Voyager 1 Passed Saturn at 126,000 Kilometers

On November 12, 1980, Voyager 1 made its closest approach to Saturn, at 23:46 UT (universal time, the clock astronomers use worldwide). The probe passed about 126,000 km from the planet, which is 78,000 miles.

That is roughly one third of the distance between Earth and the Moon. At that range Voyager 1’s cameras photographed the ringed planet and its moons in close detail. Saturn’s rings are made mostly of ice particles, and the flyby gave scientists their first close look at how those rings are built.