Range : 1.5 million km ( 930,000 miles ) This high resolution view of Jupitor's ring, part of a set obtained by Voyager 2 (A79-7101), suggests that it may be divided into several components, as are the rings of Saturn. The ring was unexpectedly bright, due to forward scattering of sunlight by small ring particles. The rings were discovered 4 months ago by Voyager 1. The 'V' shaped figure to the left is caused by a star image which was trailed out as the camera moved slightly during the long exposure. ARC-1979-A79-7108

In 1977, Voyager 1 and 2 started their one-way journey to the end of the solar system and beyond, now traveling a million miles a day. Jimmy Carter was president when NASA launched two probes from Cape Canaveral. Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, were initially meant to explore Jupiter, Saturn, and their moons. They did that. But then they kept going at a rate of 35,000 miles per hour. Each craft bears an object that is a record, both dubbed the Golden Records. They were the product of Carl Sagan and his team who produced a record that would, if discovered by aliens, represent humanity and "communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials."