Solar System

Links checked 2017 Apr 25.

Asteroids -- Comets -- Jupiter -- Mars -- Meteors -- Moon -- Orreries -- Pluto -- Saturn -- Sun -- Venus

Current Diagram of Solar System http://www.learnwhatsup.com/astro/current/solar_system.shtml

Planetary and Satellite data -- Fact Sheet - http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/

General Solar System Surveys/Tours

• • The Internet Encyclopedia of Science (David Darling) - http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/P/planets_and_moons.html

  • Solar Space Station - http://www.solarspace.co.uk/index.php

  • NASA

    • • Planetary Photojournal - http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/

      • Astronomy Picture of the Day - Index - http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html

      • Facts - http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planetfact.html

      • JPL

        • • Solar System Exploration pages (JPL) https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/

          • Welcome to the Planets (JPL) http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/

          • Solar System Dynamics page (planet stats): http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov

          • Regional Planetary Image Facility http://www.lpi.usra.edu/library/RPIF/RPIF.html

  • National Geographic - Virtual Solar System http://www.nationalgeographic.com/solarsystem/

  • Planets of the Solar System - http://www.planetsofthesolarsystem.net

  • Stardate Solar System Guide http://stardate.org/resources/ssguide/

  • Surfing the Solar System, Treasure Hunt Game from Family ASTRO at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific http://www.astrosociety.org/education/surf.html

  • USGS

    • • Astrogeology -- USGS http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/

      • USGS Planetary GIS Web Server - PIGWAD http://webgis.wr.usgs.gov/ - (Planetary Interactive G.I.S.-on-the-Web Analyzable Database)

      • USGS Map-a-planet - http://www.mapaplanet.org/

Planetary Data Systems http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov -- data from all Solar System exploration missions

Asteroids -- Comets -- Jupiter -- Mars -- Meteors -- Moon -- Orreries -- Pluto -- Saturn -- Sun -- Venus

ASTEROIDS

• • Asteroid Radar Research at JPL http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/

  • (Asteroid 4179 Toutatis, Asteroid 216 Kleopatra, Asteroid 6489 Golevka)

  • Asteroid 433 Eros http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010605.html (NEAR)

  • also http://near.jhuapl.edu/

  • Asteroid 233 Mathilde http://www.holoscience.com/news/so_near.htm (NEAR)

  • also http://near.jhuapl.edu/Mathilde/

  • Asteroid 4769 Castalia http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/4769_Castalia/cast01.html

  • Asteroid 951 Gaspra http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980712.html (Galileo)

  • Asteroid 243 Ida (& Dactyl) http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/images/ida.html (Galileo)

  • Asteroid Observing Services -- http://asteroid.lowell.edu/

  • EUNEASO, -- EUropean Near-Earth Asteroids Search Observatories -- http://earn.dlr.de/euneaso.htm

  • Masses of the largest asteroids http://aa.usno.navy.mil/hilton/asteroid_masses.htm

  • NEO observing--Klet Observatory -- http://www.klet.cz/

  • Near Earth Asteroid Tracking at JPL http://neat.jpl.nasa.gov/

  • NASA Center for NEO Studies -- https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/

  • The Continuing Story Of Asteroid 1999 AN10: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news017.html

  • Guide to minor body astrometry http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/info/Astrometry.html

  • IAU: List of Predicted Close Approaches http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/CloseApp.html

  • IAU: Minor Planet Center http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/mpc.html

  • IAU Minor Planet Names: http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/MPNames.html

  • The Minor Planet Observer--http://www.minorplanetobserver.com/-- Palmer Divide Observatory

  • Near Earth Objects http://www.nearearthobjects.co.uk/

  • Near Earth Object Program (JPL)http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/

  • Plot of bodies in the outer solar system http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/OuterPlot.html

  • Spaceguard Foundation http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~marsden/SGF/ program for detecting near-Earth asteroids

  • Toutatis - an odd-shaped, weirdly spinning asteroid

    • • http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/4179_Toutatis/toutatis.html

      • http://www.solarviews.com/eng/toutatis.htm

      • http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/images/toutatis.html

  • Trans-neptunian object that is a system of two objects. http://cfht.hawaii.edu/~veillet/WW31.html

