Myth vs Reality: Our Knowledge of the Solar System

 

 

 

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach.

 

All images, illustrations, and videos courtesy of NASA, ESA, and STScI except:

 

·       Amateur image of 2009 impact site on Jupiter courtesy of Anthony Wesley

·       Gemini North Telescope image of 2009 impact site on Jupiter courtesy of Imke de Pater (UC Berkeley), Heidi B. Hammel (Space Science Institute), Travis Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), Gemini Observatory/AURA

·       Taurus constellation drawing from Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia by Johannes Hevelius, courtesy of the United States Naval Observatory

·       1879 photo of Jupiter and Great Red Spot from A Popular History of Astronomy during the Nineteenth Century by Agnes M. Clerk (1885)

·       2014 image of Jupiter and Great Red Spot courtesy of Damian Peach

·       Infrared images of Uranus from Keck Observatory courtesy of Imke de Pater (UC Berkeley)/Keck Observatory

·       Animation showing axial tilts of solar system planets courtesy of Steven Sanders, Eastern University

·       Animation comparing axial tilts of Earth and Uranus courtesy of Steven Sanders, Eastern University

 

 

Written by Vanessa Thomas

Designed by Marc Lussier

Music courtesy of Associated Production Music

 

 

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 Top left, a black and white picture of a minotaur. Top right, a color picture of planets. 

Text, MYTH versus REALITY 

Myth side 

Text, Scientists know all there is to know about the Solar System. 

Reality side 

Text, We are continually making new discoveries about the Solar System. Telescopes and spacecraft are constantly revealing once-secret details about the Sun, planets, and small bodies in the Solar System. Small moons, asteroids, comets, and other objects are still being discovered. Observations also reveal how objects in the Solar System change over time.