<p>The best NASA images of planets are not from the <em>Hubble Space Telescope</em>; they are from the spacecraft that flew by or went into orbit around them. For Uranus and Neptune, this means Voyager 2; for Pluto, this means New Horizons. For Jupiter, this means primarily Voyagers 1 and 2, and especially Galileo and Juno; for Saturn, Voyagers 1 and 2 and (especially) Cassini.</p>

<p>If you google for "[planet-name] planet gallery", you should get some pretty good images that way; also try adding the name of a relevant spacecraft (if you're stuck, check the Wikipedia page for each planet to learn which spacecraft visited them). A few NASA web pages:</p>

<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/Viking" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/Viking</a></p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/saturn/galleries" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/saturn/galleries</a></p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/neptune/galleries" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/neptune/galleries</a></p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf-planets/pluto/galleries" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf-planets/pluto/galleries</a></p></li>
</ul>

<p>and so forth. (Note that Uranus, even when seen by Voyager 2, is pretty featureless and boring, at least at visible wavelengths.)</p>

<p>You might also try <a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search" rel="nofollow noreferrer">searching at the Astronomy Picture of the Day site</a>. (Not all of those are necessarily public domain, thoug.)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-03T22:19:55.510Z
2019-06-03T22:19:55.510Z
Peter Erwin
<p>I have been looking for images of the planets and have found pretty decent ones of Earth and <a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/688/computer-simulated-global-view-of-venus/?category=planets_venus" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Venus</a> from NASA.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/b4yO6.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/b4yO6.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>That detail is opposed to this one of Uranus:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/yRZFy.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/yRZFy.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>And these of <a href="https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0124a/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Mars</a>, (and <a href="https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0745a/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a> and <a href="https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0534a/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a>)</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/3PA64.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/3PA64.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>I am disappointed in the quality of the public domain images from NASA I have found for these planets:</p>

<ul>
<li>Mars</li>
<li>Jupiter</li>
<li>Saturn</li>
<li>Uranus</li>
<li>Neptune</li>
<li>Pluto</li>
<li>Earth's Moon</li>
</ul>

<p>I am happy with the ones found for:</p>

<ul>
<li>Mercury</li>
<li>Venus</li>
<li>Earth</li>
</ul>

<p>They seem to be high quality in terms of detail and pixel size (in the MBs).</p>

<p>Wondering if one could explain how I go about finding these public domain planet images from NASA (or elsewhere, but I imagine they are all from the Hubble telescope, I don't know too much) that are high quality in terms of <strong>detail</strong> and <strong>pixels/size</strong>. If nothing else it would be helpful to simply link to them if there is no pattern to where they are located.</p>

<p>If there is a pattern to where the high quality images are located, I would be interested too to find ones of comets/asteroids/stars. I have found many high quality images of galaxies which is neat, but not of the planets yet.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-03T01:58:06.520Z
NASA does provide very large rectangular images that can be mapped to spherical surfaces. I am not sure where the site is, I may try to find it later today, but it should be pretty popular. You can also check these: [Universe Today](https://www.universetoday.com/118696/the-solar-systems-yearbook-is-about-to-get-filled-in/), [Phys.org](https://phys.org/news/2015-02-solar-yearbook.html), [Mike Brown's site](http://web.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/dps.html)
uhoh
<planet><photography><nasa>
High quality, detailed images of planets on web
Lance Pollard
# High quality, detailed images of planets on web

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-06-03)

I have been looking for images of the planets and have found pretty decent ones of Earth and [Venus](https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/688/computer-simulated-global-view-of-venus/?category=planets_venus) from NASA.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/b4yO6.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/b4yO6.jpg)

That detail is opposed to this one of Uranus:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/yRZFy.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/yRZFy.png)

And these of [Mars](https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0124a/), (and [this](https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0745a/) and [this](https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0534a/))

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/3PA64.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/3PA64.jpg)

I am disappointed in the quality of the public domain images from NASA I have found for these planets:

* Mars
* Jupiter
* Saturn
* Uranus
* Neptune
* Pluto
* Earth's Moon

I am happy with the ones found for:

* Mercury
* Venus
* Earth

They seem to be high quality in terms of detail and pixel size (in the MBs).

Wondering if one could explain how I go about finding these public domain planet images from NASA (or elsewhere, but I imagine they are all from the Hubble telescope, I don't know too much) that are high quality in terms of **detail** and **pixels/size**. If nothing else it would be helpful to simply link to them if there is no pattern to where they are located.

If there is a pattern to where the high quality images are located, I would be interested too to find ones of comets/asteroids/stars. I have found many high quality images of galaxies which is neat, but not of the planets yet.

**Tags:** planet, photography, nasa

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: NASA does provide very large rectangular images that can be mapped to spherical surfaces. I am not sure where the site is, I may try to find it later today, but it should be pretty popular. You can also check these: [Universe Today](https://www.universetoday.com/118696/the-solar-systems-yearbook-is-about-to-get-filled-in/), [Phys.org](https://phys.org/news/2015-02-solar-yearbook.html), [Mike Brown's site](http://web.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/dps.html)  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-06-03. Score: 3

The best NASA images of planets are not from the *Hubble Space Telescope*; they are from the spacecraft that flew by or went into orbit around them. For Uranus and Neptune, this means Voyager 2; for Pluto, this means New Horizons. For Jupiter, this means primarily Voyagers 1 and 2, and especially Galileo and Juno; for Saturn, Voyagers 1 and 2 and (especially) Cassini.

If you google for "[planet-name] planet gallery", you should get some pretty good images that way; also try adding the name of a relevant spacecraft (if you're stuck, check the Wikipedia page for each planet to learn which spacecraft visited them). A few NASA web pages:

* <https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/Viking>
* <https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/saturn/galleries>
* <https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/neptune/galleries>
* <https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf-planets/pluto/galleries>

and so forth. (Note that Uranus, even when seen by Voyager 2, is pretty featureless and boring, at least at visible wavelengths.)

You might also try [searching at the Astronomy Picture of the Day site](https://apod.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search). (Not all of those are necessarily public domain, thoug.)


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