Solar System Montage

Well before the space age, people imagined how life on other planets might look. Could there be dinosaurs on Venus? Were the “canals” observed by astronomer Percival Lowell built by a sophisticated Martian civilization? As space exploration progressed, our belief in a solar system teeming with life faded.

Although Earth may be our solar system’s only life–bearing planet, continuing exploration has revealed strange and dramatic landscapes on nearby worlds.

Photo credit: NASA