For centuries, astronomers were limited to ground-based observations of the planets, but now we use spacecraft to capture close-up views of our neighboring worlds. Excitingly, our views of solar system planets have been getting progressively better over the decades, as these images attest.
US News: On November 3, 1973, Nasa's Mariner 10 spacecraft was launched to explore the planet Mercury. It was the first mission to study Mercury's geology, top
Have you ever wondered what our planetary neighbor looks like up close? It is not a secret that Venus is Earth's nearest planetary neighbor and is the second planet from the Sun.
and the history of the house of romanov. the grand duke lived in france for many years before returning to russia three years ago. he believes russian and european royals could play a part in trying to mend relations in russia and the west. now for some out of this world news, europe ausmat first mission to is creating its first flyby. the bepicolombo spacecraft will fly by the planet at high speeds, taking pictures of the planet and sending them back to earth. it is moving too fast to go into orbit, but will begin more detailed observations in four years time. i ve been speaking to planetary scientist emily lakdawalla, who has been following this mission closely and told me what it hopes to achieve. this mission is a flagship mission, with a lot of plans to do science on mercury. there have only been two previous missions to mercury, one a long time ago, mariner 10, and then more
in a better place. europe s first mission to mercury is completing its first flyby. the spacecraft will fly past planet at high speeds, taking pictures and sending them back to earth. it will begin more detailed observations in four years time. i have been speaking to a scientist who told me what it hopes to achieve. this mission is a flagship mission, with a lot of plans to do science on mercury. there have only been two previous missions to mercury, one a long time ago, mariner 10, and then more recently nasa s messenger mission.