Image:Solar system.jpg

[edit] Original caption released with image

This is a montage of planetary images taken by spacecraft managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. Included are (from top to bottom) images of Mercury, Venus, Earth (and Moon), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The spacecraft responsible for these images are as follows:

• the Mercury image was taken by Mariner 10,
• the Venus image by Magellan,
• the Earth and Moon images by Galileo,
• the Mars image by Mars Global Surveyor,
• the Jupiter image by Cassini, and
• the Saturn, Uranus and Neptune images by Voyager.
• Pluto is not shown as it is not a planet and no spacecraft has yet visited it.

The inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, and Mars) are roughly to scale to each other; the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) are roughly to scale to each other. PIA 00545 is the same montage with Neptune shown larger in the foreground. Actual diameters are given below:

• Sun 1,392,000 km
• Mercury 4,879.4 km
• Venus 12,103.7 km
• Earth 12,756.28 km
• Moon 3,476.2 km
• Mars 6,804.9 km
• Jupiter 142,984 km
• Saturn 120,536 km
• Uranus 51,118 km
• Neptune 49,528 km
• Pluto 2,390 km

[edit] Source

• http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03153

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