  • Nov 7, 2001 Fewer Earth Crossing Asteroids Than Previously Thought--Some good news: the Earth is less likely to be struck by an asteroid than scientists previously calculated. The odds are only 1 in 5,000 that an asteroid big enough to wipe out civilization will hit the Earth within the next 100 years (much lower than the 1 in 1,500 of earlier estimates). Astronomers from Princeton University used data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to calculate that there are 700,000 asteroids in the solar system larger than 1 kilometre; but only a fraction of those will ever cross the Earth's orbit. For more information, go to http://www.sdss.org/news/releases/20011108.asteroid.html

Asteroids -- Comets -- Jupiter -- Mars -- Meteors -- Moon -- Orreries -- Pluto -- Saturn -- Sun -- Venus

COMETS

• • Comet Borrelly http://nmp.nasa.gov/ds1/images.html (Deep Space 1)

  • Comet Wild 2 (Stardust)

    • http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/comets/wild_2/wild_2.html

      • http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/photo/cometwild2.html

  • Comet Halley http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=15 (Giotto)

  • Ephemerides of currently observable comets http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/

  • Comet Observation (NASA) http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/solar_system/asteroids_comets/comets_index.html - Comet news, ephemerides, and information

  • International Comet Quarterly http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/icq.html

  • Gary Kronk's Cometography Page http://cometography.com

  • Comets that have come close http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/lists/ClosestComets.html

  • Forthcoming Close Approaches To The Earth http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/lists/CloseApp.html (comets and asteroids)

Ephemerides of the Planets -- Solar System Dynamics Group at JPL -- http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov

Asteroids -- Comets -- Jupiter -- Mars -- Meteors -- Moon -- Orreries -- Pluto -- Saturn -- Sun -- Venus

JUPITER

• • RedSpotJr http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2006/19/ )

  • http://www.gemini.edu/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=196

Kuiper Belt October 7, 2002--HUBBLE SPOTS AN ICY WORLD FAR BEYOND PLUTO--NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has measured the largest object in the solar system seen since the discovery of Pluto 72 years ago. Approximately half the size of Pluto, the icy world 2002 LM60, dubbed "Quaoar" (pronounced kwa-whar) by its discoverers, is the farthest object in the solar system ever to be resolved by a telescope. It was initially detected by a ground-based telescope as simply a dot of light, until astronomers aimed Hubble's powerful telescope at it. Quaoar is about 4 billion miles away from Earth, well over a billion miles farther away than Pluto. Unlike Pluto, its orbit around the Sun is circular, even more so than most of the planetary-class bodies in the solar system. Although smaller than Pluto, Quaoar is greater in volume than all the asteroids combined (though probably only one-third the mass of the asteroid belt, because it's icy rather than rocky)... RELEASE: 02-190--http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/2002/17

Asteroids -- Comets -- Jupiter -- Mars -- Meteors -- Moon -- Orreries -- Pluto -- Saturn -- Sun -- Venus

MARS

• • http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/mars.html

  • Google Mars http://www.google.com/mars/

  • Mars Exploration Society -- http://members.tripod.com/~planet_mars/

Asteroids -- Comets -- Jupiter -- Mars -- Meteors -- Moon -- Orreries -- Pluto -- Saturn -- Sun -- Venus

METEORS/METEORITES

• • Antarctic Meteorites http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/antmet/index.cfm

  • Arizona Meteorites http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/SIC/arizona_meteorites/

  • Barringer Meteor Crater http://www.barringercrater.com/

  • How to Observe a Meteor Shower (from Cal Academy) - http://www.calacademy.org/explore-science/how-to-observe-a-meteor-shower

  • Leonids Put on a Spectacular Show--It was one of the most anticipated meteor showers in recent years, and to the delight of skywatchers around the world, the Leonid Meteor Storm of 2001 was a night to remember. Viewers in North America saw up to 2,600 meteors an hour during perfect viewing conditions, making it the best storm since 1966 (when skywatchers saw more than 150,000 meteors an hour). Even though the peak of the storm is over, you can expect to continue seeing Leonid meteors until November 21st, when the Earth leaves the dust clouds left by Comet Tempel-Tuttle. For more information, go to http://spaceweather.com/meteors/gallery_18nov01.html

