Skip to main content

The Planets: What You Can Realistically Expect to See

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Viewing and Imaging the Solar System

Part of the book series: The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series ((PATRICKMOORE))

  • 1340 Accesses

Abstract

We were all brought up on photographs from the Hubble Space Telescope and the various interplanetary space probes. It goes without saying that the space probes had state-of-the-art telescopes and cameras on board, so they sent back some fabulous pictures. Some of them, notably the Cassini probe orbiting Saturn, continue to do so at the time of this writing. The chapter shows the kind of photographs you can expect to take for yourself, and what they show about the planets.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 29.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 37.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/sunfact.html

  2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope

  3. P.Y. Dely (ed.), The Design and Construction of Large Optical Telescopes (Springer, New York, 2003)

    Google Scholar 

  4. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/timeline/index.html

  5. http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?MCode=Cassini

  6. M.M. Woolfson, Work Cited, Chapter 36

    Google Scholar 

  7. H.S. Liu, J.A. O’Keefe, Theory of rotation for the planet mercury. Science 150(3704), 1717 (1965)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. M.E. Bakich, Work Cited, (2000), p. 30

    Google Scholar 

  9. Calculated using the software package Cartes du Ciel

    Google Scholar 

  10. P. Moore, 80 Not Out (Contender Books, London, 2003)

    Google Scholar 

  11. J.S. Lewis, Physics and Chemistry of the Solar System, 2nd edn. (Academic, Amsterdam, 2004)

    Google Scholar 

  12. J.D. Clark, Measure Solar System Objects and their Movements for Yourself! Patrick Moore’s Practical Astronomy Series (Springer, New York, 2009)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  13. A. Koestler, The Sleepwalkers (Penguin, 1970)

    Google Scholar 

  14. A.R. Wallace, Is Mars Habitable? A Critical Examination of Professor Percival Lowell’s Book “Mars and Its Canals”, with an Alternative Explanation, by Alfred Russel Wallace, F.R.S., etc. (Macmillan and co., London, 1907)

    Google Scholar 

  15. F.B. Salisbury, Martian biology. Science 136(3510), 17–26 (1962)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.ppat.0030055

  17. http://uanews.org/node/20276

  18. D. Tabor, Gases, Liquids and Solids: And Other States of Matter, 3rd edn. (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1991)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  19. http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html

  20. M.T. Lemmon et al., Atmospheric imaging results from the Mars exploration rovers: spirit and opportunity. Science 306, 1753–1756 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. M.E. Bakich, Work Cited, pp. 63–80

    Google Scholar 

  22. P. Moore, G. Hunt, The Atlas of the Solar System (Mitchell Beazley, London, 1990), p. 267

    Google Scholar 

  23. M.E. Bakich, Work Cited, information dispersed through the book

    Google Scholar 

  24. M.E. Bakich, Work Cited, p. 203

    Google Scholar 

  25. L.T. Elkins-Tanton, Jupiter and Saturn (Chelsea House, New York, 2006). ISBN 0-8160-5196-8

    Google Scholar 

  26. S.T. Weir, A.C. Mitchell, W.J. Nellis, Metallization of fluid molecular hydrogen at 140 GPa (1.4 Mbar). Phys. Rev. Lett. 76(11), 1860 (1996)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. F. Bagenal, T.E. Dowling, W.B. McKinnon, Core mass: Jupiter: The Planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere (2007). ISBN-10: 0521035457

    Google Scholar 

  28. T. Guillot, D.J. Stevenson, W.B. Hubbard, D. Saumon, The interior of Jupiter, in Jupiter: The Planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere, ed. by F. Bagenal, T.E. Dowling, W.B. McKinnon. Cambridge Planetary Science (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007), pp. 35–59

    Google Scholar 

  29. R. Helled, Constraining Saturn's core properties by a measurement of Its moment of inertia—implications to the Cassini Solstice Mission. Astrophys. J. Lett. 735(1), article id. L16 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Shu Lin Li, C.B. Agnor, D.N.C. Lin, Embryo impacts and gas giant mergers. I. Dichotomy of Jupiter and Saturn’s core mass. Astrophys. J. 720, 1161–1173 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  31. W.F. Denning, Jupiter, early history of the great red spot on. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 59, 574–584 (1899)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  32. Calculated with the software package Cartes du Ciel

    Google Scholar 

  33. C. Huyghens, Systema Saturnium, published a few years earlier as an anagram (1659)

    Google Scholar 

  34. Cassini’s observation of the gap in Saturn’s ring, now called Cassini’s Division. Journal des Sçavans, 4 January 1677

    Google Scholar 

  35. J.C. Maxwell, Abstract of Professor Maxwell’s paper on the stability of Saturn’s rings. Mon Not R Astron Soc 19, 297–304 (1859)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  36. G.P. Kuiper, Titan: a satellite with an atmosphere. Astrophys. J. 100, 378 (1944)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  37. H.B. Niemann et al., The abundances of constituents of Titan’s atmosphere from the GCMS instrument on the Huyghens probe. Nature 438(7069), 779–784 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  38. A. Coustenis, F.W. Taylor, Titan: Exploring an Earthlike World, 2nd edn. (World Scientific Publishing, Singapore, 2008)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  39. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2006/06_57AR.html

  40. J.D. Clark, Work Cited, (2009)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Clark, J. (2015). The Planets: What You Can Realistically Expect to See. In: Viewing and Imaging the Solar System. The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5179-2_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5179-2_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5178-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5179-2

  • eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics