Voyager 2 reaches Uranus — the only close encounter ever made
Because Uranus is tipped almost onto its side, its moons and rings lie in a plane nearly perpendicular to an approaching spacecraft, so the entire system had to be observed in a few hours rather than over days. Voyager 2 found around ten new moons, further rings, and a magnetic field steeply tilted from the rotation axis and offset from the planet's centre. Forty years later this remains the only close observation of the planet in existence.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
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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 2
- The full Grand Tour is cancelled and rebuilt as a two-spacecraft mission
- Voyager 2 launches
- Voyager 2 closest approach to Jupiter
- Voyager 2 passes Saturn and continues towards Uranus
- Voyager 2 reaches Uranus — the only close encounter ever made
- Voyager 2 passes Neptune and Triton, ending the planetary programme
- Voyager 2 crosses the termination shock at about 84 AU
- Voyager 2 crosses the heliopause at 119 AU
- Voyager 2's low-energy charged particle instrument is switched off
- The "Big Bang" power manoeuvre on Voyager 2
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- The "Big Bang" power manoeuvre on Voyager 2 · 2026-07-09
- Voyager 2's low-energy charged particle instrument is switched off · 2025-03-24
- Voyager 2 crosses the heliopause at 119 AU · 2018-11-05
- Voyager 2 crosses the termination shock at about 84 AU · 2007-08-30
- Voyager 2 passes Neptune and Triton, ending the planetary programme · 1989-08-25
- Voyager 2 passes Saturn and continues towards Uranus · 1981-08-25
- Voyager 2 closest approach to Jupiter · 1979-07-09
- Voyager 2 launches · 1977-08-20