Vega Nine probe
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.
The Vega Nine probe was a deep space probe that was sent out by the Federation to investigate regions beyond those that manned explorations have reached.
In 2366, the probe reached the Beta Stromgren system, located twenty-three parsecs beyond the furthest manned explorations, where it discovered an unknown lifeform in close orbit around Beta Stromgren.
In a follow up mission, conducted by the USS Enterprise-D, the ship received relayed sensor and visual data from the Vega Nine probe.
Captain Picard later wanted Data to coordinate with Life Sciences and Engineering during their collection of data on the lifeform, via the ships long-range sensors and through queries with the probe. (TNG: "Tin Man")
