The Solar System - Tour Of The Planets!

The Solar System - Tour Of The Planets! This short video contains a few simple facts about each of the planets in our solar system that may spark your imagination. Although, all eight planets are unique, there are divided into two categories only. The Inner four planets also known as terrestrial planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are high density object that form closer to the Sun than four outer, Jovian- low density planets. Only near their centers do the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn, and the ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, have small cores of heavy elements such as rock and metal. The process has to do with the heat and how different gases condensed into solids under different temperatures. Closer to the Sun only high density material such as metal oxides and pure metal, can form grains. Farther away from the Sun is cooler and rocky materials such as silicates could condense into solids. Mercury, a metal-rich planet, is the closest to the Sun.The lack of atmosphere contributes to its extreme weather conditions; thus,the temperature may vary from -173 C (-280 F) during the night, to 428 C (800 F) during the day. Venus, known as Earth's evil twin, is only five percent smaller than Earth. Its average density and gravitational force is similar to Earth's, but the strong presence of carbon dioxide in Venus' atmosphere, is what separates it from Earth. Venus atmosphere is mostly made of carbon dioxide, about 96 percent, while Earth's is made of nitrogen and oxygen with very little presence of Carbon dioxide. Earth is the only planet known to support life. It is home to 8.7 million different species, including 7.2 billion humans. For nearly 4 billion years, oceans and plants have been absorbing carbon dioxide from Earth's atmosphere, and through a chemical process trapping it in form of oil, coal, natural gas. Digging up and burning these elements for energy in the past century, we've released carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere creating a greenhouse effect. Mars, also known as the red planet, has the bright rust color due to the iron-rich minerals in its regolith. Mars is home to the highest volcano in the solar system; Olympus Mons is 16 miles high and nearly 400 miles in diameter. Many evidence suggest that water once flowed on martian surface. Jupiter is nearly two and a half times as massive as the all other planets combined. A giant anti- cyclonic storm, known as the great red spot, is three times the diameter of the Earth and has been active ever since it was discovered nearly 400 year ago. Four largest moons of Jupiter, also know as Galilean moons, are Io, Europe, Ganymede, and Callisto. Saturn is know by its spectacular ring system made of ice particles. The size of the particles vary from microscopic specks to few as big as tall building. Among many moons, Titan is the largest Saturn's moon, and the only moon in our solar system with a thick atmosphere. Discovered in 1781, Uranus was first named after the English king George III. Uranus axis is almost parallel to the ecliptic; thus, it rotates on its side with its equator nearly at right angles to its orbit. Uranus orbital period around the Sun is 84 years. Because it rotates on its side, each season last 21 years. Neptune was the first planet discovered by mathematical calculation rather than by observations of the sky. Triton, the largest moon of Neptune, is the only moon in the solar system that orbits the planets in opposite direction. All four Jovian planets have ring systems that is not permanent. These rings are constantly fed by Jovian moons. Powerful gravitational force of the planets keep pulling particles of rings toward the planets, yet these particles are being replenished by shepherd moons. Our solar system is a microscopic part of the universe, yet enormous from our viewpoint. Nevertheless, understanding how it works, may help us comprehend the rest of the universe! http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/index.cfm http://www.mars-one.com/ http://www.space.com/ http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system/ http://solarsystemfacts.net/mars-facts.html Seeds, Michael A., and Dana E. Backman. Perspectives on Astronomy. Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole, 2008. Print.