The Planets

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHY

From the magnificent cover featuring Saturn and its ring system, inside a slipcase emblazoned with a transit of Venus across the Sun, this is a Folio edition that presents a visual and narrative tour of our solar system. The latest and sharpest pictures were selected by David A. Rothery, Professor of Planetary Geosciences and consultant to The Planets television series. In his fascinating note on the images, he explains that they are ‘all real images sent back by visiting spacecraft or powerful space telescopes’. Highlights include an ultraviolet snapshot of Venus’s atmosphere taken by Japan’s Akatsuki orbiter, a ‘selfie’ from NASA’s Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars, and an amazing fold-out panorama of the Red Planet, composed from 146 separate images taken by the Curiosity rover. The Juno mission contributes superb pictures of Jupiter, including a fold-out of its four largest moons. There is also startlingly vivid imagery of Saturn’s icy rings from the Cassini orbiter and a superb image of the Southern Ring Nebula from the newly launched Webb Telescope showing the shedding of material from a dying star from which new stars and planets can be born. With two-colour text, redrawn diagrams, and endpapers bearing a beautifully detailed colour image of Mercury’s Caloris Basin, this is the ultimate grand tour of the planets.

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHY

From the magnificent cover featuring Saturn and its ring system, inside a slipcase emblazoned with a transit of Venus across the Sun, this is a Folio edition that presents a visual and narrative tour of our solar system. The latest and sharpest pictures were selected by David A. Rothery, Professor of Planetary Geosciences and consultant to The Planets television series. In his fascinating note on the images, he explains that they are ‘all real images sent back by visiting spacecraft or powerful space telescopes’. Highlights include an ultraviolet snapshot of Venus’s atmosphere taken by Japan’s Akatsuki orbiter, a ‘selfie’ from NASA’s Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars, and an amazing fold-out panorama of the Red Planet, composed from 146 separate images taken by the Curiosity rover. The Juno mission contributes superb pictures of Jupiter, including a fold-out of its four largest moons. There is also startlingly vivid imagery of Saturn’s icy rings from the Cassini orbiter and a superb image of the Southern Ring Nebula from the newly launched Webb Telescope showing the shedding of material from a dying star from which new stars and planets can be born. With two-colour text, redrawn diagrams, and endpapers bearing a beautifully detailed colour image of Mercury’s Caloris Basin, this is the ultimate grand tour of the planets.

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHY

From the magnificent cover featuring Saturn and its ring system, inside a slipcase emblazoned with a transit of Venus across the Sun, this is a Folio edition that presents a visual and narrative tour of our solar system. The latest and sharpest pictures were selected by David A. Rothery, Professor of Planetary Geosciences and consultant to The Planets television series. In his fascinating note on the images, he explains that they are ‘all real images sent back by visiting spacecraft or powerful space telescopes’. Highlights include an ultraviolet snapshot of Venus’s atmosphere taken by Japan’s Akatsuki orbiter, a ‘selfie’ from NASA’s Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars, and an amazing fold-out panorama of the Red Planet, composed from 146 separate images taken by the Curiosity rover. The Juno mission contributes superb pictures of Jupiter, including a fold-out of its four largest moons. There is also startlingly vivid imagery of Saturn’s icy rings from the Cassini orbiter and a superb image of the Southern Ring Nebula from the newly launched Webb Telescope showing the shedding of material from a dying star from which new stars and planets can be born. With two-colour text, redrawn diagrams, and endpapers bearing a beautifully detailed colour image of Mercury’s Caloris Basin, this is the ultimate grand tour of the planets.

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHY

From the magnificent cover featuring Saturn and its ring system, inside a slipcase emblazoned with a transit of Venus across the Sun, this is a Folio edition that presents a visual and narrative tour of our solar system. The latest and sharpest pictures were selected by David A. Rothery, Professor of Planetary Geosciences and consultant to The Planets television series. In his fascinating note on the images, he explains that they are ‘all real images sent back by visiting spacecraft or powerful space telescopes’. Highlights include an ultraviolet snapshot of Venus’s atmosphere taken by Japan’s Akatsuki orbiter, a ‘selfie’ from NASA’s Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars, and an amazing fold-out panorama of the Red Planet, composed from 146 separate images taken by the Curiosity rover. The Juno mission contributes superb pictures of Jupiter, including a fold-out of its four largest moons. There is also startlingly vivid imagery of Saturn’s icy rings from the Cassini orbiter and a superb image of the Southern Ring Nebula from the newly launched Webb Telescope showing the shedding of material from a dying star from which new stars and planets can be born. With two-colour text, redrawn diagrams, and endpapers bearing a beautifully detailed colour image of Mercury’s Caloris Basin, this is the ultimate grand tour of the planets.

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHY

From the magnificent cover featuring Saturn and its ring system, inside a slipcase emblazoned with a transit of Venus across the Sun, this is a Folio edition that presents a visual and narrative tour of our solar system. The latest and sharpest pictures were selected by David A. Rothery, Professor of Planetary Geosciences and consultant to The Planets television series. In his fascinating note on the images, he explains that they are ‘all real images sent back by visiting spacecraft or powerful space telescopes’. Highlights include an ultraviolet snapshot of Venus’s atmosphere taken by Japan’s Akatsuki orbiter, a ‘selfie’ from NASA’s Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars, and an amazing fold-out panorama of the Red Planet, composed from 146 separate images taken by the Curiosity rover. The Juno mission contributes superb pictures of Jupiter, including a fold-out of its four largest moons. There is also startlingly vivid imagery of Saturn’s icy rings from the Cassini orbiter and a superb image of the Southern Ring Nebula from the newly launched Webb Telescope showing the shedding of material from a dying star from which new stars and planets can be born. With two-colour text, redrawn diagrams, and endpapers bearing a beautifully detailed colour image of Mercury’s Caloris Basin, this is the ultimate grand tour of the planets.