BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Gallery 207: (a) Exploring the Planets

DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Gallery 207: (a) Exploring the Planets:

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[1] GAL207_140706_004.JPG	[2] GAL207_140706_007.JPG	[3] GAL207_140706_011.JPG
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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. GAL207_140706_007.JPG: Discovery Planets As Gods To the people of many ancient civilizations, the planets were thought to be deities. Our names for the planets are the Roman names for these deities. For example, Mars was the god of war and Venus the goddess of love.
2. GAL207_140706_011.JPG: Ancient Times Five planets - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were known to the ancients. To the unaided eye, these planets appear starlike. However, the planets moved relative to the stars. For this reason they were called wandering stars. Our word "planet" comes from the Greek word planetes, meaning "wanderer".
3. GAL207_140706_018.JPG: Babylonian Clay Tablet The cuneiform inscriptions on this tablet record astronomical calculations related to the rising and setting of the Moon and planets for several years in the 1st Century BC. (replica)
4. GAL207_140706_022.JPG: The Greeks "What are the uniform and ordered movements, by the assumption of which the apparent movements of the planets can be accounted for?" -- Plato 4th Century B.C. Plato wondered why the starlike planets moved relative to the stars. Trying to answer the question was to occupy the attention of astronomers for many centuries. Ptolemy (About 100-179 A.D.) In the second century A.D., the Greek astronomer Ptolemy devised a theory for the Solar System that was to survive for 14 centuries. Ptolemy's book, the "Almagest", contained accurate descriptions of the motions of planets. It was the standard astronomical reference until the Renaissance. Ptolemy's Planetary System In the theory of Ptolemy, the planets moved in small orbits while revolving in large orbits about the Earth. This theory, although incorrect, could explain the apparent motions of the planets and also account for changes in their brightness.
5. GAL207_140706_026.JPG: Ptolemy (About 100-179 A.D.) In the second century A.D., the Greek astronomer Ptolemy devised a theory for the Solar System that was to survive for 14 centuries. Ptolemy's book, the "Almagest", contained accurate descriptions of the motions of planets. It was the standard astronomical reference until the Renaissance.
6. GAL207_140706_028.JPG: "The apparent....motion of the planets arises not from their motion but from the Earth's. The motion of the Earth alone, therefore, suffices to explain so many apparent inequalities in the heavens." -- Nicolaus Copernicus, Commentariolus, about 1510. The Copernican System Copernicus arranged the Earth and the five planets that were known in the correct order. The planets were shown to revolve around the Sun in circular orbits. It was not until 1609 that the German astronomer, Johannes Kepler, described planetary paths correctly as ellipses. Other than this, the planetary system of Copernicus is correct.
7. GAL207_140706_032.JPG: The Renaissance A rigid code of respect for ancient cultures and thought governed the early Renaissance, a period during which resistance to traditional concepts was met with hostility. Therefore, the Polish astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus, whose ideas changed the course of astronomy forever, did not release his manuscript for publication until he was on his deathbed. Copernicus Stopped the Sun and Moved the Earth. Copernicus broke with centuries of tradition by showing that the Sun -- and not the Earth -- was the center of the planetary system. The Greek astronomer Aristarchus had this idea about 1100 years earlier, but because it was rejected by Ptolemy he was largely ignored.
8. GAL207_140706_036.JPG: Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) "First I prepared a tube of lead at the end of which I fitted two glass lenses, both plain on one side, while on the other side, one was spherically convex and the other concave. Then placing my eye near the concave lens I perceived objects...three times closer and nine times larger than when seen by the naked eye alone." -- Galileo Until the development of the telescope in the early 17th Century, all astronomical observations were made with the naked eye. By using measuring instruments, astronomers recorded the positions of the planets against the background of stars. When Galileo Galilei turned his telescope to the sky in 1609, planetary astronomy became a new and different science. No longer would astronomers be concerned only with the motions of planets; surfaces of other worlds could also be studied. Early in 1610, Galileo observed four "stars" near Jupiter. The motions of the stars relative to Jupiter led Galileo to the conclusion that they were moons of the giant planet. These moons--Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto--are known today as the Galilean satellites in honor of their discoverer.
9. GAL207_140706_040.JPG: The Age of the Telescope Phases of Venus To the unaided eye, Venus appears to be just a point of light. Galileo observed Venus through a telescope and found the planet to exhibit phases, as does the Moon. In these photographs, Venus wanes from nearly full to a thin crescent while more than doubling in apparent size. The Craters of The Moon Galileo first observed that the face of the Moon is not smooth, but pocked by craters.
10. GAL207_140706_043.JPG: Development of the Telescope: These 17th-century telescopes from the collection of the Adler Planetarium, Chicago, Ill., are typical of the period. The barrels on tubes are ornately decorated. Theory of Telescopes: Telescopes had been in use for many years before it was known precisely how they worked. The first theory of the telescope was written by the noted astronomer Johannes Kepler in his book "Dioptrice" published in 1610.
11. GAL207_140706_046.JPG: Hevelius' Longest Telescope To correct for distortions of lenses, telescopes became longer and longer. For example, the astronomer Hevelius' telescope was approximately 13 meters (43 feet) long. Telescopes longer than 30 meters (100 feet) were not uncommon. Many people were necessary to aid the observer. The Reflecting Telescope Sir Isaac Newton designed a reflecting telescope to overcome the chromatic distortions produced by lenses. In his telescope, light was focused by a concave mirror rather than by lenses. The telescope did not have to be a long and unwieldy instrument.
