Description
Book SynopsisFeaturing more than 200 intriguing images taken by space probes travelling billions of kilometres from Earth, The Solar System is an exhilarating exploration of the mysteries of our local planetary space. Within the span of a human lifetime, our spacecraft have visited all eight planets of the Solar System, together with several dwarf planets, asteroids and comets. We have mapped the surface of Mercury and Venus in exquisite detail, landed rovers on Mars, placed orbiters around Jupiter and Saturn, and parachuted to the surface of Titan. Our emissaries have visited icy worlds five billion kilometres from home and continued onwards to reach interstellar space. The pictures and science returned by these intrepid travellers have transformed our understanding of the Solar System in which we live.
Table of ContentsContents includes:
Introduction
THE SUN
Contains most of the Solar System’s mass
MERCURY AND VENUS
Closest planets to the Sun
Impact craters and ridges on Mercury’s
surface
Venus is hottest planet, with numerous
volcanoes
EARTH AND MOON
The only planet where life is know to exist
Only planet with plate tectonics Asteroids
MARS
Iron oxide in the soil gives it a red appearance
Atmosphere mainly carbon dioxide Surface volcanoes
Rift valleys
Two satellites: Deimos and Phobos
JUPITER AND ITS MOONS
2.5 times the mass of all other planets combined
79 satellites, including: Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa
Great Red Spot Cloud bands
SATURN AND ITS MOONS
Ring system
82 confirmed satellites, including Titan
(second-largest moon in Solar System) and Enceladus
URANUS AND NEPTUNE
Uranus has 27 known satellites, including:
Titania, Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel,
and Miranda
Neptune has 14 satellites: The
largest, Triton, is geologically active,
with geysers of liquid nitrogen
Neptune trojans
MINOR PLANETS, ASTEROIDS AND COMETS
Dwarf planets – Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Makemake and Haumea
Asteriod belt
Kuiper belt
Centaurs
Comets
Scattered disc
Index
