12. The Year of the Planets

During 1974 there have been some important and spectacular space missions. In the spring Mariner 10 sent back the first close-range pictures of cloud-covered Venus and crater-scarred Mercury. Then, early in December, Pioneer II made a close rendezvous with Jupiter, the only planet known to have a tremendously powerful magnetic field. Pioneer will now travel on to Saturn, which it should reach in 1979. All these probes have given us vital new information about the Solar System. Patrick Moore discusses with Dr Garry Hunt the most important results of the Year of the Planets.