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The Planetary Report • May/June 1995
Galileo: The Face of Home
On the Cover: Seen through eyes other than our own, the planet Earth appears as a strange but beautiful place. The <i>Galileo</i> spacecraft on its way to Jupiter took this image of West Africa and the Mediterranean Sea from about 600,000 kilometers (400,000 miles) away. The spacecraft's camera was looking through infrared filters sensitive to light wavelengths unfamiliar to the naked eye. Images taken this way provide information about things such as the location and health of vegetation and the water content of clouds. <i>Galileo</i>'s portraits of the planet could be valuable reference points for future Earth-monitoring spacecraft.
Features
4 Phoenix Rises: NASA SETI Project is Reborn: Seth Shostak presents Project Phoenix, an effort to save part of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
8 Encounter With Earth: Galileo Explores its Home Planet: Paul Geissler explains how an Earth flyby was used to give us an illuminating view of our own world.
16 Rover Meets Jason: Remotely Exploring Hawaii: John Garvey describes the Society's new project, "Red Rover, Red Rover," enabling children to become involved in planetary exploration.
Departments
3 Members' Dialogue Why and where to go into space; SETI history.
14 Basics of Spaceflight Gravity assist.
17 World Watch A leaner, more efficient NASA.
18 News & Reviews Book reviews.
19 Society News Helping a SETI program; conversing with scientists and engineers.
20 Q&A Why do photographs from space rarely show stars?
The Planetary Report • May/June 1995
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