Today in History: November 12th VOYAGER 1 FLIES NEAR SATURN: November 12, 1980 More than three years after its launch, the U.S. planetary probe Voyager 1 edges within 77,000 miles of Saturn, the second-largest planet in the solar system. The photos, beamed 950 million miles back to California, stunned scientists. The high-resolution images showed a world that seemed to confound all known laws of physics. Saturn had not six, but hundreds of rings. The rings appeared to dance, buckle, and interlock in ways never thought possible. Two rings were intertwined, or "braided," and pictures showed dark radial "spokes" moving inside the rings in the direction of rotation. Voyager 2, a sister spacecraft, arrived at Saturn in August 1981. The Voyagers also discovered three new moons around Saturn and a substantial atmosphere around Titan, Saturn's largest moon.Voyager 1 was preceded to Saturn by Pioneer 11, a smaller and less sophisticated U.S. spacecraft that flew by the gas giant in September 1979. The Voyager spacecrafts were equipped with high-resolution television cameras that sent back more than 30,000 images of Saturn, its rings, and satellite. Voyager 1 was actually launched 16 days after Voyager 2, but its trajectory followed a quicker path to the outer planets.Voyager 1 flew by Jupiter in March 1979, followed by Voyager 2 four months later. Both spacecraft then continued on to Saturn, with Voyager 1 arriving in November 1980 and Voyager 2 in August 1981. Voyager 2 was then diverted to the remaining gas giants, arriving at Uranus in January 1986 and Neptune in August 1989. Voyager 1, meanwhile, studied interplanetary space and continued on to the edge of the solar system. In February 1998, Voyager 1 became the most distant man-made object from the sun, surpassing the distance of Pioneer 10. Voyager 2 is also traveling out of the solar system but at a slower pace. Both Voyager spacecrafts contain a gold-plated copper disk that has on it recorded sounds and images of Earth. Along with 115 analog images, the disk features sound selections that include greetings in 55 languages, 35 natural and man-made sounds, and portions of 27 musical pieces. The Voyagers are expected to remain operable until about the year 2020, periodically sending back data on the edge of the solar system. ------------------------------------------------------------------ MORE GENERAL INTEREST 1799 First meteor shower on record 1948 Japanese war criminals sentenced 1990 Akihito enthroned as emperor of Japan historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=general&month=10272963&day=10272977 AUTOMOTIVE 1946 First Drive-In Banking Service historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=automotive&month=10272963&day=10272977 CIVIL WAR 1864 : The destruction of Atlanta begins historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=civil&month=10272963&day=10272977 COLD WAR 1982 Yuri Andropov assumes power in the Soviet Union historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=coldwar&month=10272963&day=10272977 CRIME 1996 High school sweethearts murder their newborn child historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=crime&month=10272963&day=10272977 ENTERTAINMENT 1907 Katharine Hepburn born historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=entertainment&month=10272963&day=10272977 LITERARY 1889 DeWitt Wallace, founder of Reader's Digest, is born historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=literary&month=10272963&day=10272977 OLD WEST 1867 U.S. reconsiders war with Plains Indians historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=oldwest&month=10272963&day=10272977 VIETNAM WAR 1969 Seymour Hersh breaks My Lai story historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=vietnamwar&month=10272963&day=10272977 WALL STREET 1996 Jackson Takes on Texaco historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=wallstreet&month=10272963&day=10272977 WORLD WAR II 1944 Brits sink the battleship Tirpitz historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=worldwarii&month=10272963&day=10272977