Not what we have sent, but what we have looked at. Every entry below
is drawn as a line diagram, not a photograph — this terminal's
display predates halftone.
CELESTIAL BODY — SOL–III
Earth
- Classification
- Terrestrial planet
- Distance from Sun
- 1.00 AU (149.6 million km)
- Moons
- 1 — the Moon
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TILT 23.4°
The only body on this survey confirmed to host life. Seventy
percent ocean; the remaining atmosphere is the thinnest layer
this archive depends on.
CELESTIAL BODY — SOL–III.I
The Moon
- Classification
- Natural satellite
- Distance from Earth
- 384,400 km average
- Notable
- Tidally locked — one face always shown
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NEW CRSC 1ST GIBB FULL
Close enough to raise our tides, far enough that its far side
went unseen by any eye until a probe photographed it in 1959.
CELESTIAL BODY — SOL–IV
Mars
- Classification
- Terrestrial planet
- Distance from Sun
- 1.52 AU
- Moons
- 2 — Phobos, Deimos
· PHOBOS
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Rust–coloured from oxidised iron in its soil. Its moons are
most likely captured asteroids, too small to have pulled
themselves into spheres.
CELESTIAL BODY — SOL–II
Venus
- Classification
- Terrestrial planet
- Distance from Sun
- 0.72 AU
- Rotation
- Retrograde, 243 Earth days
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DENSE CO2 ATMOS
The hottest planet in the survey despite its distance, held
under a runaway greenhouse of carbon dioxide. It spins backwards
relative to almost everything else.
CELESTIAL BODY — SOL–V–VIII
The Outer Planets
- Classification
- Gas giants & ice giants
- Distance from Sun
- 5.2 – 30.1 AU
- Notable
- Saturn's ring system, Jupiter's Great Red Spot
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JUPITER SATURN URANUS NEPTUNE
Four worlds with no solid surface to land on. Between them they
hold more moons than the rest of the solar system combined.
CELESTIAL BODY — INTERSTELLAR
Beyond the Solar System
- Classification
- Heliopause, Oort Cloud, interstellar medium
- Nearest star
- Proxima Centauri, 4.24 LY
- Notable
- Two Voyager probes have crossed the heliopause
HELIOPAUSE
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SUN OORT CLOUD (PROJ.)
Past the last named boundary, distance stops being measured in
kilometres. The nearest star is still over four years away at
the speed light travels.