Voyager 1 to reach one light-day distance from Earth on Wednesday
The spacecraft will be more than 16 billion miles away, meaning light signals will take 24 hours to travel between Earth and the probe.
NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is expected to reach a distance of one light-day from Earth on Wednesday, November 18, according to a report by Mint. At this distance, which is more than 16 billion miles (25.9 billion kilometres), light travelling from Earth will take 24 hours to reach the probe.
Launched in 1977 to study the outer planets Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 1 is currently the most distant human-made object from Earth. The spacecraft entered interstellar space in 2012 after crossing the heliosphere.
To mark the milestone, NASA has launched a global campaign called 'Shine Bright for Voyager's Light-Day'. The agency has invited people to flash golden lights towards the sky after sunset on Tuesday, November 17, to create a symbolic wave of light.
Participants can use flashlights, glow sticks, or an automated online flasher on smartphones to signal the spacecraft's call sign, 'V-G-R', in Morse code. NASA has encouraged people to share photos and videos of these signals on social media by tagging the agency's official account.
The Voyager spacecraft were built and are operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is managed by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The mission is funded by the NASA Heliophysics Division.