Exploring the Solar System: A History with 22 Activities
Acknowledg ments This book wouldn't have happened without the enthusiasm and support of editor and fellow space buff Jerome Pohlen thanks Jerry Photographer Tom Uhlman deserves many thanks for con tributing his always amazing photographs Thanks also to the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona for graciously supplying the photograph of Gerard Kuiper Note to Readers Today we know a lot about the planets moons comets and asteroids of our solar system But while humans have walked on the Moon we ve never set foot on any other planet So how do we know that Mars is covered in rusty dust and that yellow clouds float over Venus How did we take the temperature of the Sun and figure out what's inside comets That's what this book is all about It tells the story of how we discovered and learned what we know about our solar
Starting on page 137 is a Field Guide to the Solar System This reference section features basic facts about the planets and their moons the Sun dwarf planets comets and asteroids and time lines detailing our exploration of them Astronomers and space scientists are making new discover ies about the solar system all the time At this moment space missions and astronomical observatories are further exploring the planets moons dwarf planets comets and asteroids of our solar system While this book is as up to date as possible new findings emerge every day The Web sites found on page 164 and within the Exploration Time Lines in the Field Guide to the Solar System can update you on future discoveries and help you to continue learning Keep
Time Line Prehistory Humans mark the passage of time with lunar phases and observe Mercury Venus Mars Jupiter and Saturn with the naked eye Ancient Times Chinese Babylonians Greeks and Egyptians record their observations of the night sky A D 140 Ptolemy writes that Earth is the center of the cosmos 1543 Copernicus states that the Sun is the center of the cosmos 1609 Galileo Galilei builds the first astronomical telescope and begins observations 1616 Johannes Kepler publishes his third law of planetary motion 1668 Isaac Newton builds the first reflecting telescope after defining the laws of gravity 1758 Halley's comet appears just as Edmond Halley had pre dicted 53 years earlier 1781 William Herschel discovers Uranus 1801 Giuseppe Piazzi discovers Ceres 1846 Johann Galle discovers Neptune 1926 Robert Goddard launches the world's first liquid fueled rocket 1930 Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto 1944 Wernher von Braun's V 2 rockets begin falling on England 1957 World's first satellite Sputnik 1 orbits Earth 1958 NASA is formed and launches its first spacecraft Pioneer 1 1959 Luna 2 is the first spacecraft to impact the Moon Luna 3 returns the first photographs of the Moon's far side 1961 Yuri Gagarin aboard Vostok 1 is the first human in space and in Earth's
