This magnificent volume offers a rich visual tour of the planets in our solar system. More than 200 breathtaking photographs from the archives of NASA are paired with extended captions detailing the science behind some of our cosmic neighborhood's most extraordinary phenomena. Images of newly discovered areas of Jupiter, fiery volcanoes on Venus, and many more reveal the astronomical marvels of space in engrossing detail. Anyone with an interest in science, astronomy, and the mysteries of the universe will delight in this awe-inspiring guide to the wonders of the solar system.
If I were the only person on Earth, I would certainly be awed by the night sky with its sea of light points and thick band of light. I would be puzzled by that big thing we call the moon and its changing “shape” from day to day and week to week. I doubt whether I would be able to make much of the points of light that “move” versus those that are always in a set place. Even if I was bright enough to invent a telescope, I am not sure I would be able to come up with the concepts of planets, solar system and stars.
It’s a good thing that astronomy isn’t left to my responsibility. And, it’s even better that we have supported NASA in its exploration of our solar system with robotic missions to the moon and the planets. This book (which I read as an e-book on my 10” pad) shows the magnificent treasure trove of photos collected over half a century by NASA. Some are classic photos from the early missions such as Apollo and Pioneer, but some are as recent as 2017. Some are in grey tones and some are rendered in true color while others have false colors to emphasize composition or terrain. The text isn’t comprehensive, but I believe that the excerpt below gives you a sense of what accompanies the photographs.
"Saturn’s moon Enceladus looks like it’s emitting a flash of light in this 2013 Cassini image taken by the spacecraft’s narrow-angle camera from about 517,000 miles (832,000 kilometers) away. However, that “flash” is actually fast-moving jets of water erupting from the moon’s south pole, evidence that Enceladus possesses active ice volcanism. The light source in this image is none other than Saturn, though normally the jets are only visible when Cassini and the Sun are on opposite sides of Enceladus. The plumes erupt from deep fissures that resemble tiger stripes and explode thousands of miles into space at 19,000 miles (30,580 kilometers) per hour. Scientists believe that this plume is jetting from an enormous salty ocean beneath the moon’s surface."
There is no telescope, no other way better to gain as complete a visual perspective of the planets (and their significant moons) than this book. The introduction by Bill Nye is in his typical wry style, which I appreciate. The captions on each photo give interpretation to what the image also conveys.
As a daydream spacer, this is probably as close as I am going to get to a grand tour of our solar system. On that basis, this book is quite a bargain.
I love space stuff. Though it always makes me sad that I will (probably) never be an Astronaut (which is actually my dream profession. But I guess being a librarian is also fine since it gives me access to books like this.) The introduction by Bill Nye is great and makes me want to explore and the photographs are just spectactular. It really gives you a feeling of how small you are.
What a fascinating collection! These photos provided by NASA, with text by Bill Nye, (The Science Guy), were awesome. There are photos of the nine planets, (or eight plus Pluto), various moons, the sun, etc.
I learned some useless but interesting facts! I never realized that the atmosphere of Venus contained clouds made up of sulfuric acid. Or that Jupiter has 67 moons. Here I had thought that it had four. For that matter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune have 62, 27 and 13 moons each, respectively. Who knew?
Another fact I found interesting, being a fantasy fan, is that the red splotchy area in the polar region of Pluto's moon, (Charon), was named the "Mordor Macula" after The Lord of the Rings. I guess even scientists like JRR Tolkein!
I'm going to have to keep my eyes peeled for more NASA books like this. I really enjoyed it.
THE PLANETS:PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE ARCHIVES OF NASA BY NIRMALA NATARAJ is what I would label a coffee table book. With the exception of an intro from Bill Nye the book ,one stunning photo after another of our universe, with small paragraphical descriptions and credits included. But mostly you see our universe in very professional photos. Of course, my favorite is Mars as I have been fascinated by the images that the two rovers have sent us. It's not very easy to "review " a book that is nothing but photos and my main statement would be You have to see this book to really enjoy the universe in all its splendor!
I received this book free from goodreads in exchange for an honest review.
Book 90/55: The Planets: Photographs from the archives of NASA by Nirmala Nataraj, the US government and Bill Nye the science guy! Something easy and informative on this day. I read this in conjecture with my phone so I can witness the beauty of the planets in color, because Kobo is only black and white and wouldn't do justice to the beauty of our Solar System. Amazing to visualize this collection, I remember when some of these were even in the news, Pluto, comets, it's all so fascinating! Thank you!
GREAT photography of the planets and assorted other bodies in the solar system, interesting, beautiful, and dramatic. We just finished a unit on the solar system, but I learned more from this. Recommended if you like planets.
