Current Status of Voyagers 1 and 2 Spacecraft Computations via the NASA/JPL Horizons API PHP Program by Jay Tanner of Waterloo, NY, USA - 2025

Refresh Page to Update to Current Moment UTC  View/Copy PHP Source Code  Double-Click Within Text Area to Select ALL Text VOYAGER SPACECRAFT 1 and 2 CURRENT GEOCENTRIC COORDINATES AND DISTANCES FROM EARTH AND EACH OTHER IN SPACE Computed via the NASA/JPL Horizons API With a Little Extra High School Math For Current Date and Time 2025-Nov-06 19:33:39 UTC ************************************************************** VOYAGER 1 SPACECRAFT - JPL DATABASE ID# -31 Launched from Kennedy Space Center 1977-Sep-06-Tue @ 12:56 UTC Time since launch = 17,593 days = 2,513 weeks and 2 days = 48.16701 years ago CURRENT ICRF SKY COORDINATES Right Ascension Declination Distance h m s ° ' " AU | km | mi 17 14 46.204491 +12 04 34.70356 169.393460987987 AU 17.24616791417h +12.0763065444° 25,340,901,074 km 258.6925187126° 15,746,105,913 mi Light Time 23:28:48 ************************************************************** VOYAGER 2 SPACECRAFT - JPL DATABASE ID# -32 Launched from Kennedy Space Center 1977-Aug-20-Sat @ 14:29 UTC Time since launch = 17,610 days = 2,515 weeks and 5 days = 48.21355 years ago CURRENT ICRF SKY COORDINATES Right Ascension Declination Distance h m s ° ' " AU | km | mi 20 08 48.807302 -59 24 49.53656 141.541897085866 AU 20.14689091722h -59.4137601556° 21,174,366,419 km 302.2033637583° 13,157,141,307 mi Light Time 19:37:10 Current linear distance between Voyagers 1 and 2 in space: 200.1511060713 AU = 29,942,179,287 km = 18,605,207,641 mi SOME APPLIED DEFINITIONS AND EXTRA INFO FROM NASA/JPL ICRF = International Celestial Reference Frame 1 AU = 1 Astronomical Unit = 149,597,870.700 km = 92,955,807.273 mi 1 mi = 1.609344 km 1 Standard (Julian) Year = 365.25 days Refs: https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/voyager-2-launched-before-voyager-1 https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/voyager-2 https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/voyager-1 Voyager 2 launched on Aug. 20, 1977, about two weeks before the Sept. 6 (UTC) launch of Voyager 1. Why the reversal of order? The two were sent on different trajectories, and Voyager 1 was put on a path to reach its planetary targets, Jupiter and Saturn, ahead of Voyager 2. Double-Click Within Text Area to Select ALL Text ===================================== SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT VOYAGER DISTANCES: When tracking the distances to the Voyager spacecraft, you may notice that there are times when the distances seem to be de- creasing with time, rather than increasing with time. This is because when Earth is on one side of its orbit, it is moving towards the spacecraft faster than the spacecraft are moving away from us. When the Earth is on the other side of its orbit, then the situation is reversed and the distance is increasing over time. The linear speed of the spacecraft receding from Earth does not change. It is the speed of the Earth from which we are making the observations that is moving at cyclically varying relative speed over the year orbiting the sun. So, approximately 1/2 of a year, the spacecraft are moving away from Earth and the other 1/2 year towards Earth, but not necessarily at the same time, since the spacecraft are traveling in very different directions at different speeds. https://earthsky.org/space/voyager-spacecraft-getting-closer-to-earth/ Voyager 1 moves at a speed of 38,210 miles per hour (17 km/s). Voyager 2 moves at a speed of 35,000 miles per hour (15 km/s). The speed of the Earth in orbit is about 18.5 mi/s = 66,600 mi/h 29.8 km/s = 107,200 km/h --------------------------------------------------------------- Q: When will the light time to the Voyagers equate to 24 hours? A: According to the NASA/Horizons API, the answers are, as computed on 2025-Oct-12-Sun: Voyager 1 Light Time = 1440 Minutes (24 Hours) at JDUT = 2461363.595452058 = 2026-Nov-19-Thu at 02:17:27.058 UT Light Time = 1440 Minutes (24 Hours) at JDUT = 2464633.203548626 = 2035-Nov-01-Thu at 16:53:06.601 UT Difference = 8.9519 years = 3269 days 14h 36m = 467 weeks 0 days 14h 36m These values were obtained by 7-point Lagrangian Interpolation at 1-day intervals. See top of source code comments listing for the applied computational data and methodology.