Planetary views

Gallery

Planetary views

Wikimedia Commons editors select the images that they believe are the best in this huge collection. Since women astronomers make an appearance in our editorial, we decided astronomy might be an interesting topic. These images reflect our fascination with all things 'planet'. Attribution belongs to NASA in many cases, but click on each image to see full attributions on each corresponding file page. (Is it really true that Pluto failed its classification as a planet? What did the Plutonians do wrong?)

Planets

Jovian Tempest
Jupiter Blues
PIA17218 – A Farewell to Saturn, Brightened Version
PIA22349 – Gullies of Matara Crater
Mosaic of the Arctic
Earthrise over Compton crater -LRO full res
Mercury
2006 Transit of Mercury
2012 Transit of Venus from SF
Venus globe
First photograph taken by man of Earthrise
Earthrise
The Earth seen from Apollo 17
North America from low orbiting satellite Suomi NPP
Earth at night (2016)
Earth at night (1994–1995)
Mars in true colour by OSIRIS
Victoria Crater, Cape Verde, Mars
Victoria crater on Mars
Valles Marineris on Mars
Terraformed Mars
Olympus Mons
Image taken by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter showing descent of Phoenix with a crater in the background.
NASA'S Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this westward view from atop a low plateau
Hellas Chaos on Mars
Water ice layers in Olympia Rupes, Mars
Gullies in Galle crater, Mars
Gullies in Kaiser crater, Mars
Strong wind erosion in Medusae Fossae, Mars
Jupiter
790106-0203 Voyager 58M to 31M reduced
Saturn's rings in visible light and radio
Saturn with auroras
Saturn during Equinox
Saturn's Rings in Ultraviolet Light
The Day the Earth Smiled
Jewel of the Solar System
Saturn eclipse
Saturn
Neptune Full
Fomalhaut planet
Africa and Europe from a Million Miles Away
Blue Marble Western Hemisphere
Blue Marble Eastern Hemisphere
Artist's impression of an ultra-short-period planet

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28 October 2018 (all comments)

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Great pics! Anyone know what's up with the two "Earth at night" photos? The 2016 take appears to show much reduced land light over the one taken 20 years earlier. Have the lights actually been reduced? or is there something I'm missing? Paine Ellsworth ^put'r there 21:44, 28 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

My guess is, having read Defense Meteorological Satellite Program#History, the images are largely synthetic or at least heavily processed and more or less rendered in false color. In loose terms, they probably used different "zeroes" for dark areas. ☆ Bri (talk) 01:03, 29 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, Bri, I had suspected that a different baseline was used, which makes their comparison very misleading. I'm sure that from an astronomer's viewpoint, professional or amateur, it is much harder to see the dimmer stars from even a small city than it used to be. Paine Ellsworth ^put'r there 17:27, 29 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Depends on the locality. You might want to check out International Dark-Sky Association ☆ Bri (talk) 20:40, 29 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Situation seems hopeless what with people spreading out, most of whom are deathly afraid of the dark. Paine Ellsworth ^put'r there 22:21, 29 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I can almost hear Also sprach Zarathustra playing in the background...-Indy beetle (talk) 02:59, 29 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I clicked on the image of North America taken from space and was surprised to notice that the photo was taken by a satellite called Suomi NPP, and remembered that I was the original author of that article, back in January, 2012. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 07:53, 29 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]
A lot of people leave their porch lights on in the Eastern United States. I believe the cause has a lot to do with our (american) culture's fascination with horror films. See Wikipedia for more information. There, look I just solved another problem that human beings have caused. I really should be invited to more Senate hearings. Barbara ✐ ✉ 09:06, 31 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: doing it for free since 2005.

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