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. Seen within the inner edge of the brighter ring is a fainter ring, which may extend all the way down to Jupiter's cloud tops. The ring was unexpectedly bright, due to forward scattering of sunlight by small ring particles. The rings were discovered in March 1979 by Voyager 1. ARC-1979-A79-7109

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."