Science / Medicine : Voyager 2 Nears Neptune

Scientists are fine-tuning computer programs and tricky observational techniques for the Voyager 2 spacecraft’s history-making 1989 encounter with the far-off planet Neptune. Launched Aug. 20, 1977, Voyager 2 is one of the most successful spacecraft ever built, passing by and studying Jupiter in 1979, Saturn in 1981 and distant Uranus in January, 1986.

“We flew by Uranus in such a way that it would deflect us to Neptune,” said Voyager project manager Norman Haynes. “We arrive at Neptune on Aug. 25, 1989, so we’re roughly halfway between Uranus and Neptune at the present time.”

In the course of its lonely journey, Voyager 2 and its twin, Voyager 1, have revolutionized astronomers’ knowledge about the outer solar system and the giant planets that majestically crawl across the sky in the dim reaches of space.