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A Field Guide to the Planets
Humanity’s first steps on the Moon were an immense accomplishment in 1969 and a fantastic milestone in the history of space exploration. And yet, how little we knew about our solar system as compared to what we know now!
Since those famous steps were taken, we’ve discovered what is approaching 200 additional moons of all shapes, sizes, and compositions. We’ve sent spaceships and robotic laboratories to photograph and study each of the planets, dozens of moons, and even the Sun. We’ve discovered ring systems around three additional planets; landed robotic explorers on Mars, on asteroids, and even on comets. We’ve also found thousands of exoplanets around other stars, with implications for our own origins. There has never been a more exciting time than today to explore and understand our solar system and beyond with A Field Guide to the Planets.
Your instructor, Professor Sabine Stanley, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University, guides you on a thrilling ride of discovery, illustrated by the phenomenal images NASA has gathered from throughout the solar system. In 24 lectures, you will experience a journey that was never before possible as your professor makes these astronomical wonders accessible to anyone, allowing you to experience, via our robot explorers, what it is like to visit worlds that were previously unknown.
What Is Our Solar System?
When we think of the solar system, we tend to visualize it in two dimensions, generally as a map with planets orbiting in almost circular ellipses around the Sun. We also imagine some moons in that same plane, an asteroid belt, a few more planets and satellites, and maybe a comet coming in at a different angle. Our visual map tends to end with Neptune, the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun, and the Kuiper Belt objects, including Pluto.
And yet the solar system is also so much more. We now know that even Neptune’s orbital distance is less than one tenth of one percent of the distance from the Sun to the farthest objects bound by its gravity—the Oort Cloud, a spherical shell of small icy bodies orbiting the Sun 50,000 times farther out than the Earth. The solar system that began its formation 4.5 billion years ago is still a work in progress today—a three-dimensional, dynamic, ever-changing system of energy and matter all gravitationally bound to our star.
And if we had any doubts about the continuing forming and re-forming of the solar system, recent exploration has allowed us to:
Witness for the first time a collision between two bodies in the solar system—Jupiter’s gravity capturing comet Shoemaker–Levy 9, ripping the comet apart, and causing it to crash into the planet;
Monitor active volcanic eruptions on moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune; and
Discover propeller moonlets constantly shaping and reshaping the rings of Saturn.
These and other observations have helped fill out our knowledge of the solar system—and by doing so, has helped us better understand our own place in the universe, too.
A Grand Scale and Unique Features
Earth is home to spectacular features created by erosion, plate tectonics, and collision impacts over billions of years. But many of Earth’s features pale in scope compared to those on other planets and moons. As we’ve explored farther out into the solar system, we’ve encountered features whose magnitude we hadn’t anticipated or even imagined, such as:
Jupiter’s Auroras. Some of the most energetic auroras in the solar system, they are 1,000 times more powerful than those on Earth and are emitted not just as visible light, but as high-energy X-rays.
Verona Rupes. A cliff face on Uranus’ moon Miranda, measuring 20 kilometers high. With a gravitational acceleration 100 times smaller than Earth’s, a rock falling from the top would take almost 12 minutes to reach the bottom.
Olympus Mons. Located on Mars, it’s the solar system’s tallest mountain and largest known volcano, measuring an amazing 27 kilometers tall. But when it comes to volcanic activity, Jupiter’s moon Io is the winner with 400 active volcanoes mapped to date.
Diamond Rain. On Uranus and Neptune, it’s possible that carbon atoms could condense into crystals of diamonds that would rain out through the icy layer above. Uranus might even have an ocean of carbon under high pressure with floating chunks of solid “diamond-bergs.”
With Professor Stanley’s guidance, you’ll learn more about these and dozens of other unexpected features and objects—from the surprising prevalence of water throughout the solar system (even on blazing hot and dry Mercury); to puzzling shapes on the Moon; to the quantity of near-Earth objects we need to track for safety, now numbering upwards of 20,000.
Looking Outward to Understand Ourselves
One thing we’ve learned from our solar system exploration is precisely how the Earth is unique—and not just because our planet is teeming with life: Earth is the only planet or moon whose surface has be...
Since those famous steps were taken, we’ve discovered what is approaching 200 additional moons of all shapes, sizes, and compositions. We’ve sent spaceships and robotic laboratories to photograph and study each of the planets, dozens of moons, and even the Sun. We’ve discovered ring systems around three additional planets; landed robotic explorers on Mars, on asteroids, and even on comets. We’ve also found thousands of exoplanets around other stars, with implications for our own origins. There has never been a more exciting time than today to explore and understand our solar system and beyond with A Field Guide to the Planets.
Your instructor, Professor Sabine Stanley, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University, guides you on a thrilling ride of discovery, illustrated by the phenomenal images NASA has gathered from throughout the solar system. In 24 lectures, you will experience a journey that was never before possible as your professor makes these astronomical wonders accessible to anyone, allowing you to experience, via our robot explorers, what it is like to visit worlds that were previously unknown.
What Is Our Solar System?
When we think of the solar system, we tend to visualize it in two dimensions, generally as a map with planets orbiting in almost circular ellipses around the Sun. We also imagine some moons in that same plane, an asteroid belt, a few more planets and satellites, and maybe a comet coming in at a different angle. Our visual map tends to end with Neptune, the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun, and the Kuiper Belt objects, including Pluto.
And yet the solar system is also so much more. We now know that even Neptune’s orbital distance is less than one tenth of one percent of the distance from the Sun to the farthest objects bound by its gravity—the Oort Cloud, a spherical shell of small icy bodies orbiting the Sun 50,000 times farther out than the Earth. The solar system that began its formation 4.5 billion years ago is still a work in progress today—a three-dimensional, dynamic, ever-changing system of energy and matter all gravitationally bound to our star.
