The Planets: Photographs from the Archives of NASA (Planet Picture Book, Books About Space, NASA Book) (NASA x Chronicle Books)

I just got my copy of this very nice book. The cover is gorgeous but no dust jacket. The wonderful picture of Saturn is printed right on the hard cover. Like DK books. Love it. Dust covers flop around and annoy me. I decided not to review the contents. Other reviewers have already done that. I'm very visually stimulated and it's that aspect I'm writing about. I have so many books about astronomy and space. But I wanted an updated book about the planets that includes Pluto. This one does. So, if you're wondering . . . Yes! The terrific color photos that intrepid Horizons space craft took ARE in here. Another book I just got that has equally beautiful photos of Pluto and even several different ones from this book, is CHASING NEW HORIZONS, and it has much more text. The cover on it is also gorgeous with a photo of Pluto color enhanced. But the main feature of it's cover is a shimmer and raised letters. And you can see stars around Pluto. It's almost like you're seeing it out your space craft window. Beautiful! It's funny to me the debate about Pluto being a planet or not. I was born in 1956. Pluto looks exactly the way it did then, and aeons before. Pluto hasn't changed. Humans did. It's noteworthy to know that the vast majority of PLANETARY SCIENTISTS think of Pluto as a planet still. So do I. It's just this organization that is pushing for reclassification. When you look at Pluto now and see it's active geology, I don't know why you'd bother trying to reclassify it. One thing is for sure. We ought to be building these wonderful space craft one right after another and exploring the cosmos as fast as we can. New Horizons stunned us with these findings about Pluto. There is no telling what lies in the oceans of some of these mysterious bodies in space. I'm certain that much good will come of our curiosity if we could ever get our silly political differences solved on our own planet and move forward. If I were fortunate enough to have found a way to become a billionaire (Jeff Bezos) I'd first help humanity and the other species that need saving, and then spend as much as I could in cooperation with other billionaires supporting these space missions! Life is short. I can't think of a life more worthy spent.

This book takes you on a visual tour of our Solar System with incredible photographs of all it's members: the sun, planets, moons, asteroids, comets, etc. The pictures were taken by satellites and fly-by probes and landers. It is as if you are actually standing on the surface of many of the planets and looking at an alien horizon! As awesome as these worlds are, it makes you realize there is no other planet like Earth with it's oceans of water, oxygen atmosphere, and abundant life forms.

The images selected are superb---and the photo captions are extremely informative---and many are taken recently by various NASA probes, and thus are not repeats of what one sees in other photo-essay books. Unfortunately, the Chinese printer selected by the publisher, Chronicle Books of San Francisco, was not up to the task. The general quality of the lithography is substandard, with "hickies," or what look like numerous small dust particles, all over virtually every photographic plate. Compared to other publishers like Taschen (who get it right), the comparatively "dirty" appearance of most of the color plates in this book seriously detract from what should otherwise be a 5-star review. When people buy photo-essay books, they expect higher quality than this.

I bought this for my 16 year old son. He takes it back and forth between his dad's and my house, so I know he likes it or it would just sit and gather dust if he didn't. It's a nice quality book. I also like the size and shape. It would be a nice book to keep out for quests to peruse.

This book has really gorgeous pictures of all of the planets, moons, dwarf planets and the sun. Anyone into space or astronomy will really enjoy this book

This book will be given to my granddaughter who is studying the planets

I love this book. The information has exceeded my expectations. I bought this book for my own personal use. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in our universe.

Picked this up to study high quality photos of the planets for artistic inspiration. It's great. Wonderful photos with captions. I love space.

My little one wanted to learn more about space. I got him a couple of little kid books about outerspace, but he loves the awesome pictures in this one!

