For thousands of years human beings have noticed certain points of light in the
night sky that seemed to move differently. Ancient Greek astronomers
named these points Aster's planetia, which means wandering stars. The term
described many celestial objects, including Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and
Saturn all of which can be seen at certain times of the year with the
unaided eye from Earth. with the invention of the telescope back
in the 1600s these planets can be viewed like never before and eventually with
years of continued observation we discovered Uranus, Neptune and the dwarf
planet pluto. Then back in 1957 the Space Age started with the successful
launch of Sputnik 1 and since then probes have been sent all over the solar
system on a mission to study these neighboring celestial objects sending
data millions of miles back to earth including some incredible photographs.
The first ever photograph of our planets taken from space was actually captured
back in October 1946 long before the official Space Age started. It was made
possible due to a German v2 rocket launched from New Mexico in the USA that
was equipped with a 35 millimeter motion picture camera set to snap one picture
every second and a half.
This incredible photograph was taken when the rocket reached 65 miles above
the ground and shows a grainy view of the Earth's curvature, clouds and land,
giving the people of 1946 an entirely new perspective of our home planet.
In July 1965 the Mariner 4 probe arrived at Mars after an eight month voyage in
order to study its atmosphere and radiation but also to send back the
first-ever photographs of the Red Planet. This grainy close-up image shows a
diagonal slope in the middle of the frame which is actually the curved edge
of the Martian world.
Although the photograph wasn't much to look at, it was
an extremely important moment as this was the first time a man-made spacecraft
had sent home a zoomed in portrait of another planet.
Mariner 4 went on to capture 21 incredible images including many of the Martian surface during its
flyby mission showing Luna type craters one of which is 94 miles in diameter.
In November 1973 Mariner 10 performed the first-ever
planetary gravity assists flyby while studying the mysterious planets Venus.
The camera aboard the spacecraft captured this incredible close-up photo
of Venus using ultraviolet filters providing some of the best images ever
taken of the strange world. The image shows complex details of the planet's
atmosphere revealing features that the human eye can not detect. At its closest
approach Mariner 10 also photographed layers of haze extending 3.7 miles above
the thick cloud decks. You can see the thick carbon dioxide clouds obscuring
the planet's surface where temperatures reach as high as 460 degrees Celsius.
After using Venus to change its speed and trajectory Mariner 10 headed towards
Mercury arriving at the planet in March 1974. The spacecraft captured more than
2,800 photos during three flybys revealing a world that looks much like
our own moon, light gray and covered in craters.
Mariner 10 discovered that
mercury also had a surprising magnetic, field a large metallic core and surface
temperatures ranging from a scorching 187 degrees Celsius on the day side to a
frigid - 183 degrees Celsius on the night side.
One of the first ever close-up images of the colossal gas planet Jupiter was
captured by the Pioneer 10 spacecraft as it flew past in December 1973 at a
distance of around 1.8 million miles away the most distinct feature in the
photograph is the planets Great Red Spot which is twenty five thousand miles long
and large enough to swallow many planet Earth's the Voyager 1 spacecraft arrived
at Jupiter in 1979 and captured a much clearer image using a combination of
three photos taken through color filters this incredible photo reveals the gas
giants beautiful bands of swirling clouds that make up its dynamic
atmosphere before Voyager 1 arrived at Saturn the gas planet was first visited
by the Pioneer 11 spacecraft traveling within 13,000 miles of the ringed world
pioneer 11 discovered a new ring now called the F ring and two previously
unknown moons but it also captured the first close-up photo of Saturn revealing
a grainy portrait of the gas giants bands ringlets and it's mysterious
planets like moon Titan pioneer 11 is now on a journey somewhere towards the
center of the Milky Way galaxy however contact with the craft was lost
back in 1995
so far the only close-up photos ever taken of Uranus from space were captured
by the Voyager 2 spacecraft back in January 1986 Voyager 2 passed within
50,000 miles of the mysterious planet for just 5.5 hours
sending back incredible images of Uranus's atmosphere and moons plus
scientific data about the interior of the cold world this photograph was taken
during Voyager twos approach and reveals a blush orb with extremely subtle
features that are being hid by a layer of thick haze using a gravity assist
from Uranus Voyager 2 continued on to Neptune arriving at the blue planet in
August 1989 just like Uranus no other close-up images have ever been taken of
Neptune before or since the Voyager 2 spacecraft this incredible image reveals
the planets stunning blue color that is a result of methane gas in the planet's
atmosphere and a huge dark spot which is a cyclonic storm as wide as Earth during
Voyager twos closest approach the spacecraft also managed to snap an
incredible close-up image of Neptune's high white cirrus clouds that are
casting shadows onto the lower cloud decks
back in 2015 the New Horizons craft captured the first ever close-up images
of Pluto while it was 476 thousand miles away
from the icy dwarf planets the image shows Pluto's diverse terrain from
towering mountains to vast plains and also the icy worlds nicknamed heart a
bright feature that measures approximately 1,000 miles across after
sending back thousands of photos of Pluto surface and its moons New Horizons
is now on its way to the nicknamed Ultima Thule a trans-neptunian object
that is located in the mysterious Kuiper belt region
New Horizons will complete the flyby on the 1st of January 2019 making Ultima
Thule the most distant object ever explored I really hope you enjoyed this
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already thank you so much for watching and I'll see you next time