Voyager 1 compared to a school bus

Humanity’s most distant spacecraft, first human-made object in interstellar space (2012).

Can you see it?

No small telescope will show you this one; it is here to be understood, not spotted.

How big is Voyager 1 compared to a school bus?

Voyager 1 is about as long as a school bus.

How far away is Voyager 1 from the Sun compared to the Sun-to-Earth distance?

Voyager 1 sits about 173 times the Sun-to-Earth distance from the Sun.

How much mass does Voyager 1 have compared to a school bus?

Voyager 1 has roughly one fifteenth the mass of a school bus.

Worth knowing about Voyager 1

Its size: dish antenna 3.7 m across; magnetometer boom extends the craft to 13 m overall. Sunlight takes 24 hours to reach Voyager 1 — and a little longer every day, because it is still heading outwards.

Why it stands out: Left the Sun’s protective “bubble” (the heliosphere) and entered true interstellar space on 25 August 2012 — the first human-made object ever to do so. Runs on heat from decaying plutonium (an RTG), losing about 4 watts of power every year — of its original 10 science instruments, only 2 are still switched on today. Carries the Golden Record, a gold-plated disc with greetings in 55 languages, music from around the world, and images of Earth.
The mission: Launched on 5 September 1977, it took a faster, more direct path and overtook its twin. Flew past Jupiter (1979) and Saturn (1980); during the Jupiter flyby, scientists discovered active volcanoes on the moon Io, the first ever seen anywhere besides Earth.

Voyager 1 — Rendered from NASA’s model, not photographed.

The numbers

Longest dimension	13 m
Distance from the Sun	25.9 billion km · sunlight takes 24 hours

How anyone knows this

We know where it is because we track it.

Games it appears in

Which is more massive?

Show Voyager 1 in the model ☀️ Everything the Sun holds 🌙 Plan an evening outside