I just got my copy of this very nice book. The cover is gorgeous but no dust jacket. The wonderful picture of Saturn is printed right on the hard cover. Like DK books. Love it. Dust covers flop around and annoy me. I decided not to review the contents. Other reviewers have already done that. I'm very visually stimulated and it's that aspect I'm writing about. I have so many books about astronomy and space. But I wanted an updated book about the planets that includes Pluto. This one does. So, if you're wondering . . . Yes! The terrific color photos that intrepid Horizons space craft took ARE in here. Another book I just got that has equally beautiful photos of Pluto and even several different ones from this book, is CHASING NEW HORIZONS, and it has much more text. The cover on it is also gorgeous with a photo of Pluto color enhanced. But the main feature of it's cover is a shimmer and raised letters. And you can see stars around Pluto. It's almost like you're seeing it out your space craft window. Beautiful! It's funny to me the debate about Pluto being a planet or not. I was born in 1956. Pluto looks exactly the way it did then, and aeons before. Pluto hasn't changed. Humans did. It's noteworthy to know that the vast majority of PLANETARY SCIENTISTS think of Pluto as a planet still. So do I. It's just this organization that is pushing for reclassification. When you look at Pluto now and see it's active geology, I don't know why you'd bother trying to reclassify it. One thing is for sure. We ought to be building these wonderful space craft one right after another and exploring the cosmos as fast as we can. New Horizons stunned us with these findings about Pluto. There is no telling what lies in the oceans of some of these mysterious bodies in space. I'm certain that much good will come of our curiosity if we could ever get our silly political differences solved on our own planet and move forward. If I were fortunate enough to have found a way to become a billionaire (Jeff Bezos) I'd first help humanity and the other species that need saving, and then spend as much as I could in cooperation with other billionaires supporting these space missions! Life is short. I can't think of a life more worthy spent.

This book takes you on a visual tour of our Solar System with incredible photographs of all it's members: the sun, planets, moons, asteroids, comets, etc. The pictures were taken by satellites and fly-by probes and landers. It is as if you are actually standing on the surface of many of the planets and looking at an alien horizon! As awesome as these worlds are, it makes you realize there is no other planet like Earth with it's oceans of water, oxygen atmosphere, and abundant life forms.

The images selected are superb---and the photo captions are extremely informative---and many are taken recently by various NASA probes, and thus are not repeats of what one sees in other photo-essay books. Unfortunately, the Chinese printer selected by the publisher, Chronicle Books of San Francisco, was not up to the task. The general quality of the lithography is substandard, with "hickies," or what look like numerous small dust particles, all over virtually every photographic plate. Compared to other publishers like Taschen (who get it right), the comparatively "dirty" appearance of most of the color plates in this book seriously detract from what should otherwise be a 5-star review. When people buy photo-essay books, they expect higher quality than this.

I bought this for my 16 year old son. He takes it back and forth between his dad's and my house, so I know he likes it or it would just sit and gather dust if he didn't. It's a nice quality book. I also like the size and shape. It would be a nice book to keep out for quests to peruse.

This book has really gorgeous pictures of all of the planets, moons, dwarf planets and the sun. Anyone into space or astronomy will really enjoy this book

This book will be given to my granddaughter who is studying the planets

I love this book. The information has exceeded my expectations. I bought this book for my own personal use. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in our universe.

Picked this up to study high quality photos of the planets for artistic inspiration. It's great. Wonderful photos with captions. I love space.

My little one wanted to learn more about space. I got him a couple of little kid books about outerspace, but he loves the awesome pictures in this one!

Quality photos and many of them, it's a beautiful book!

Since any mission following "New Horizons" is not even planned, this text will be the most definitive one available for at least the next decade.

This is a Christmas present for my son who loves astronomy. I can’t wait to see his face when he opens this. What an Incredible book and photos that went beyond my expectations. At this price it’s so worth every penny.

Wonderful book, we are learning so much from it too! 5 Stars.....

Nice photos and very detailed information with all of the planets covered.

Beautiful photos and extremely informative (but not TOO informative).

Gorgeous!

Stunning photography with explanations of features and what they mean.

Great pics

It shipped early and came exactly as described. It's almost like new. I'm happy with my purchase.

