Sonde spatiale

Pioneer 11

Distance à la Terre maintenant

…

calculée en direct à partir des données orbitales (NASA/JPL)

Distance from the Sun (Oct 2026)

≈ 118 AU (≈ 17.6 billion km)

Launched

April 6, 1973

Antenna

2.7 m (antenna)

Speed

≈ 11.1 km/s relative to the Sun

Pioneer 11 flew past Jupiter on December 3, 1974 (about 43,000 km above the clouds) and used its gravity to swing across the Solar System to Saturn. On September 1, 1979 it became the first probe at Saturn, passing about 21,000 km above the cloud tops. It discovered the thin F ring and showed that Saturn's magnetic field is very regular. The last routine contact was in September 1995; the connection was lost afterwards. Today it flies toward the constellation Aquila. Like Pioneer 10 it carries a plaque with a message for extraterrestrials. The position shown here is calculated (JPL Horizons), not measured.

Données orbitales : NASA/JPL Horizons. Photos : Wikimedia Commons.