In what year did Voyager 2 fly by Uranus?
Answer
1986
Answer
1986
Voyager 2 flew by Uranus in 1986.
The spacecraft made its closest approach on January 24, 1986, becoming the first and still only spacecraft to visit Uranus. Voyager 2 passed about 81,500 kilometers above the planet's cloud tops and used the encounter to study Uranus's atmosphere, magnetic field, rings, and moons.
The flyby produced several major discoveries. Voyager 2 found 11 previously unknown moons, examined Uranus's faint ring system, and revealed that the planet's magnetic field is strongly tilted and offset from its rotation axis. It also photographed the five major moons Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon at close range.
Uranus's extreme axial tilt of about 97.8 degrees gives it unusually severe seasonal geometry. The 1986 encounter occurred when the planet's south pole was oriented toward the Sun, so later observations from Earth and space telescopes have been important for seeing Uranus under different seasonal conditions. Voyager 2 continued onward to Neptune, reaching it in 1989.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026