Voyager 1 closest approach to Jupiter
The first of the four gravity assists that carried the programme outward. Beyond the trajectory change, the encounter returned the first detailed images of the Galilean moons, found a faint ring around Jupiter, and characterised a magnetosphere far larger and more energetic than models had suggested.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Voyager 1 · mission · Interstellar space, in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus · not located
- Jupiter · celestial body · not located
- Gravity assist · process · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
NASA Voyager mission science pages — planetary encounter summaries
The encounter dates and principal findings at Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, including the Jovian ring, the resolved ring structure at Saturn, the tilted and offset Uranian magnetic field and the newly found moons at both ice giants. V55 verification basis: THE PAGES WERE NOT REACHED — science.nasa.gov is blocked by this session's egress proxy and the search budget was exhausted. Everything attributed here is standard mission record from general knowledge; a curator must confirm each encounter date and each count of newly discovered moons against NASA's own pages.
NASA Science / Jet Propulsion Laboratory · access attempted 2026-08 · Partly verified
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/ — mission science and planetary encounter pages
Recorded on Voyager 1
- Flandro identifies a four-planet gravity-assist opportunity
- The full Grand Tour is cancelled and rebuilt as a two-spacecraft mission
- Pioneer 10 passes Jupiter — the first spacecraft to reach the outer Solar System
- Pioneer 11 passes Jupiter, bending north toward Saturn
- Voyager 1 launches
- Voyager 1 closest approach to Jupiter
- Active volcanism found on Io
- Voyager 2 closest approach to Jupiter
- Voyager 1 passes Saturn and Titan, and leaves the plane of the planets
- Voyager 2 passes Saturn and continues towards Uranus
- Voyager 1 photographs the solar system from outside it
- Galileo enters orbit around Jupiter — the first outer-planet orbiter
- Cassini passes Jupiter for a final speed boost toward Saturn
- Galileo is flown into Jupiter to end its mission
- Voyager 1 crosses the termination shock at about 94 AU
- New Horizons takes a gravity assist at Jupiter
- Voyager 1 crosses the heliopause at 121.6 AU
- The 2012 crossing is confirmed from plasma oscillations
- Juno enters polar orbit around Jupiter
- Voyager 1's cosmic ray subsystem is switched off
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- Voyager 1's cosmic ray subsystem is switched off · 2025-02-25
- Voyager 1's low-energy charged particle instrument due for shutdown · 2026 (announced plan)
- Voyager 1 reaches one light-day from Earth · 2026-11-18 02:16 PST (computed)
- Juno enters polar orbit around Jupiter · 2016-07-05
- The 2012 crossing is confirmed from plasma oscillations · 2013-09-12
- Voyager 1 crosses the heliopause at 121.6 AU · 2012-08-25
- New Horizons takes a gravity assist at Jupiter · 2007-02-28
- Voyager 1 crosses the termination shock at about 94 AU · 2004-12-16