Looking back to the sun from distant Neptune

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION, Data – Voyager 2, NASA Planetary Data System]

NeptuneCruising through the outer solar system, the Voyager 2 spacecraft made its closest approach to Neptune on August 25, 1989, the only spacecraft to visit the most distant gas giant.

Based on the images recorded during its close encounter and in the following days, this … composited scene covers the dim outer planet, largest moon Triton, and faint system of rings.

From just beyond Neptune’s orbit, the interplanetary perspective looks back toward the Sun, capturing the planet and Triton as thin sunlit crescents. Cirrus clouds and a dark band circle Neptune’s south polar region, with a cloudy vortex above the pole itself.

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