The Planets

The Planets
Dava Sobel

After the huge national and international success of ‘Longitude’ and ‘Gallileo’s Daughter’, Dava Sobel tells the human story of the nine planets of our solar system.This groundbreaking work traces the ‘lives’ of each member of our solar family, from myth and history, astrology and science fiction, to the latest data from the modern era's robotic space probes.Whether revealing what hides behind Venus's cocoon of acid clouds, describing Neptune's complex beauty, or capturing first-hand the excitement at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory when the first pictures from Cassini at Saturn were recently beamed to earth, Dava Sobel's unique tour of the solar system is filled with fascination and beauty. In lyrical prose interspersed with poems by Tennyson, Blake and others, ‘The Planets’ gives a breathtaking, intimate view of those heavenly bodies that have captured the imagination since humanity’s first glimpse of the glittering night skies.Timely and timeless, ‘The Planets’ will engage and delight as it unravels the mysteries of the cosmos. It is of infinite relevance to this age in which new planets are being discovered elsewhere in our galaxy.Note that it has not been possible to include the same picture content that appeared in the original print version.

THE

PLANETS

DAVA SOBEL

H A R P E R P E R E N N I A L

London, New York, Toronto Sydney

Dedicated with worldfuls of love to my big brothers,

Michael V. Sobel, MD,

who named our family cat Captain Marvel,

and Stephen Sobel, DDS,

who bunked with me at Space Camp.

At night I lie awake

in the ruthless Unspoken,

knowing that planets

come to life, bloom,

and die away,

like day-lilies opening

one after another

in every nook and cranny

of the Universe …

—Diane Ackerman,

from The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral

In all the history of mankind, there will be only one generation that will be first to explore the Solar System, one generation for which, in childhood, the planets are distant and indistinct discs moving through the night sky, and for which, in old age, the planets are places, diverse new worlds in the course of exploration.

—Carl Sagan, from The Cosmic Connection: An Extra-terrestrial Perspective

CONTENTS

Cover (#u7bbdb0fb-9d8e-5ce4-8144-2907f54a19b7)

Title Page (#u921518e5-913f-5f47-b2e4-5fa55407524a)

Epigraph (#u46f92c48-2ebc-5b3f-bbda-bd587fe925b9)

1. Model Worlds (Overview)

2. Genesis (The Sun)

3. Mythology (Mercury)

4. Beauty (Venus)

5. Geography (Earth)

6. Lunacy (The Moon)

7. Sci-Fi (Mars)

8. Astrology (Jupiter)

9. Music of the Spheres (Saturn)

10. Discovery (Uranus and Neptune)

11. UFO (Pluto)

12. Planeteers (Conclusion)

Acknowledgments

Glossary

Details (Notes)

Bibliography

Praise

By the same author

About the Author

Copyright

About the Publisher