My daughter loved this book!

Beautiful colored pictures.

Great pictures and easy to understand explanations.

this book has beautiful photograph of the planets. NO Internet Connection needed

It was a gift and the person loved it!

I am glad I bought this even though I was disappointed in it. I have looked at a lot photos from NASA on line and have found them stunning and awe inspiring, so I expected every page to provide that feeling. Maybe it came from the Kindle format, but for whatever reason, these photos left me with the feeling I need the pictures to be better. I went through most of the book on PC thinking the resolution would be better than a Kindle device, but most photos did not appear breathtaking with engrossing detail the blurb had promised. Maybe the print edition is better.

Grandchild loved it. She is 12.

Wow!

Packed with amazing photos!

The best photo book of the solar system yet!

This book is full of beautiful pictures and up to date information. The pages are a heavy good quality of paper. I love it.

Beautiful book; well worth the money!!

The images and content are great. The binding, not so much. Just handle with care.

Very good book on the planets, if you’re just getting into astronomy and want to learn about the planets in our solar system this is the book to read.

Would live to zoom in on photos but resolution is poor. Wish it was higher and full page photos would be nice.

Beautiful pictures and great information. I can see what God has created - what a blessing.

I'm disappointed that I have to give my granddaughter a book with greasy fingerprints on the cover.

Just a rehash of existing pictures.

I hear its good, but was on back order for a while

This is an excellent book for anyone first entry into learning about the planets as well as the space enthusiastic person as well. The photos are stunning and there are some I had never seen. The only weak spot in the book is the lack of coverage for the moons for each planet. My favorite part is on how they cover Pluto. There they gave much credit to New Horizon with a decent amount of Pluto and it's moons. If u have not seen the photos taken by New Horizon you are in for some surprises. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because of the weak coverage of the planets moons. In the early 2000s there was an A&E series called The Planets. They also put a book out as a companion to the series plus a DVD collection of all the episodes. If u love this book then you should check out the series, book and DVDs. End of Line

I never get tired of space photos. The human race is both infinitesimally small and one of the most significant events in cosmic history. At least according to us. Seeing images like these from our home solar system only serve to remind me of the macro timeline in this universal game of life.

Incredible views of our solar system, beautifully written and researched writing.

Good photos, quick explanations. I especially enjoyed the close ups of the asteroids as I was not aware that such closeups existed. Also the moon shadows on the gas Giants is extraordinary.

Page 5 on "What Constitutes A Planet" could be more fair and balanced in acknowledging the ongoing debate over planet definition. A lot of attention is given to the IAU definition but very little to the alternative geophysical definition, which is preferred by many planetary scientists. Only four percent of the IAU voted on the 2006 definition, and most were not planetary scientists but other types of astronomers. Their decision was immediately opposed in a formal petition signed by an equal number of--several hundred--planetary scientists. Adherents of the geophysical definition view dwarf planets as a third class of full planets and recognize our solar system to have three planetary regions--the inner system or rocky planet region, the middle or gas giant region, and the outer solar system, or dwarf planet region (with the exception of Ceres). Similarly, the theorized but as yet undiscovered planet in the far outer solar system should be called "Planet X" rather than the very biased "Planet Nine." The latter was assigned to it by someone with his own personal and professional agenda, which is to convince people of a lie--namely, that all astronomers and planetary scientists accept the IAU view of our solar system having only eight planets, which is far from the case. This is why many prefer to refer to this object by the traditional term for a hypothesized but undiscovered planet, which is "Planet X." In this case, "X" does not refer to the number 10 but to an unknown object.

Just remember when they start telling you how the planets formed, they are stating it as fact,. When, in fact, the accretion theory has been disproved due to using actual scientific method(s) and not just suppositions that fail, and rescue devices employed....Nice photos though.

This is one book that is Informative and Very Well Written. Pictures and Good Quality Paper Pages. If you like the Planets - This is for You.

Book binding was not secure when arrived and pages began to fall out.

