Voyager 2 Flies Uranus: Outer Solar System Revealed
Voyager 2 completed its closest approach to Uranus on January 24, 1986, passing within 81,500 kilometers of the planet's cloud tops after a nine-year journey from Earth. The probe discovered ten previously unknown moons and two new rings, expanding the known ring system from five to eleven. Uranus turned out to be far more dynamic than expected. Despite its bland blue-green appearance, the atmosphere contained winds reaching 900 kilometers per hour, and the planet's magnetic field was tilted 59 degrees from its rotational axis, unlike anything seen elsewhere in the solar system. Most bizarrely, Uranus rotates on its side, likely the result of a collision with an Earth-sized object billions of years ago. Voyager 2 remains the only spacecraft ever to visit Uranus. No return mission is currently funded, making these 1986 observations still the best data available.
January 24, 1986
40 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on January 24
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