  • Meteor Shower interactive/animation - https://www.meteorshowers.org/

  • Meteor Showers http://www.learnwhatsup.com/astro/current/meteors.shtml

  • The Meteoritical Societyhttp://www.meteoriticalsociety.org/

  • Midwest Meteorites http://www.meteorman.org/

  • Near-Earth Object Program (JPL) http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/

  • New England Meteoritical http://www.meteorlab.com/

Models of the Solar System

• http://www.vendian.org/mncharity/dir3/solarsystem/

  • Solar System model Excel spreadsheet http://www.clarkfoundation.org/astro-utah/snippets/scale/

Asteroids -- Comets -- Jupiter -- Mars -- Meteors -- Moon -- Orreries -- Pluto -- Saturn -- Sun -- Venus

MOON

• • Moonrise/Moonset - https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/usa/berkeley
    (Sunrise/set - https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/berkeley)

  • Moon Phase and Libration - Dial-A-Moon - https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4874

  • Animated gif of moon phases--from NASA's "Astronomy Picture of the Day" (463K) Time-lapse sequence shows what our Moon looks like during a lunation, a complete lunar cycle. The Moon's apparent size changes slightly, though, and a slight wobble called a libration is discernible as it progresses along its elliptical orbit. A full lunation takes about 29.5 days, just under a month - http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/9911/lunation_ajc.gif

  • Apollo Lunar Surface Journal -- http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/

  • Apollo Landing Sites http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=804

  • Atlas -- Consolidate Lunar Atlas from LPI -- http://www.LPI.USRA.EDU/research/cla/menu.html

  • Blue Moon

    • • Folklore of the "Blue Moon -- http://www.ips-planetarium.org/?page=a_hiscock1999 Philip Hiscock, MUN Folklore & Language Archive, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St John's, Newfoundland A1B 3X8 Canada

      • David Harper's Blue Moon page http://www.obliquity.com/astro/bluemoon.html

  • Ceres project Moon Resources page http://btc.montana.edu/ceres/html/MoonQuest/Quemoonresource.html

  • Chuck Wood's Moon - http://www.lpod.org/cwm/

  • Clementine Images http://www-phys.llnl.gov/clementine (LLNL) Also see http://www.nrl.navy.mil/clementine/clib for an interactive browser of lunar imagery at Naval Research Laboratory

  • Consolidate Lunbar Atlas http://www.lpi.usra.edu/research/cla/menu.html

  • Google Moon - http://moon.google.com

  • Green cheese - How did the moon=green cheese myth start? http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990723a.html

  • Exploring the Moon (Lunar and Planetary Institute) http://www.lpi.usra.edu/pub/expmoon/lunar_missions.html

  • Exploring the Moon (Charles Woods--Space Studies; University of North Dakota) http://www.space.edu/moon/

  • Earth and Moon Viewer http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/

  • Full Moon Names And Their Meanings http://www.farmersalmanac.com/astronomy/fullmoonnames.html (from Farmer's Almanac)

  • Formation of the Moon

• • • Moon Over Mauna Loa: A review of Hypotheses of Formation of Earth's Moon

    • http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?bibcode=1986ormo.conf.17W

      • Origin of the Moon (book) http://ads.harvard.edu/books/ormo/

      • Table evaluating lunar origin theories:

      • http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/conf/ormo./1986//0000048.000.html

• • Halo around the Moon

• • • http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap000515.html

      • http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/scienceques2002/20030124.htm

• • Hitchhiker's Guide to the Moon http://www.shallowsky.com/moon/hitchhiker.html

  • Images of the Moon

    • • Astronomy Pictures of the Day - http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/moon.html

  • Inconstant Moon http://www.inconstantmoon.com/

  • Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon -- http://www.lpi.usra.edu/research/lunar_orbiter/

  • Lunar Picture of the Day -- http://www2.lpod.org

  • Moon Map -- http://www.oarval.org/MoonMapen.htm

  • Moon Phases

• • • http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/MoonPhase.html

      • Moon phase -- Virtual Reality Moon Phase Pictures -- http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/vphase.html

