National Geographic picture atlas of our universe

282 Pages·1980·40.58 MB·English

National Geographic PiotHre Atlas of
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OUR UNIVERSE
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National Geographic Picture Atlas of
by RoyAGallant
OurUniverse
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President Editor Kenneth C. Danforth
Owen R. Anderson Managing Editor
Secretary A
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Staff for this bool<
EMdairtgoraret Sedeen MaelrayniB.e DAincnkiCnosronner JEnoghrnavTi.ngDuandn Printing
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Constance Brown Boltz Editorial Contributions by Gary M. Johnson - ,
Associate Art Director Wendy W. Cortesi MarkSeidler
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Jonathan B. Tourtellot Richard S. Wain Planet views and landscapes by
Editor-Writers Production Assistant Ludek Pesek
Paulette L. Claus Planet maps by
Editorial Assistant Jay L. Inge
Scientific Consultants
AMmaerrkicRa.nCMhuasreturamn-dHaIIyIden HOawrevanrdG-iSnmgietrhisocnhian Center SGtoeddpahredn SPp.aMcaerFalnight Center
Planetarium for Astrophysics
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N.ADSaAvid Bohlin NaoteilonWal.AHirinanedrSspace Museum PEdeutceartiLo.nMalunCornoseultant
Geoffrey A. Briggs Henning W. Leidecker
NASA ' Dept. of Physics, The American
University
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reserved. Reproductions of the whole or 338 paintings, drawings, phonographs,
any part of the contents without written and maps.
permission is prohibited.
Contents
foreword by Michael Collins 6
Sun Gods to Gamma Ravs
Beginnings 9
Our Solar System Home
The Sun & Planets 37
The Star We Know Best The Sur. ^9
The Swittest Planet Mercury
(b9
A Veiled Planet VenuL 81
The Planet We Know Best Earth c?3
The Red Planet Mars i;25
A Planet That Never Was Asteroids & Meteors u«
King of the Planets Jupite- 1^53
The Planet with Ears Saturn i;'3
A World on Its Side Uranu*' li]3
Last of the Giants Neptune 1 ^
A Double Planet';' Plutc 1<;V
Snowballs in Space The Comets 2C)3
To the Stars 8c Galaxies
Deep Space 215
The Future
Shuttles & Starships 251
space Age Highlights 264 Observing the Universe 272
Glossary 270 Index 274
Measuring the Universe 271 lllustraTions Credits 276
.
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When I was young, I used to look up into the the sound of their names excites me. More
sky and see airplanes. Later, when I flew enticing still is the prospect ofwhat Voyag-
those airplanes, I realized I still hadn't got- er will tell us about Saturn. We already ' r
ten very high, that I couldn't go wherever I know that one of Saturn's moons. Titan, is
could see. I kept trying and I did get as far surrounded by a thick atmosphere. It is my
as the Moon. To Neil Armstrong, Buzz Al- favorite candidate for human exploration.
drin, and me, that seemed a very long trip, Beyond Pluto, we have to admit that the
but compared to reaching the nearest star distances seem to be too much for us, at
it was like moving past a dozen grains of least if we regard the velocity of light as
sand on a beach. The Moon is about 385,000 the universal speed limit. However, not too
kilometers from Earth, while the nearest many years ago, experts believed we would
star, Proxima Centauri, is 40 trillion kilo- never break the sound "barrier." Right
meters away! Now, back here on Earth now, Einstein's theories seem to deny us
with a better appreciation of distances, I the stars. Perhaps someday we can discover
borrow the eyes of astronomers to show me how to disembody humans in one place and
those places I will never visit. This beauti- recreate them elsewhere, to circumvent
ful book will help you to do that. Einstein's barrier, and to roam the Uni-
Throughout history, the genius of as- verse, seeking our peers or our superiors.
tronomers has been their ability to let The more we see of other planets, the
their minds roam to the far reaches of the better this one looks. When I traveled to
Universe while their bodies were trapped the Moon, it wasn't my proximity to that
on Earth. Kepler, tracing the planets in battered rockpile I remember so vividly,
their orbits; Einstein, seeing the Universe but rather what I saw when I looked back
emerge from his chalkboard -they have at my fragile home -a glistening, inviting
freed our minds if not our bodies. beacon, delicate blue and white, a tiny
And perhaps our bodies will not be far be- outpost suspended in the black infinity.
hind. Rockets have propelled astronauts to Earth is to be treasured and nurtured,
the Moon and fired Pioneer spacecraft com- something precious that must endure.
pletely out of the Solar System. It is now The next two decades should be the most
technically possible for people to visi*^ productive years astronomers have ever
Mars, approximately nine months away. known. With space telescopes we will accu-
The other planets are almost within our mulate more information about the Uni-
grasp and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn verse than we have since humans began to
may be the unrealized gems of our Solar study the heavens. May we be intelligent
System. The cameras of the Voyager space- enough to comprehend it and sensible
craft have transformed Jupiter's moons enough to use it to solve some of the press-
from mere pinpoints of light in a telescope ing problems of our unique home. \^
into intriguing, colorful spheres. lo . .
Michael Collins
Europa ... Ganymede . . . Callisto. Even
A spectacular night launch of Apollo 17 crowns thp mj^n
series that landed 1 2 U. S. astronauts on the Moon.