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Credit & Copyright: Voyager Project,
NASA
Explanation:
On Valentine's
Day in 1990,
cruising four billion miles from the Sun, the
Voyager 1 spacecraft looked back one
last time
to make this first ever
Solar
System family portrait.
The complete portrait is a
60 frame mosaic
made from a vantage point 32 degrees above the
ecliptic plane.
In it, Voyager's wide angle camera frames sweep through the
inner Solar System at the left, linking up with gas giant Neptune,
the Solar System's
outermost planet, at the far right.
Positions for Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune
are indicated by letters, while the Sun is the
bright spot near the center of the circle of frames.
The
inset frames for each of the planets are
from Voyager's narrow field camera.
Unseen in the portrait are
Mercury, too close
to the Sun to be detected, and Mars, unfortunately hidden by sunlight
scattered in the camera's optical system.
Closer to the Sun than Neptune at the time,
small, faint Pluto's
position was not covered.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Solar System - Voyager 1
Publications with words: Solar System - Voyager 1
See also: