Voyager's Grand Tour: To the Outer Planets and Beyond by HenryC. Dethloff and Ronald A. Schorn has been published by the SmithsonianInstitution Press. Every 176 years, Earth and the outer planets gatheron one side of the sun, allowing close observation in a single flight,or Grand Tour. To exploit this alignment, the Voyager team developed theso-called gravity assist that essentially sling-shot Voyager I and II fromplanet to planet. Since their 1977 launch, the probes have discoveredstrange new worlds and transmitted streams of revolutionary data and eye-poppingimages that have exploded long-held theories and raised new questions aboutour solar system. In this book, readers are invited into Voyager'sinner circle, conceiving, launching, and directing the craft as it discoversrings around Jupiter, geysers on Triton, and intriguing possibilities ofextraterrestrial life. It is available for purchase from the Smithsonian Press web site. |
