Pictures from eight robotic spacecraft and a ground observatory have been stitched together to create a montage of the solar system's nine planets, our moon and four of the large Jovian moons backdropped against the Rosette Nebula.

The planetary images were obtained by NASA's planetary missions, which have dramatically changed our understanding of the solar system in the past 30 years. The light emitted from the Rosette Nebula results from the presence of hydrogen (red), oxygen (green) and sulfur (blue).

The montage was produced by Jim Klemaszewski, Arizona State University. Planetary photos: NASA. Resette Nebula credit: T.A.Rector, B.Wolpa, M.Hanna, KPNO 0.9-m Mosaic, AURA/NOAO/NSF

Mariner 10 snapped the view of Mercury, images of Venus, Earth and the Jovian moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto were taken by Galileo, the Lunar Orbiter provided the moon photo, Mars is seen by Viking Orbiter 1 and 2, Voyager 1 data was used for Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus and Neptune were imaged by Voyager 2, Pluto was spotted by the Hubble Space Telescope and Kitt Peak Observatory provided the view of Rosette Nebula.

Comparing Earth and Mars. Photos: NASA/JPL and MSSS

This composite image of Earth and Mars was created to allow viewers to gain a better understanding of the relitive sizes of the two planets. The Earth image was aquired from the Galileo orbiter at about 6:10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on Dec. 11, 1990, when the spacecraft was about 1.3 million miles from the planet during the first of two Earth flybys on its way to Jupiter. The Mars image was aquired by the Mars Global Surveyer in April of 1999.