This website is an overview of the history, mythology, and current scientific knowledge of each planet and the major moons in our solar system. Each page has my text and NASA's images, some have sounds and movies, most provide references to additional related information.
All nine planets can be seen with a small telescope; all but Pluto can be seen with binoculars. And large observatories continue to provide much useful information. But the possibility of getting up close with interplanetary spacecraft has revolutionized planetary science. Very little of this site would have been possible without the space program.
Nevertheless, there's a lot that you can see with very modest equipment or even with just your own eyes. Past generations of people found beauty and a sense of wonder contemplating the night sky. Today's scientific knowledge further enhances and deepens that experience. And you can share in it by simply going out in the evening and looking up.
The Sun
Mercury
Venus
Earth
The Moon
Mars
Phobos
Deimos
Jupiter
Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea and Thebe
Io
Europa
Ganymede
Callisto
Leda, Himalia, Lysithea, Elara, Ananke, Carme, Pasiphae and Sinope
Recently discovered moons
Saturn
Pan and Atlas
Prometheus and Pandora
Epimetheus
Janus
Mimas
Enceladus
Tethys, Telesto and Calypso
Dione and Helene
Rhea
Titan
Hyperion
Iapetus
Phoebe
Recently discovered satellites
Uranus
Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Belinda and Puck
Miranda
Ariel
Umbriel
Titania
Oberon
Caliban, Sycorax, Prospero, Setebos, Stephano, and Trinculo
Neptune
Naiad, Thalassa, Despina and Galatea
Larissa
Proteus
Triton
Nereid
Pluto and Charon
