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The timeline of discovery of Solar System planets and their natural satellites charts the progress of the discovery of new bodies over history. Each object is listed in chronological order of its discovery (multiple dates occur when the moments of imaging, observation, and publication differ), identified through its various designations (including temporary and permanent schemes), and the ...
Telescopic observations resulted in the discovery of moons and rings around planets, and new planets, comets and the asteroids; the recognition of planets as other worlds, of Earth as another planet, and stars as other suns; the identification of the Solar System as an entity in itself, and the determination of the distances to some nearby stars.
1959 – Explorer 6 sends the first image of the entire Earth from space. [178] 1959 – Luna 3 sends the first images of another celestial body, the Moon, from space, including its unseen far side. [179] 1962 – Mariner 2 Venus flyby performs the first closeup observations of another planet. [180]
The great majority of Earth-orbiting satellites. Space probes leaving Earth orbit that are not concerned with Solar System exploration (such as space telescopes targeted at distant galaxies, cosmic background radiation observatories, and so on). Probes that failed at launch.
Thus, the Sun occupies 0.00001% (1 part in 10 7) of the volume of a sphere with a radius the size of Earth's orbit, whereas Earth's volume is roughly 1 millionth (10 −6) that of the Sun. Jupiter, the largest planet, is 5.2 AU from the Sun and has a radius of 71,000 km (0.00047 AU; 44,000 mi), whereas the most distant planet, Neptune, is 30 AU ...
Following the acceptance of the Copernican model, planets were defined as objects which orbit the Sun. Since the Moon can be said to orbit the Earth, it was no longer regarded as a planet, but this is debated; see double planet. [5] [6] [7] Io: 1610 1700s Moons of Jupiter: Originally presented as satellite planets orbiting the planet Jupiter ...
Seven Earth-sized planets have been discovered orbiting a nearby star, three of which appear to be warm enough to sustain life. ... "This is the first time that so many planets of this kind are ...
This is a list of space probes that have left Earth orbit (or were launched with that intention but failed), organized by their planned destination. It includes planetary probes, solar probes, and probes to asteroids and comets, but excludes lunar missions, which are listed separately at List of lunar probes and List of Apollo missions.