Вглядываясь в ночное небо, наблюдая за мириадами звёзд, некоторые из которых являются нашими соседними планетами, мозг с трудом вмещает в себя понимание, что все это - не точки, но невообразимых размеров и расстояний объекты. Человек - сам себе мера всего вокруг, и пока он собственными глазами не увидит, а лучше ещё и пощупает, насколько же велик размах, так и будет считать это несущественным. Как в анекдоте про 2 муравьёв, что с дерева увидели слона и задумали его съесть... Пусть слово "астронавт" говорит о звёздах, на деле, земные космонавты даже до Луны с трудом добрались, куда уж там чужое солнце! Но и в нашей солнечной системе есть, что посмотреть. И такие книги - артбуки с фото вместо арта - позволяют стать чуточку ближе к нашим планетам-соседям. Книга составлена из фотографий NASA, что понятно: после лунной гонки СССР сдал, и лунная программа не задалась, хотя луноходы колесили спутник, и на Марс не полетели, хоть первыми, правда, неудачно, приземлились на планету, и Венера подвела повышенной кислотностью, хотя именно с советских станций были сделаны единственные снимки с поверхности; да и Буран не взлетел больше одного раза, хотя и этот беспилотный полёт оказался сделанным без нареканий и достойным Гиннеса... В общем, после Луны американцы и европейцы интереснее распорядились финансами, в своём коронном духе, что достижения без маркетинга - ничто, так что именно от их зондов, пущенных разным космообъектам, множество и множество научных данных и замечательных фотографий... И прекрасно, потому что эти далёкие миры становятся ближе. Судьба человечества - стать космическим видом, перенести законсервированный кусочек Земли в необитаемые миры и сделать из них уютный дом. Но мы не видим масштабов: и эти картинки статичны, хоть и волнуют воображение. Чтобы популяризмровать космос, нужно видео, как у прыгуна из стратосферы, что полчаса летел до Земли - нужны 4к камеры на зондах, и космический 7G, чтобы передавать почти прямой эфир с марсианской орбиты или с эпичной Олимпа вместо дурных новостей за утренней, чашечкой кофе, чтобы мысли о том, что Землёй вселенная не ограничивается...
Baruch Spinoza counsels us to behold ourselves—and all that surrounds us—from a loftier vantage. Such a gaze, sweeping across the minutiae of our days, bestows upon us the power to transcend the petty and the present, and stirs within us the yearning to voyage toward distant horizons.
The book before us is well adorned with splendid illustrations, and its explanations do not disappoint. In moments when time is scarce, one may simply wander through its images and yet reap immense, delightful harvests.
Yet the most striking revelation—and practical boon—has been the acceleration of my own learning through AI. With GPT’s aid, I have unraveled many an unfamiliar concept and penetrated more deeply into those stubborn, trifling intricacies that once eluded me.
Consider, for instance, the passage: “At the dawn of the Sun’s formation, countless grains of dust swirled upon a circumsolar disk, from which the planets were born.” I puzzled: Why a disk? How could these motes arrange themselves so? GPT’s lucid explication was akin to revisiting and mastering the most abstruse corners of my high‐school physics.
What is angular momentum, after all, but the force of rotation? Just as a spinning top, when nudged, whirls more fiercely, so too does an object’s angular momentum hinge on its mass and its distance from the axis. The farther it lies, the more languid its spin; the closer, the swifter its turn.
Why, then, does drawing in one’s arms hasten one’s spin on a swivel chair? When outstretched, one’s “radius” broadens and rotation slows; when arms fold inward, the radius shrinks, and to preserve angular momentum, speed must quicken. It is a graceful exchange of energy—no longer expended upon distant limbs, it concentrates upon the core, and the chair whirls anew.
And when crater rays glimmer with unweathered brightness, we discern their youth: unmasked by dust and unscathed by cosmic winds, they betray a recent birth.
Armed with richer knowledge and finer instruments of inquiry, our vision and understanding may yet grow boundless.
The Planets by Nirmala Nataraj is a beautiful photography collection and I’m excited to explore the other titles by this author. A quote that stood out to me in this book was from Frank White who said, “Anyone living in a space settlement or living on the moon would always have an overview… They would see things that we know, but we don’t experience, which is that the Earth is one system; that we’re a part of that system; and that there’s a certain unity and coherence to it all.” While reading the pictures descriptions and admiring the beautiful pictures (both false-color and true color) I couldn’t help but feel curious as to what it would be like to witness a planet from an outside perspective, to feel the expansiveness of space. Some of my favorite photos include Mercury’s Volcanic Plains, A Hemispheric View of Venus, Lunar Boulder, Earthrise: Updated, Panorama From the Curiosity Rover, IO and its Shadow, Saturn’s Nothern Jet Stream (the hexagonal shape is so cool to me), Prometheus, Saturn's Rings and Shadows, A Perfect Blue Orb, Neptune's Outermost Ring, and Pluto’s Icy Crust. I wish the photo descriptions were more detailed, but overall it was a great book that I devoured.
A very nice and recent collection of showpiece planetary images. This collection is a timely piece given what I would call a pretty complete family photo. That is, the Voyager grand tours combined with Galileo, Cassini, Dawn, Messenger, and finally New Horizons, makes a pretty complete planetary solar system. There were some surprises, specifically the Lunar Orbiter 1 “Earthrise”. I was disappointed thought that the earliest images weren’t featured. I expected to see Pioneer 10’s Jupiter approach. In fact the collections for each planet are haphazardly arranged. They are not chronological or in any other apparent order. Some captions were confusing. In essence it is more of a photo album of the solar system family rather than a story of its exploration. Regardless, this a nice collection, especially with newer Juno images. Cassini stands out to me as one of the best missions.
