Facts About the Planets:
Uranus:
Uranus rotates east to west, but what is unique to Uranus it its axis is tilted almost parallel to its orbital plane, so Uranus appears to be rotating on its side. This tilt may be the outcome of a collision with a planet-sided body early in Uranus’s history. Uranus also has complicated ring system and 27 known moons.
Most of the information we have about Uranus came from Voyager 2’s flyby in 1986. It discovered ten additional moons and several rings. NASA is also considering sending a probe and orbiter to Uranus sometime in the 2020’s.
One of the strangest features of Uranus is it’s complex ring system that’s was discovered in the 1970’s. Several small moons orbit Uranus within the rings. In 2003 and 2005, the Hubble Space Telescope detected the two faintest rings, which may be made of tiny particles of rocky dust and water ice.
Saturn:
While Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune also have rings around them, Saturn’s are by far the largest and most interesting. Made of countless ice chunks, Saturn’s main rings are only around 30 feet thick, yet they are 170,000 miles long, almost seven times around the Earth.
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has conducted an in-depth study of Saturn, including its spectacular ring system and magnetosphere. The mission extended through 2017, so Cassini can watch seasonal changes in Saturn’s atmosphere during the northern summer solstice.
Cassini has found out many secrets of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. A probe called Huygens separated from Cassini and parachuted onto Titan’s surface. During its landing, it captured a series of incredible images showing the telltale patterns of erosion by flowing liquid on Titan’s surface.
Neptune:
The first person to observe Neptune was Galileo, who marked it as a ster in one of his logs. It wasn’t until the 1840’s, however, that two mathematicians, Urbain Le Verrier of France and John Couch Adams of England, simultaneously, but unknown to each other, predicted that a new planet would be discovered in a certain region in space.
When Jhonann Gottfried Galle and his assistant Heinrich Louis d’Arrest actually located Neptune in 1846, a great controversy erupted over which mathematician deserved credit for the discovery. There a defenders for each claim, even to this day!
Jupiter:
In 1610, astronomer Galileo Galileo used an telescope to discover Jupiter’s four biggest moons: lo, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Galileo’s discovery revolutionized out understanding of the universe. His observations of objects orbiting a distant planet were the strongest evidence that Earth was not a center of our Solar System.
These four moons are very diverse masses. lo is the most volcanically active body in our Solar System. Ganymede is the largest planetary moon and the only moon in the Solar System known to have its own magnetic field. A liquid ocean may lie beneath the frozen crust of Europa, and liquid saltwater layers may also lie beneath the crusts of Callisto and Ganymede.
Along with its numerous scientific instruments, Galileo carried an atmosphere entry probe that was released toward Jupiter’s stormy atmosphere. The probe collected 58 minutes of data about Jupiter’s Turbulebt could systems before succumbing to the crushing pressures of the gas giants interior.
Mars:
Dust devils on mars are made when the summer sun boil’s the ground to a warmer temperature than the atmosphere above it. When the weather is right, warm air coming from near the surface can spiral and become whirlwinds. As dust devils spiral across the surface, they pick up sand and dust and can form swirling masses of dust up to 12 miles high!
Many missions to Mars have recorded or encountered dust devils. In fact, these spinning columns are credited with giving the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity an unexpected cleaning by blowing all the dust off the solar panels.
Several challenges face a human mission to Mars, including exposure to cosmic rays, the long-term effects of a low-gravity environment on the human body, and the psychological effects of being so far from Earth. Though nothing is set, many space company’s are thinking about a mission that could posiblly land humans on Mars sometime in the 2030’s.
Earth:
Life exists almost everywhere on Earth. So far, scientists have discovered 1.3 million species around the planet, but there may be more then 8 million on Earth. This means scientists are continuing to find new and different forms of life in unexpected places.
Scientists have discovered a species of bacteria called hyperthermophiles living in hot springs and deep sea hydrothermal vents. Here temperatures go up to to 252 F, too hot for life like ourselves to live, but perfect for the hyperthermophiles. Honestly, I am not sure how they can stand it. The existence of these hyperthermophiles shows that life is adaptable, and it stretches out our understanding of where life can survive.
Using information from the pair of GACE satellites, scientists have discovered, between the years 2003 and 2010, the total amount lost from Earth’s land ice, glaciers and ice caps is about 4.3 trillion tons, enough to cover the entire United States in 1.5 feet of ice. At current rates of melting, the Article Ocean could be gone in the summer before the end of the century.
Our moon is the fifth biggest moon in our Solar system. Most scientists believe the Moon was made when a very large object hit the young Earth and flew material into orbit. Thus the moon was born.
Mercury:
Mercury’s surface has many interesting features. One of the largest craters in our solar system, Caloris Basin goes 960 miles across the planet’s surface. Discovered by Mariner 10 in 1974, Caloris Basin was formed by the impact of an asteroid about 60 to 120 miles across, nearly 10 to 20 times bigger than the asteroid that exploded the dinosaurs. This event happened 3.8 to 3.9 billion years ago during a time called the Late Heavy Bombardment.
Other cool geologic facts of Mercury are huge cliffs called scarps. Mercury’s scarps formed when the planet’s middle shrank as it cooled and became solid, causing huge wrinkles in its surface.
The biggest surprise discovered by MESSENGER is the big amount of sulfur on Mercury, because current models suggest Mercury was subjected to high heat early in its formation. If these ideas were true, sulfur would have burned off because of the high temperatures. This if only one of the many things that MESSENGER will discover on Mercury.
Astronauts
Neil Armstrong:
Neil Armstrong grew up in Wapakoneta, Ohio, as the oldest of three children. When he was six he flew on an airplane for the first time, and that experience sparked in him a passion for flying. He got his pilot’s license on his 16th birthday and became a naval air cadet the next year.
After earning a degree in aeronautical engineering from Purdue University in 1955, he became a civilian research pilot for what would later be the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He flew more than 2,450 hours before joining the space program in 1962.
On July 20, 1969, 600 million television viewers watched he Apollo 11 Moon Landing. Neil Armsrmstrong stepped onto the lunar surface and said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” He and crewmate Buzz Aldrin left the moon after over 21 hours of tests and sample collection.
After their Apollo 11 mission in 1969, Neil Armstrong and his crew mates explored over 20 countries to celebrate. Armstrong received the Presidential Medal of Freedom that same year. He left NASA in 1971 and engaged himself in different academic and professional pursuits for the rest of his life.