    • http://www.lunaroutreach.org/

      • Moon Phases Calendar - http://stardate.org/nightsky/moon/

    • http://www.calculatorcat.com/moon_phases/moon_phases.phtml

• • Photographic Moon Book by Alan Chu http://www.alanchuhk.com/

  • Sun and Moon Tables, including coordinates. http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/

  • MOON Project http://moon.uc.edu/--a full-screen, immersive mutual reality Internet DVD made on the event of the 30th Anniversary of Humankind's First Manned Moon Landing, to bring viewers into personal contact with humanity's cultural tradition through participation in the exploration of the Moon.

  • Spacecraft Missions to the Moon

    • • Apollo

        • • Archive http://www.apolloarchive.com/

          • A new archive of Apollo images of the Moon is being created with very high resolution scans of negatives, which kept have been in refrigeration by NASA since the Apollo program days. http://apollo.sese.asu.edu

          • Image Atlas from Apollo missions http://www.lpi.usra.edu/research/apollo/index.html

          • Lat/Long. of Moon Landings -- http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo_tables.html

          • Mission Journal http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/ -- a record of the lunar surface operations conducted by the six pairs of astronauts who landed on the Moon from 1969 through 1972.

      • Clementine http://www.nrl.navy.mil/clementine/ The Clementine mission uses the Moon and a near-Earth asteroid as targets to demonstrate lightweight component and sensor performance.

      • Kaguya (SELENE — SELenological and ENgineering Explorer) is a Japanese moon orbiter mission jointly prepared by ISAS and NASDA http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/enterp/missions/selene/index.shtml -- It will be launched in 2003 by NASDA's H-II A launch vehicle from Tanegashima Space Center. The major objectives of the mission are to obtain scientific data on lunar origins and evolution, and to develop the technology for future lunar exploration. The SELENE spacecraft consists of a lunar orbiter and a relay satellite around the moon. After a year-long remote-sensing mission, the propulsion module of the orbiter will separate for soft-landing testing.

      • Lunar Prospector http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/missions/prospector/

  • Starchild http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/shadow/

Origin of the Solar System

• • Article at Royal observatory of Greenwich web site http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/leaflets/solar_system/section3.3.html

• http://www.nineplanets.org/origin.html

• http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/solarsys/nebular.html

  • Animation of Solar System Formation

Asteroids -- Comets -- Jupiter -- Mars -- Meteors -- Moon -- Orreries -- Pluto -- Saturn -- Sun -- Venus

Orreries

• • Solar System Live http://www.fourmilab.ch/solar/solar.html --view an orrery representation of the solar system for any date between 4713 B.C and A.D. 8000.

  • http://www.harmsy.freeuk.com/orrer.html

• http://www.library.upenn.edu/vanpelt/pennhistory/orrery/orrery.html

Asteroids -- Comets -- Jupiter -- Mars -- Meteors -- Moon -- Orreries -- Pluto -- Saturn -- Sun -- Venus

PLUTO

• • All about Pluto (Mobal) http://www.mobal.com/articles/13.html

  • Go directly to the maps

  • 24 Aug 2006 Pluto loses status as a planet

    • • http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/5282440.stm

• • • http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5283250.stm

      • IAU definition - http://www.iau2006.org/mirror/www.iau.org/iau0603/

• • Google Pluto overlay - http://www.gearthhacks.com/dlfile8123/Pluto-Overlay.htm

  • New Horizons mission to Pluto http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/

Planetary Names (features on bodies in the solar system): USGS planetary gazetteer -- http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/

Asteroids -- Comets -- Jupiter -- Mars -- Meteors -- Moon -- Orreries -- Pluto -- Saturn -- Sun -- Venus

SATURN

• • Saturn Ring Plane Crossing

    • • HST ring plane crossing http://www.stsci.edu/pubinfo/SaturnRPC.html

SUN

Asteroids -- Comets -- Jupiter -- Mars -- Meteors -- Moon -- Orreries -- Pluto -- Saturn -- Sun -- Venus

VENUS

• • http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/venus.html

What would I weigh on another planet? http://www.mobal.com/articles/40.html