Space Odyssey - an incredible journey of Voyager 1 from Earth to Interstellar Space

Space Odyssey: an incredible journey of Voyager 1 from Earth to Interstellar Space.
The curiosity to probe unknown is inherent in almost all the human beings. This curiosity has driven us to look into dark and find clues about our own origins.
After the first moon landing which was dubbed as mankind’s giant leap, mankind decided to pole vault into the depths of universe.
On September 5, 1977, approximately 8 years after first Moon landing, NASA launched Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecrafts from cape Canaveral Florida.
The Mission of the spacecrafts was to study the outer planets of the solar system. Voyager 1 was launched 16 days after the Voyager 2 because it had to follow shorter and faster trajectory than voyager 2.
Once in 176 years, the planetary alignment is in certain order. Both Voyager 1 and 2 were launched strategically during that certain planetary alignment so that they can study the four major planets which are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Today we will follow the tracks of Voyager 1 and experience its odyssey from Solar System to Interstellar Space.
January 1979, approximately 18 months after Voyager 1 was launched, it reached to the peripheries of the Jupiter. Without wasting time, Voyager 1 started sending its first images to Earth. From the data we came to know that Jupiter is more turbulent than thought before.
Voyager 1 took images of the Jupiter with 1 colored shot per 96 seconds for 100 hours. Those images were compiled to create the first colored time-lapse of the Jupiter. The Jovian time lapse was nothing less than a wonder during that era.
Voyager 1 also imaged the four Galilean moons, they are, IO, Europa, Ganymede, and Calisto.
IO with its 8 active volcanoes is the most stunning of the Jovian family.
Apart from the already known Jovian moons, voyager 1 also found 2 news moons of Jupiter, later termed as Thebe and Metis.
Finally, Voyager used the intense gravity of Jupiter to push itself forward for its next destination; The Saturn.
November 9, 1980, Voyager reached the planet Saturn. In fact, it was only the second spacecraft in the history of mankind that had reached the peripheries of Saturn after pioneer 11.
Voyager 1 immediately started sending data to earth. It gave a detailed image of Saturn’s rings and also revealed an additional ring known as G ring. Voyager 1 also studied the magnetic field of Saturn.
The main target of Voyager 1 was to image the largest moon of Saturn, The Titan. Voyager 1 found that the atmosphere of the Titan is composed of 90% Nitrogen.
Based on the data sent by Voyager 1, it was also speculated that Titan might be the only second body after earth in the solar system where liquid might exist on the surface.
Apart from imaging Titan, Voyager 1 imaged the other moons of Saturn named Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione and Rhea.
At that point, voyager 1 was unable to achieve specific trajectory and speed required to flyby Neptune and Uranus, so Voyager 1 used the gravity of Saturn to alter its course and increase its speed to reach its next destination, “to the edge of the solar system”.
Once the Voyager was past Saturn, during that time, Carl Sagan, who was one of the designers of Voyager 1, requested to turn the voyager’s camera backwards.
At that time Voyager 1 was at the distance of 4 billion miles away from the earth. During that moment Voyager 1 took some of the most stunning and incredible pictures of our solar system as seen here.
February 14, 1990, Voyager 1 was running out of power. Finally, all of its cameras were turned off, forever, in order to save the power and memory for its interstellar phase.

December 16, 2004, Voyager 1 entered the helio-sheath, a place where solar winds turn denser and hotter. In-fact Voyager 1 is the farthest manmade object in the space. It is so far that it takes data sent by voyager 1 almost 21 hours to reach Earth.
August 25, 2012, Voyager 1 exited heliosphere and finally entered INTERSTELLAR SPACE.
Even though Voyager 1 is billions of miles away from earth yet it is still sending us some vital data from interstellar space via deep space network.

It is estimated that by 2027 voyager 1 will bid us a final goodbye before plunging silently into its everlasting expedition among the stars, forever roving into unknown.