Lot of six (6) 1980 newspapers- The VOYAGER I SPACE PROBE flys by SATURN & takes the 1st close-up photos of this planet and its moons - inv # BV 1A-419
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SEE PHOTO(s) - Lot of six (6) COMPLETE ORIGINAL NEWSPAPERs, the York Daily Dispatch dated Nov 4, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 18, 1980. This lot of 6 original newspapers contains front page headings and news coverage of the "fly by" of the planet SATURN and its moons by the US space probe, VOYAGER I.
Voyager 1 is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and the interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. It was launched 16 days after its twin Voyager 2. It communicates through the NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) to receive routine commands and to transmit data to Earth. Real-time distance and velocity data is provided by NASA and JPL. At a distance of 163 AU (24.4 billion km; 15.2 billion mi) from Earth as of January 2024 it is the most distant human-made object from Earth.
In November 1980, the Voyager 1 probe visited the Saturn system. It sent back the first high-resolution images of the planet, rings, and satellites.
The probe made flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, and Saturn's largest moon, Titan. NASA had a choice of either doing a Pluto or Titan flyby; exploration of the moon took priority because it was known to have a substantial atmosphere. Voyager 1 studied the weather, magnetic fields, and rings of the two gas giants and was the first probe to provide detailed images of their moons.
As part of the Voyager program and like its sister craft Voyager 2, the spacecraft's extended mission is to locate and study the regions and boundaries of the outer heliosphere and to begin exploring the interstellar medium. Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause and entered interstellar space on August 25, 2012, making it the first spacecraft to do so. Two years later, Voyager 1 began experiencing a third wave of coronal mass ejections from the Sun that continued to at least December 15, 2014, further confirming that the probe is in interstellar space.
In a further testament to the robustness of Voyager 1, the Voyager team tested the spacecraft's trajectory correction maneuver (TCM) thrusters in late 2017 (the first time these thrusters had been fired since 1980), a project enabling the mission to be extended by two to three years. Voyager 1's extended mission is expected to continue until about 2025, when its radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) will no longer supply enough electric power to operate its scientific instruments.
On December 12, 2023, NASA announced that Voyager 1's flight data system is currently unable to use its telemetry modulation unit, rendering the probe unable to transmit usable scientific data. It is currently unknown whether the probe will be able to continue its mission.
In November 1980, the Voyager 1 probe visited the Saturn system. It sent back the first high-resolution images of the planet, rings, and satellites. Surface features of various moons were seen for the first time. Because of the earlier discovery of a thick atmosphere on Titan, the Voyager controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory elected for Voyager 1 to make a close approach of Titan. This greatly increased knowledge of the atmosphere of the moon, but also proved that Titan's atmosphere is impenetrable in visible wavelengths, so no surface details were seen. The flyby also changed the spacecraft's trajectory out from the plane of the Solar System which prevented Voyager 1 from completing the Planetary Grand Tour of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
Almost a year later, in August 1981, Voyager 2 continued the study of the Saturn system. More close-up images of Saturn's moons were acquired, as well as evidence of changes in the rings. Voyager 2 probed Saturn's upper atmosphere with its radar, to measure temperature and density profiles. Voyager 2 found that at the highest levels (7 kilopascals pressure) Saturn's temperature was 70 K (-203 °C) (i.e. 70 degrees above absolute zero), while at the deepest levels measured (120 kilopascals) the temperature increased to 143 K (-130 °C). The north pole was found to be 10 K cooler, although this may be seasonal. Unfortunately, during the flyby, the probe's turnable camera platform stuck for a couple of days and some planned imaging was lost. Saturn's gravity was used to direct the spacecraft's trajectory towards Uranus.
The probes discovered and confirmed several new satellites orbiting near or within the planet's rings. They also discovered the small Maxwell and Keeler gaps in the rings..