Current Status of Voyagers 1 and 2 Spacecraft Computations via the NASA/JPL Horizons API PHP Program by Jay Tanner of Geneva, NY, USA - 2026

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 APPARENT 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 2026-Feb-04 16:58:56 UTC ************************************************************** VOYAGER 1 SPACECRAFT - JPL DATABASE ID# -31 Launched from Kennedy Space Center 1977-Sep-06-Tue @ 12:56 UTC Time since launch = 17,683 days = 2,526 weeks and 1 day = 48.41342 years ago CURRENT APPARENT ICRF SKY COORDINATES Right Ascension Declination Distance h m s ° ' " AU | km | mi 17 17 58.399096 +12 03 54.50495 170.003853230392 AU 17.29955530444h +12.0651402639° 25,432,214,454 km 259.4933295666° 15,802,845,417 mi Light Time 23:33:53 ************************************************************** VOYAGER 2 SPACECRAFT - JPL DATABASE ID# -32 Launched from Kennedy Space Center 1977-Aug-20-Sat @ 14:29 UTC Time since launch = 17,700 days = 2,528 weeks and 4 days = 48.45996 years ago CURRENT APPARENT ICRF SKY COORDINATES Right Ascension Declination Distance h m s ° ' " AU | km | mi 20 14 55.121213 -59 07 08.90070 142.710983877580 AU 20.24864478139h -59.1191390833° 21,349,259,314 km 303.7296717208° 13,265,814,713 mi Light Time 19:46:53 Current linear distance between Voyagers 1 and 2 in space: 201.3036123683 AU = 30,114,591,775 km = 18,712,339,795 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 UTC = 2026-Nov-18-Wed at 21:17:27.058 New York Standard Time ========= Voyager 2 Light Time = 1440 Minutes (24 Hours) at JDUT = 2464633.203548626 = 2035-Nov-01-Thu at 16:53:06.601 UTC = 2035-Nov-01-Thu at 11:53:06.601 New York Standard Time 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.