASA/JPL)
An image of Saturn from Voyager 2. The picture has been colour-enhanced to show in bright details the planet’s surface and the features of the rings. Clearly visible is the gap between the A and B rings, called the Cassini Division. (Credit: NASA/JPL)
Saturn rings with 'spoke' features in the inner B-ring. The spokes are thought to consist of microscopic dust particles suspended by electrostatic repulsion and appear as shadows on the image. (Credit: NASA/JPL)
Saturn and two of its moons photographed in 1980 by Voyager 1. The moons, Tethys (closest to the planet) and Dione, are visible as bright spots in space next to the gas giant. Tethys's shadow can also be seen on Saturn itself. (Credit: NASA/JPL)
Uranus as photographed by Voyager 2 in 1986. The view is towards the planet's pole of rotation captured from 18 million km away. The left image is in the original colours that a human would see looking from the spacecraft. To the right, false-colours exaggerate a potential polar haze of smog-like particles. (Credit: NASA/JPL)
Voyager 2 captures the newly discovered 10th ring of Uranus – it's extremely faint, midway between the bright Epsilon ring at the top and the next obvious one down, the Delta ring. The other nine known rings of Uranus are also visible; and 11th was spotted in Voyager data at a later date. (Credit: NASA/JPL)
Farewell shot of the crescent Uranus as Voyager 2 heads towards Neptune in 1986. Despite the limited light on the planet, Uranus maintains its blue-green colour, resulting from methane in its atmosphere.(Credit: NASA/JPL)
Voyager 2 photograph of Neptune. The Great Dark Spot is dominant close to the left limb, while immediately below it is a white feature nicknamed ‘Scooter’. Near the bottom of the planet's disc is Dark Spot 2, with its light core. Credit: NASA/JPL
A view of cloud streaks in Neptune's atmosphere, captured by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL
The dramatic view of Neptune and Triton (its largest moon) as crescents, captured as Voyager 2 flew away from the planet. The spacecraft was 4.8 million km away and heading out of the Solar System. (Credit: NASA/JPL)
This is the Pale Blue Dot, part of the ‘family portrait’ of the Solar System taken by Voyager 1 looking towards Earth from a distance of 6 billion km. The Earth appears as a tiny speck at the centre of one of the rightmost scattered sunbeams. (Credit: NASA/JPL)
Saturn and two of its moons photographed in 1980 by Voyager 1. The moons, Tethys (closest to the planet) and Dione, are visible as bright spots in space next to the gas giant. Tethys's shadow can also be seen on Saturn itself. (Credit: NASA/JPL)
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