And if we had any doubts about the continuing forming and re-forming of the solar system, recent exploration has allowed us to:
Witness for the first time a collision between two bodies in the solar system—Jupiter’s gravity capturing comet Shoemaker–Levy 9, ripping the comet apart, and causing it to crash into the planet;
Monitor active volcanic eruptions on moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune; and
Discover propeller moonlets constantly shaping and reshaping the rings of Saturn.
These and other observations have helped fill out our knowledge of the solar system—and by doing so, has helped us better understand our own place in the universe, too.
A Grand Scale and Unique Features
Earth is home to spectacular features created by erosion, plate tectonics, and collision impacts over billions of years. But many of Earth’s features pale in scope compared to those on other planets and moons. As we’ve explored farther out into the solar system, we’ve encountered features whose magnitude we hadn’t anticipated or even imagined, such as:
Jupiter’s Auroras. Some of the most energetic auroras in the solar system, they are 1,000 times more powerful than those on Earth and are emitted not just as visible light, but as high-energy X-rays.
Verona Rupes. A cliff face on Uranus’ moon Miranda, measuring 20 kilometers high. With a gravitational acceleration 100 times smaller than Earth’s, a rock falling from the top would take almost 12 minutes to reach the bottom.
Olympus Mons. Located on Mars, it’s the solar system’s tallest mountain and largest known volcano, measuring an amazing 27 kilometers tall. But when it comes to volcanic activity, Jupiter’s moon Io is the winner with 400 active volcanoes mapped to date.
Diamond Rain. On Uranus and Neptune, it’s possible that carbon atoms could condense into crystals of diamonds that would rain out through the icy layer above. Uranus might even have an ocean of carbon under high pressure with floating chunks of solid “diamond-bergs.”
With Professor Stanley’s guidance, you’ll learn more about these and dozens of other unexpected features and objects—from the surprising prevalence of water throughout the solar system (even on blazing hot and dry Mercury); to puzzling shapes on the Moon; to the quantity of near-Earth objects we need to track for safety, now numbering upwards of 20,000.
Looking Outward to Understand Ourselves
One thing we’ve learned from our solar system exploration is precisely how the Earth is unique—and not just because our planet is teeming with life: Earth is the only planet or moon whose surface has be...
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 29, 2020
If you have an interest in our solar system: the sun; the planets; the asteroids; the moons; the Oort Cloud, etc. And, you are not an astronomer, or astrophysicist or other expert, this may be your best bet for a comprehensive and current view of this subject.
Okay, I am fascinated by almost every photo that NASA releases. I am right there with the Mars rovers. I groove on Hubble’s ability to expand our knowledge. And I follow almost every robot probe that Earth has sent to various parts of our solar system.
This is a course of 24 lectures that cover:
How the Solar System Family Is Organized
Mercury, the Extreme Little Planet
Venus, the Veiled Greenhouse Planet
Earth: How Plate Tectonics Sets Up Life
Orbiting Earth: Up through the Atmosphere
Exploring the Earth-Moon System
Humans on the Moon: A Never-Ending Story
Exploring Mars from Space and the Ground
Water on Mars and Prospects for Life
Near-Earth Asteroids and the Asteroid Belt
Mighty Jupiter, The Ruling Gas Giant
Jupiter’s Planet-like System of Moons
Saturn and the Rings: Gravity’s Masterpiece
Saturn’s Moons: Titan to Enceladus
Uranus: A Water World on Its Side
Neptune: Windy with the Wildest Moon
Pluto and Charon: The Binary Worlds
Comets, the Kuiper Belt, and the Oort Cloud
How Our Sun Defines Our Solar System
A Solar System Time Machine and Meteorites
What the Biggest Exoplanets Reveal
Closing in on Earthlike Exoplanets
Planets Migrated in Our Early Solar System!
Human Futures in the Solar System
Stanley may not have quite the presentation skills of a Carl Sagan or Neil de Grasse Tyson, but her organization of each section and her selection of materials is almost perfect.
I learned a great deal. I understood relationships among the objects in our solar system much better. I appreciated that I was getting almost all current information. And, I loved the photos and graphics that were part of the video presentation.
Here are several of the many factoids I have added to my gray cells.
- If you are on the planet, Mercury, the sun can move across the sky, stop, and move back the way it came.
- Uranus may represent what the core of Jupiter or Saturn is like
- Neptune has wind speeds of over 2000 kph
- The Oort cloud is the source of much in the inner solar system including moons
The guide book contains quizzes (and answers) if that is of interest. 5*
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January 29, 2024Diamond rain, molten glass rain, half mile high blades of ice.
I think the asteroid belt lecture was the most interesting.
Also interesting to hear about earth-like planets that have everything earth has except one or two things and are therefore completely uninhabitable.
I think the asteroid belt lecture was the most interesting.
Also interesting to hear about earth-like planets that have everything earth has except one or two things and are therefore completely uninhabitable.
September 1, 2021
A masterful contemporary view of what we currently know about the wonders of the solar system. I watched the course through Kanopy, which was absolutely fantastic. Dr Stanley first sets the scene and then takes us across the solar system, from Mercury out to the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud. Some of the larger planets get an additional presentation about their fascinating moons. I found the lectures on planetary formation mind blowing. This is one of the fewer courses about the planets that incorporates the latest research and imaging available. I really enjoyed the very clear presentation, fantastic graphics, and her inspiring ability to communicate the sheer wonder of our solar system. Understandable without sacrificing depth, engaging and full of wonders. I enjoyed this from beginning to end and cannot recommend it highly enough. Terrific teaching!
May 23, 2023
AMAZING- so much information!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews