Neptune-Voyager

After passing Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus The voyager spacecraft arrived at Neptune. By this time Voyager was very old and not functioning as well as it should have, but Voyager came closer to Neptune than it did to any other object in its long journey. It passed 4,400km above Neptune’s North Pole.

Astronomers were delightfully surprised when Voyager found Neptune to be different than to the featureless Uranus Which it passed earlier in its journey. It found Neptune to have huge storms due to its hot interior causing rising heat. Voyager measured wind speeds in excess of 2,400km/h, the highest on any planet. Voyager also found Neptune’s largest feature, the Great Dark Spot, which is a huge rotating sorm about the size of Earth. Since Voyager however, this dark spot has vanished. It could have dissipated or being hidden by other aspects of Neptune’s atmosphere.

Voyager is now headed for the outer reigeons of the solar System. It was only fueled to get past Jupiter but Jupiters strong gravitational pull threw Voyager towards Saturn. The same effect at saturn meant that Voyager could carry on to Uranus, then Neptune and onwards.