12. GAL207_140706_050.JPG: Discovering New Planets Only six planets, including the Earth, were known until the 18th Century. Discovery of Uranus The planet Uranus was discovered by the noted British astronomer, Sir William Herschel, on March 13, 1781. Actually, the planet had been observed numerous times by other astronomers as early as 1690, but it was thought to be another star. The planet was discovered accidentally while Herschel was surveying all stars down to magnitude eight -- those that are about ten times dimmer than can be seen by the naked eye. One "star" seemed different and within a year was shown to have a planetary orbit 18 times farther from the Sun than Earth. The new planet was named Uranus after the father of Saturn in Roman mythology.
13. GAL207_140706_065.JPG: Discovering New Planets Discovery of Ceres In the course of preparing a star catalog in 1801, the Sicilian astronomer Guiseppi Piazzi accidentally discovered a small planet between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. He named the planet Ceres after the Sicilian god of the harvest. Ceres is now known to be the largest of thousands of minor planets, or asteroids, most of which have orbits in the region of the Solar System between Mars and Jupiter.
14. GAL207_140706_069.JPG: Discovery of Neptune Unlike Uranus and Ceres, Neptune was not discovered by accident. It was proposed that a planet beyond Uranus could account for irregularities in Uranus' orbit. Independently, two astronomers, John Couch Adams in England and Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier in France, calculated the position of this yet unknown planet. The search began. The British astronomer James Challis, using Adams' predictions, observed the planet on the night of August 4, 1846, but failed to compare his observations with those of the previous night and did not recognize the planet. On September 23, 1846, the planet was finally found on the first try by the German astronomer Johann Galle using Le Verrier's predictions. Who Discovered Neptune? Who should receive credit for discovering Neptune? Adams or Le Verrier who predicted its position? Challis who saw it but did not know it? Galle who found it? Controversy raged. ... It was fortunate that Neptune was discovered in the mid-19th century. Just 30 years later the planet was far from the positions predicted by both Adams and Le Verrier.
15. GAL207_140706_075.JPG: Discovery of Pluto Several astronomers interpreted irregularities in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune as being caused by a more distant planet. Among these astronomers was the American Percival Lowell who is credited with the successful prediction of the planet's orbit. Lowell also started the search for the planet which was ultimately found in 1930 by his successors at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. Pluto Discovery Plate Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh of the Lowell Observatory by comparing this photographic plate taken on the night of January 23, 1930 with two others taken in the same month. Because Pluto is so small and so distant from the Sun, the image of the planet is extremely faint and difficult to see. The original plate is shown at left on display in the Exploring The Planets gallery in the National Air and Space Museum. It is unlighted to protect the photographic emulsion.
16. GAL207_140706_080.JPG: Pluto Discovery Plate Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh of the Lowell Observatory by comparing this photographic plate taken on the night of January 23, 1930 with two others taken in the same month. Because Pluto is so small and so distant from the Sun, the image of the planet is extremely faint and difficult to see. The original plate is shown at left on display in the Exploring The Planets gallery in the National Air and Space Museum. It is unlighted to protect the photographic emulsion.
17. GAL207_140706_090.JPG: Planetary Satellites In 1900, the planets were known to have 22 satellites or moons. The number of known moons has now more than quadrupled, and is still increasing.
18. GAL207_140706_094.JPG: Observing Book, 1848 In this early example of an astronomer's observing book, observations of a newly discovered moon of Saturn are recorded.
19. GAL207_140706_099.JPG: Discovery of the Satellites of Mars Laputan Scientists Discover Mars' Moons The scientists of Laputa "discovered two lesser stars, or satellites, which revolve about Mars; whereof the innermost is distant from the primary planet exactly three of his diameters, and the overmost five; the former revolved in a space of ten hours, the latter in twenty-one and a half." -- Johnathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, 1726 Phobos and Deimos Mars' moons were actually discovered a century and a half later by Asaph Hall (1829-1907) at the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC. Hall named the satellites for the sons of Ares (Mars) in Greek mythology, Phobos and Deimos (meaning fear and terror, respectively).
20. GAL207_140706_102.JPG: Discovery of Uranus' Rings The rings of planets, such as those of Saturn, are a system of countless small satellites. In 1977, it was discovered that Uranus was also encircled by a system of rings. Discovery Telegram: This is the original draft of a message reporting the discovery of "small bodies" near Uranus. The message was sent to the editor of Astronomical Telegrams from an astronomer aboard the Kuier Airborne Observatory. Uranus' rings were discovered because they occulted (blocked from view) a star as Uranus passed between the Earth and the star.
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Description of Subject Matter: Exploring the Planets
November 7, 1978 – July 8, 2019
A single large spacecraft hangs in the center of this gallery: a full-scale replica of a Voyager, two of which blazed a trail of discovery through the outer solar system. Like other robotic spacefarers, the Voyagers served as extensions of our senses. The data and dazzling images of planets and moons they sent back to Earth revealed each of them to be a world as real and unique as our own.
Exploring the Planets takes you on a tour of this remarkable realm, as seen and sensed by the Voyagers and other robotic explorers. Initial sections present some historical highlights and show the various means we use to study other worlds. Sections devoted to each planet form the core of the gallery.
Highlights include:
* Voyager: full-scale replica of the spacecraft that explored Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune in the 1970s and 1980s
* A Piece of Mars? A meteorite fragment discovered in Antarctica in 1979 and thought to be from Mars
* Surveyor 3 television camera: retrieved from the surface of the Moon by the Apollo 12 astronauts
* 3 generations of Mars Exploration Rovers
* Full-scale model of the New Horizons spacecraft, the first spacecraft to explore Pluto
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