NASA's Voyager Twins Used a Rare Planetary Alignment to Tour the Giant Planets

In 1977 NASA launched the twin spacecraft Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. The missions took advantage of a planetary alignment that occurs roughly once every 175 years, involving Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. By using six gravity assists between the planets, the Grand Tour enabled close-up observations of the gas and ice giants. The flybys also captured images and data on several of their moons. The article is part of NASA's November night sky notes series.
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