This photo-essay book contains breathtaking pictures-250 pages of images from NASA. It includes captions that details the science behind the planets in the solar system. It is a visual tour of our Solar System. These incredible pictures include the sun, the planets, the moons, asteroids, and comets taken by satellites and fly-by probes and landers. They show superb images of the fiery volcanos on Venus, and craters on Mars, spectacular images of Earth. There are fabulous images of Jupiter and its moons, Saturn and its many rings and moons, including its frozen white pitted moon, Mimas, the beautiful blue green Uranus and its rings with its sideways tilt, and deep blue Neptune and its great dark spot. It also has updated photos of the dwarf planet Pluto showing canyons and mountains on its surface and its moons Charon and Nix. The images of Ceres, another dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter shows volcanoes and craters This is a great book for the astronomer enthusiasts. I enjoyed this book with the fantastic images immensely.
If I said this book was only about pictures of the several rocks in our solar system, I'd seriously not right -- although the book is (mostly) it.
Besides gorgeous images of the planets in the solar system, including, Ceres, Pluto, the Sun and even comet 67P, it also has information about what you're seeing: The icy plains of Pluto (you know, the heart shaped thing), the size and speed of Jupiter huge storm and everything else you can think of.
This is the kind of book you should buy in large sheets and put on your coffee table, not only to impress your guests, but also to remind you of how big the space is.
I learned more about the planets from this book than I ever knew before, including that the rings of Saturn are distorted by the gravitational field of its orbiting moon, and that these rings are not completely flat but actually have some three-dimensional structure to them. I was also surprised that some of the moons of the planets are not even close to being spherical or even ellipsoidal - there are some strange shapes to some of the planets' moons. The book explains and shows photos of all of the planets (and many of their moons) of our solar system, and also includes descriptions and photos of our sun and the several asteroids and comets captured in our solar system.
This gives a lot of beautiful pictures of the planets in our solar system, as well as Pluto, the sun itself, an asteroid and Ceres, as well as pictures of several of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. The captions explain what mission took the pictures, as well as what types of filters were used, and give plenty of explanation of what is being shown. This was a really fun book to look through.
Good photos, quick explanations. I especially enjoyed the close ups of the asteroids as I was not aware that such closeups existed. Also the moon shadows on the gas Giants is extraordinary.
Good photos, quick explanations. I especially enjoyed the close ups of the asteroids as I was not aware that such closeups existed. Also the moon shadows on the gas Giants is extraordinary.
To quote from the back cover of the book, "Anyone with an interest in science, astronomy, and the mysteries of space will delight in this awe-inspiring guide to our solar system." This book contains some of the finest photos available of the solar system and are accompanied by detailed captions which by themselves are quite amazing. Fiery volcanoes, canyons and mountains of unimaginable dimensions, and ice volcanoes! Oh my! The pictures and pages are high quality. I highly recommend this book.
I enjoyed looking at the pictures in this book. My favorite planet is earth of course. But, my second favorite planet is mars. I think it would be fun to live on another planet. I don' think that will happen for me but, its fun thinking about. Maybe i could life in the mom Titan. The book said a human might be able to live on that moon with only warm clothing and an oxygen mask. I winder if food can grow on another planet. I enjoy picture books. Not so as many words.
Thank you Goodreads for my copy of The Planets:Photographs from the Archives of NASA by Nirmala Nataraj. What a great book. The pictures are truly amazing. This is the definitive coffee table book. Company and friends will be shocked at how clear the NASA pictures can be in this book. Love the hard cover. And certainly everyone can learn something from this fine book. An excellent addition to any library.
Breath taking photos, easy to read and understand captions, plus an exquisite overview of basic astronomy and a heartwarming introduction by a beloved icon- what more could you ask for in a science book perfect for the library or the coffee table? A must if you're even remotely interested in the remote corners of our solar system, and the kind of book you can flip through whenever you need to be reminded how miraculous and beautiful our universe is.
Absolutely stunning images and so much information (but at the same time not total information overload either). Space and planets and everything in between fascinates me, so perhaps my review might be a little biased but this book really, really does have incredible images. I have the Kindle version of the book but I am debating on purchasing myself a physical copy just to keep around my house to peruse through and share with others.
Beautiful, but I wish there were even more pictures of the outer moons. I'd love a book that was chock-full of those (after having read The Planet Factory: Exoplanets and the Search for a Second Earth, my interest was peeked) and I was hoping to see more of these moons in this book. Oh well, still, wonderful pictures!
First of all, this is a gorgeous book! That being said, it is an interesting book with lots of pictures and quick descriptions and esxplanations. I think this would be fun book for anyone with an interest in astronomy and space.
Whoa- this book of the planets with Archived shots from NASA- amaze-balls. I can't believe how gorgeous our universe is. Take a look at the solar flares and auroras- unbelievable. You can't photoshop this intergalactic beauty!
Beautiful and fascinating pictures. I just wish the text had gone more in depth about the formation of each planet and what they were made of. I expected to see more planets outside the Milky Way too and was left a little disappointed.