The Solar System

Since the first edition of this book appeared in 1990, planetology has seen a number of fascinating discoveries that have increased our knowledge of the Solar System. These have come from both ground- and space-based observa­ tional programmes. Although some space probe missions have ended in fail­ ure, even they have added to our store of information about the planetary environment. The Galileo probe, despite being crippled by its incompletely deployed main antenna, has already achieved some spectacular results. For the first time we have obtained pictures of asteriods, with the images that Galileo returned of Gaspra, Ida, and the latter's satellite, Dactyl. The main objective, the drop­ ping of an instrumented capsule into Jupiter's atomosphere, and prolonged in-situ investigation of the planet, will take place at the end of 1995. Saturn's turn will come early in the next century with the Cassini mission (to be launched in 1997), which will study the planet for an extended period and attempt to land the Huygens probe on the surface of Titan. NASA's Magellan mission proved to be a great success, with its highly detailed radar mapping of the surface, and atmospheric studies. The exploration of Mars was less fortunate with the failure of both spaceprobes of the Soviet Phobos mission, as well as NASA's Mars Observer probe. Despite this set­ back, plans are in hand for future, collaborative exploration of the planet, using both surface stations (possibly active rovers), surface penetrators and balloon probes, as well as orbiters. Front Matter....Pages N2-XVIII General Features of the Solar System....Pages 1-26 Methods of Studying the Solar System....Pages 27-42 The Formation of the Solar System....Pages 43-61 The Interaction of Solar-System Bodies with the Interplanetary Medium....Pages 62-115 The Inner Planets and Their Satellites....Pages 116-176 The Asteroids (or “Minor Planets”)....Pages 177-184 The Giant Planets....Pages 185-229 Bodies Without Atmospheres in the Outer Solar System....Pages 230-254 Satellites with Atmospheres....Pages 255-266 The Comets....Pages 267-298 Interplanetary Dust, Micrometeorites and Meteorites....Pages 299-317 Conclusions....Pages 318-333 Back Matter....Pages 334-349 Examining the current scientific knowledge of our solar system, this text describes both its formation and its component parts (planets, satellites, comets and interplanetary matter). It concludes with discussion of comparative planetology and future space exploration.