Looking at the pictures coming back from the Gale Crater, I have to remind myself that this is a different world.
When Voyager 2 passed Uranus in 1985, I was old enough to understand the impact. Sure, we got a good look at Saturn and its moons back in 1981, but we already knew what that looked like. Uranus, on the other hand, had never been more than a bright spot on a telescope. I watched with fascination as it resolved into a placid, sea-green planet. It was at once beautiful, yet hopelessly cold and remote.
Voyager reached Neptune in my senior year of high school. At the time, it was the outermost planet, lying 4 billion miles from the sun. As the last images came back, Voyager said farewell to the final outpost of the Solar System and continued its long journey to the Oort Cloud and beyond. It’s still running as we speak. Continued...