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Solar System Montage

This montage of Voyager aircraft pictures shows the eight planets, additional four of Jupiter's moons, sprawled adjoin the accomplishments of the Rosette Nebula and on the border of Earth's moon. In accession to the planets and moons apparent in this apish photo, our solar arrangement contains a star, asteroids and comets, and dwarf planets such as Pluto.

Planet Mars

Though one of our abutting neighbors, Mars is still 43 actor afar (69 actor kilometers) from Earth, illustrating the about incomprehensible amplitude of our solar system. Scientists are alive to break the abstruseness of Mars's climate—evidence of baptize on the red planet will authority clues about activity on Mars, as able-bodied as the abeyant for activity abroad in the universe.

Aurora on Saturn

Streams of answerable particles accursed from the sun bang with Saturn's alluring field, creating an aurora on the planet's south pole. Unlike Earth's almost brief auroras, Saturn's can aftermost for days. Scientists accumulated ultraviolet images of the auroras, taken by Hubble over a aeon of days, with visible-light images of the belted planet. In this appearance the aurora appears dejected because of the ultraviolet camera, but a Saturn-based eyewitness would see red ablaze flashes.

Pluto Moons

Once classified as a accurate planet, icy Pluto is now advised one of the added than 40 dwarf planets in our solar system. Seen actuality with its three accepted moons, Charon, Nix, and Hydra, Pluto is a affiliate of a accumulation of altar that apogee in a annular area above the apogee of Neptune alleged the Kuiper belt.

Planet Jupiter

Named afterwards the baron of the Roman gods, Jupiter is the behemothic of our solar system. Its stripes are aphotic belts and ablaze zones created by able east-west apprehension in the planet's high atmosphere. Within these areas are huge storm systems that accept raged for years. The Great Red Spot, one such behemothic spinning storm, has existed for at atomic three centuries.

Total Solar Eclipse

The sun's exoteric region, alleged the corona, shines like a aura about the moon during a absolute solar eclipse. Such eclipses action back a fresh moon passes in advanced of the sun. They don't appear often—only about already a year—since the agee orbits of the sun, moon, and Earth accomplish their alignment rare. Absolute solar eclipses are of appropriate absorption to astronomers because it is the alone time the sun's candelabrum can be apparent from the Earth's surface.

Planetary Lineup

This montage of photos, taken by assorted NASA spacecraft, shows the adjustment of planets in the solar system. Mercury, the abutting planet to the sun, is at the top, followed by Venus, Earth (with its moon), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.