Voyager 1 flew by Jupiter in 1979. Launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, Voyager 1 began its Jupiter encounter in January 1979 and made its closest approach on March 5, 1979.
The spacecraft passed about 280,000 kilometers from Jupiter and sent back thousands of images and scientific measurements. Its observations revealed turbulent atmospheric features, lightning, intricate cloud patterns, and active volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon Io—the first active volcanoes observed beyond Earth.
Voyager 1 also discovered Jupiter’s faint ring system and two previously unknown moons, Thebe and Metis. The rings were difficult to see because they are much darker and thinner than Saturn’s spectacular rings. Voyager 2 followed with its own Jupiter flyby in July 1979, but Voyager 1 reached the planet first.
A common mix-up is confusing the year with 1973, when Pioneer 10 performed the first close flyby of Jupiter. Voyager 1’s 1979 encounter was a later and much more detailed exploration.