![]() |
Credit & Copyright: Voyager Project,
NASA
Explanation:
On another
Valentine's Day
(February 14, 1990), cruising four billion miles from the Sun, the
Voyager 1 spacecraft looked back to make this
first
ever family portrait of our Solar System.
The complete portrait is a
60 frame mosaic
made from a vantage point 32 degrees above the
ecliptic plane.
In it, Voyager's wide angle camera frames sweep through the
inner Solar System at the left, linking up with gas giant Neptune,
at the time
the Solar System's
outermost planet, at the far right.
Positions for Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune
are indicated by letters, while the Sun is the
bright spot near the center of the circle of frames.
The
inset frames for each of the planets are
from Voyager's narrow field camera.
Unseen in the portrait are Mercury, too
close to the Sun
to be detected, and Mars, unfortunately hidden by sunlight
scattered in the camera's optical system.
Small, faint Pluto's
position was not covered.
January February |
|
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Solar System
Publications with words: Solar System
See also: