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Voyager 2
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<p><i>Voyager 2</i> is a <a href="/facts/Space_probe/AeWRBITP">space probe</a> launched by <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">NASA</a> on August 20, 1977, as a part of the <a href="/facts/Voyager_program/cPm6qnNx">Voyager program</a>. It was launched on a <a href="/facts/Trajectory/STNN33FK">trajectory</a> towards the <a href="/facts/Gas_giants/pmF6KztG">gas giants</a> (<a href="/facts/Jupiter/95m7XjMT">Jupiter</a> and <a href="/facts/Saturn/D54LcGJ9">Saturn</a>) and enabled further encounters with the <a href="/facts/Ice_giants/mJ4YTuup">ice giants</a> (<a href="/facts/Uranus/x7YwT1ar">Uranus</a> and <a href="/facts/Neptune/1eucwHIC">Neptune</a>). The only spacecraft to have visited either of the ice giant planets, it was the <a href="/facts/List_of_artificial_objects_leaving_the_Solar_System/QoVy4MmU">third of five spacecraft</a> to achieve Solar <a href="/facts/Escape_velocity/bdtme0tx">escape velocity</a>, which allowed it to leave the <a href="/facts/Solar_System/QIcLSazQ">Solar System</a>. Launched 16 days before its twin <i><a href="/facts/Voyager_1/39jCxR9I">Voyager 1</a></i>, the primary mission of the spacecraft was to study the <a href="/facts/Outer_planets/QIcLSazQ">outer planets</a> and its extended mission is to study <a href="/facts/Interstellar_space/R3LRKyFs">interstellar space</a> beyond the <a href="/facts/Sun/CadPCVHh">Sun</a>'s <a href="/facts/Heliosphere/Yc9ToWbA">heliosphere</a>. </p><p><i>Voyager 2</i> successfully fulfilled its primary mission of visiting the <a href="/facts/Exploration_of_Jupiter/IJXGVWPc">Jovian system</a> in 1979, the <a href="/facts/Exploration_of_Saturn/y2fYUBGp">Saturnian system</a> in 1981, <a href="/facts/Exploration_of_Uranus/cQKmobQp">Uranian system</a> in 1986, and the <a href="/facts/Exploration_of_Neptune/yGPG6DAW">Neptunian system</a> in 1989. The spacecraft is in its extended mission of studying the <a href="/facts/Interstellar_medium/mokU0WEz">interstellar medium</a>. It is at a distance of 139.26 <a href="/facts/Astronomical_unit/gjsbu5xU">AU</a> (20.8 <a href="/facts/1000000000_(number)/Ij1fl5Q7">billion</a> <a href="/facts/Kilometre/hdQp79QE">km</a>; 12.9 billion <a href="/facts/Mile/e22bY569">mi</a>) from <a href="/facts/Earth/HLLmDfj0">Earth</a> as of May 2025. </p><p>The probe entered the interstellar medium on November 5, 2018, at a distance of 119.7 AU (11.1 billion mi; 17.9 billion km) from the <a href="/facts/Sun/CadPCVHh">Sun</a> and moving at a velocity of 15.341 km/s (34,320 mph) relative to the Sun. <i>Voyager 2</i> has left the Sun's <a href="/facts/Heliosphere/Yc9ToWbA">heliosphere</a> and is traveling through the <a href="/facts/Interstellar_medium/mokU0WEz">interstellar medium</a>, though still inside the <a href="/facts/Solar_System/QIcLSazQ">Solar System</a>, joining <i>Voyager 1</i>, which had reached the interstellar medium in 2012. <i>Voyager 2</i> has begun to provide the first direct measurements of the density and temperature of the interstellar <a href="/facts/Plasma_(physics)/1d3btMVU">plasma</a>. </p><p><i>Voyager 2</i> is in contact with Earth through the <a href="/facts/NASA_Deep_Space_Network/IcapMQTR">NASA Deep Space Network</a>. Communications are the responsibility of <a href="/facts/Australia/qLHpbppq">Australia</a>'s <a href="/facts/Canberra_Deep_Space_Communication_Complex/gnzN1uV3">DSS 43 communication antenna</a>, near <a href="/facts/Canberra/V2PldFRs">Canberra</a>. </p>