Our Solar System (An Introductory Tour)
Solar System Formation Thanks to Mary Oshana
Our Favorite Star
The Terrestrial Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars
Mercury
Venus - Clouds
Venus - Surface
Venus from Clementine
Venus Transits the Sun
Earth
Mars
Valles Marineris
Olympus Mons
The Asteroid Belt
Eros – an Asteroid
The Gas Giants Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune
Jupiter
Great Red Spot
Jupiter’s Rings – dust
Jupiter’s Rings and Small Moons
Jupiter’s Big Moons (Galileo)
Jupiter’s Magnetic Field
Jupiter’s X-ray Auroras
Saturn
Fly Around Saturn
Saturn’s Rings – mostly ice
Spokes in the Rings
Titan – a moon of Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto – a dwarf planet Pluto is weird. It’s not very big, and its orbit is very strange. It’s not a gas giant – it seems to be made of rock and ice. Maybe it was captured by Neptune. Some astronomers say it isn’t really a planet.
Pluto (seen from Charon)
How Big is Pluto ?
WHAT’S OUT THERE BEYOND PLUTO ??
Trans-Neptune Objects (TNOs) Thanks to Marty Mulroe
Eris – a dwarf planet (formerly 2003 UB313)
Eris and Dysnomia Thanks to Marty Mulroe
Sedna (Nov 2003)
Oort Cloud = Comets
Orbit of a Comet
Comet
Tail of a Comet