Page 92 - BBC Sky at Night Beginners Guide to Astronomy - 2017 UK

THE PLANETS

PART 2 TERRESTRIAL WORLDS

MERCURY, VENUS AND MARS ARE THE CLOSEST
ROCKY PLANETS TO EARTH, AND ALL WILL GIVE YOU
MEMORABLE VIEWS IF YOU KNOW WHEN TO LOOK

Thinking back to ‘ye olde respectable ideas. I wonder the basics about the planets. you the bigger view of how
dayes’, there were no space what these pioneering It’s easy to forget the angst the the planets move together,
probes visiting the planets. astronomers would think of our early astronomers suffered due helped along by that fi ne force
Telescopes were able to reveal current knowledge, together to their serious lack of reliable, of gravity. Now that you’re
that Venus was covered in with all the stunning images scientifi c information. familiar with the workings of
cloud, but it was a guess as that go with it. In part one, I gave a the Solar System, it’s time to
to what was underneath: Today, in our information- general overview of our entire take a look at its planets in
both jungle and seas were rich world, most people know planetary system, giving more detail.

Sometimes a number of planets can be seen
together – called a conjunction. They all
appear close to the ecliptic, the path
the Sun traces across the sky

JUPITER ECLIPTIC

NASA/JPL X 3, FRIEDRICH SAURER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY SATURN MARS VENUS MERCURY

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