The second Voyager spacecraft will begin its close Saturn observations in early June 1981 and make its closest approach to the planet’s northern hemisphere on August 25. Then, due to its launch during a period of rare planetary alignment occurring only once every 175 years, Voyager 2 will be able to continue on to a rendezvous with the seventh planet, Uranus, in January 1986, and perhaps even the eighth planet, Neptune, in August 1989. Voyager 1’s primary mission is complete. But its usefulness is far from over. As we go about our daily business, Voyager 1 is searching for another frontier—the edge of our solar system. In 7 to 15 years, the spacecraft will cross the heliopause—the farthest reaches of our Sun’s magnetic field influence. Then, high above our ecliptic plane, Voyager 1 will continue its flight toward the star Alpha Ophiuchus. Eventually, Voyager 1 will be too distant to communicate with Earth and will silently drift in space forever. Andrew J. Stofan, _Acting Associate Administrator for Space Science_ _National Aeronautics and Space Administration_ The Planet [Illustration: 11/5/80 9 million km (5.5 million mi) Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and second largest in our solar system. Like Jupiter, it is a giant sphere of gas—mostly hydrogen and helium—with a possible core of rocky material. Various features in Saturn’s cloudtops are visible in the accompanying color-enhanced image of the planet’s northern hemisphere: small-scale convective cloud features (similar to, but much larger than, thunderstorms in Earth’s atmosphere) are visible in the brown belt; an isolated convective cloud with a dark ring is visible in the light brown zone; and a longitudinal wave is visible in the light blue region.] [Illustration: 9/17/80 76 million km (47 million mi) As Voyager 1 approached Saturn, a series of dark and light cloud bands (belts and zones) became apparent in the planet’s northern hemisphere through a high altitude atmospheric haze. The planet’s shadow obscures the rings behind and immediately to the east of the disk. In addition, the shadow of the rings on the planet’s disk can be seen just north of the rings themselves as they cross in front of the planet. Six of Saturn’s 15 known satellites are visible. Saturn’s largest moon, Titan (considerably larger than Earth’s moon), is clearly visible in the upper left corner. The smaller satellites Dione, Tethys, and Rhea are shown in the lower left corner (upper, middle, and lower, respectively). Two of the innermost moons, Mimas and Enceladus, appear to the right of the planet (Mimas is the one closer to the planet). These six moons orbit Saturn in the equatorial plane and appear in their present positions because Voyager is above that plane.]