This book is pretty incredible. The photos taken by the various spacecraft of the planets, sun, asteroids and comet are amazing. In fact, the one of the comet is so clear, it’s like you are actually there. Quite scary to be honest. The only thing that I have problems with is some of the information describing the distances between the spacecraft and the object in question-more specifically Comet 67P. On page 242,it gives the size of the comet as 1.86 miles or 3 kilometres in length. Page 243 shows a photo where the spacecraft is allegedly 19 miles away, but the comet looks much closer than that. Either they have their facts wrong, or they must have used some kind of telephoto lens to make it appear closer than what it really was. On page 245, there is another photo showing the comet 177 miles away, but if it is truly only 1.86 miles in length, then it looks about 4 or 5 miles away. Not a deal breaker, but they should explain these apparent contradictions.

Top rate book with numerous photos from the NASA archive, which summarise what we knew and know of the planets of the our solar system. Well presented, with precise enough captions. Quality prints. Could be a tad bigger, but actually this is not a problem.

Bought this as a Birthday present for my Grandsons 14th. As it was so well packaged did not look at it until he opened it. Fantastic photos and explanations. He loves it and I learned a lot too!!

I've brought this book as a Christmas Gift, Although the recipient won't be receiving it until Dec 25th. I'm sure they'll be delighted with it. Personally, I'm not really into Astronomy and Space etc. But even I found myself enjoying every page whilst I was supposed to be wrapping the gift.

A great high quality print book fantastic for a present. Beautiful photographs of the planets and others including the lastest images of pluto.

For anyone who looks up at the night sky and wonders what it's like out there, this is an amazing book. I had no idea we had this much detailed knowledge about the planets. There's no heavy text, just wonderful pictures so if you are a visual person, this is for you.

Excellent quality book with beautiful photographs. The size of the book is worth double the price. I bought this book for someone who loves space but isn't a confident reader, so I don't mind that the text descriptions are minimal because the pictures are fantastic.

Got this as a present for my mate, who likes space, and was well received. The book has great up-to-date photos of the solar system's planets. A must for space-lovers.

Wonderful book filled with over 200 good quality photographs of the solar system. Informative with facts accompanying the pictures.

What a beautiful book of interesting pictures. The mind boggles.

This was a present & was very greatly appreciated!

well presented book, good value.

Great

The photos of these books are impressive and the material well written

Bought for a space-loving partner, he thinks it's great.

Beautiful book with astiunding images. It made a grat gift.

Product as expected and on time!!

beautiful photos

Hier findet man die wohl besten Fotos zu den Planeten (und Monden) aus dem NASA-Archiv. Im Wesentlichen bekommt man hier also einen sehr schönen Bilderband. Wer allerdings vor allem Daten zu den Planeten und Monden sucht, der braucht ein weiteres Buch zum Sonnensystem. Auch die Vorgänge auf den Planeten und Monden (so weit bekannt) werden eher oberflächlich beschrieben. Aber dazu gibt es ja noch viele andere Bücher zum Thema. Ein "Fachbuch" ist dieser Band also nicht, dafür aber eine Augenweide :-)

I'm a space-addict and I love everything regarding the skies above. This book has high quality pictures, clear and easy text accessible to beginners, a resistant long-lasting hard cover. I highly recommend it to you, fellow space lover!

Perfect coffee table book for the science enthusiast...full of stunning photos and well written stuff

Bellissime foto corredate di didascalie, preso come regalo per un fisico. Prezzo un po' alto ma è giustificati dal grosso volume di fotografie.

Information

Das Buch ist gut gemacht mit schönen Bildaufnahmen der Planeten.

è una edizione davvero accurata con foto bellissime ,davvero per appassionati!

I like space

Acquistato come regalo, molto bello.

Good quality

Great fun to read with the kids.

This is a stunning book, beautiful pictures, really enjoying it however I don’t think it’s new as there are fingerprints all over and the front cover is slightly bent/warn out