Venus is the only planet that rotates in the opposite direction of all the other planets in the solar system. This planet rotates very slowly. One day on Venus takes 243 Earth days. Since it only takes 224 Earth days for Venus to revolve around the sun, the day on Venus is longer than the year. On Venus the sun rises in the West and sets in the East.
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Moons of Neptune
Neptune has 7 small moons and 1 large moon. The large moon is known as Triton. Triton is the coldest place in the solar system. One of the small moons named Nereid orbits Neptune from a distance of over 5 million kilometers away.
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Moon Overview
The moon is our nearest neighbor in space. It was formed about the same time the Earth was formed around 4.5 billion years ago. The moon is made of many of the same materials that the compose the Earth. It takes the moon 28 days to travel one time around the Earth.
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Triton
Triton is a very bright moon of Neptune. This moon is made of huge fields of methane, and Nitrogen which give Triton its beautiful red color. Triton may have been a small planet that got too close to Neptune's gravitational pull. It probably ran into another moon which slowed it enough to start orbiting Neptune. Triton will someday fall and crash into Neptune. Because Triton reflects most of the heat that reaches it, it is the coldest object in the solar system.
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Uranus's Magnetic Field
Uranus has a strong magnetic field. This field is tilted about 60 degrees from the rotational poles of Uranus. This may be caused by the deep ocean of uranium hydrogen. This ocean creates very high temperatures that allow atoms to conduct electricity. When this occurs a magnetic field is created as the planet rotates.
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Diemos
Diemos is moon of Mars that is only 13 km in diameter. This tiny moon is heavily cratered with a similar crater distribution as our moon. Scientists believe that Diemos is an captured asteroid, captured from an asteroid belt by the gravitational pull of Mars.
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IO
IO is a moon of Jupiter. This moon is about the size of our moon, but is very hot inside. It is so hot inside that sulfur erupts to it's surface. These sulfur eruptions blast 60 to 70 miles into space and last months. Much of the material falls back to IO covering up any craters that are formed. So much sulfur falls to IO that this moon is getting larger as time goes by. The reason that it is so hot inside of IO is because the powerful gravitational pull of Jupiter causes tidal stress inside this moon.
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Moon's Gravity
In 1959 the Soviets crash landed a spacecraft on the moon. Two years later, the United States began planning for a mission that would land humans safely on the moon and return them to the Earth. These would be known as the Apollo missions. In 1969 Apollo 11 completed that mission by launching a Saturn 5 rocket into space and landing Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin on the moon.
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Moon's Gravity
The moon has a strong gravitational pull. This raises the ocean tides on the planet Earth. The Earth also pulls on the moon. This pull caused the moon to stop rotating millions of years ago. This is why we always see the same face of the moon pointing towards the Earth.
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Neptune Overview
Neptune is a beautiful blue planet made mostly of hydrogen. This planet has a large storm called the Great Dark Spot. Neptune has very thin rings, sometimes called ring-arcs because they are not complete rings, just arcs or segments of rings.
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Mimas
Mimas is a heavily cratered moon of Saturn. Mimas has one crater that is almost a quarter of its size. The meteor that made this crater almost destroyed this moon. Mimas is the closest of the major moons to Saturn. It orbits Saturn every 23 hours. Mimas is only 240 miles in diameter.
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Viking Spacecraft
There were 2 Viking spacecraft that landed on the planet Mars. Viking 1 landed on the western slopes of Chryse Planitia and conducted experiments on the Martian surface. Viking 2 landed in Utopia Planitia on September 3 1976 and found similar results as Viking 1. The Viking orbiters continued to orbit Mars, taking pictures of Mars and its moons.
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Size of Mars
The planet Mars is 6,787 km in diameter. This is about half the size of the planet Earth. Because Mars is smaller than the Earth and has less gravity. This means you would weigh less on the planet Mars. Since there is less gravity than Earth.
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Saturn's Moons
Saturn has more moons than any planet in the solar system. This planet has over 24 moons.
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Saturn's Moons
Saturn has more moons than any planet in the solar system. This planet has over 24 moons.
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N2
N2 is a small rocky world. This moon is very dark and only reflects about 5 percent of the light that reaches it.
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N1
N1 is the second largest moon of Neptune. This moon is about 400 km across.
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Olympus Mons
Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the solar system. It is 3 times higher than Mount Everest. This volcano has very young looking lava flows which mean that it may still be active. The craters on Olympus Mons tell us that it was formed within the last billion years.
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Life on Earth
The Earth is different from the other planets in our solar system because of the life that exists here. Plants, animals, and human beings all live because of the delicate balance of the Earth's ecosystem. There are many reasons why the Earth can support life. The distance from the sun, the size of the planet, the speed of rotation are all important in sustaining life.
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Earth's Seasons
The reason that the Earth has seasons is because of the way it is tilted on its side. For half of the year Earth's top half is tipped toward the sun which causes summer for Earth's Northern hemisphere. For the other half of the year this part of the Earth receives less sun causing winter. This is why the Northern hemisphere has winter when the Southern hemisphere has summer.
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Earth Overview
The third planet from a star we call the sun is Earth. This planet is 93 million miles away from the sun. The Earth is the planet that we live on, and is the only planet known to us where life exists.
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Earth's Oceans
There is much more ocean than land on the planet Earth. These huge oceans help to keep the temperatures of the Earth from changing too much. These oceans save heat from the sun when it is warm and gives back this heat in cold seasons. The oceans also move heat to colder parts of the planet and cool down warmer parts of the planet.
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Earth's Atmosphere
The atmosphere of Earth is very important to life on this planet. It protects the plants and animals from dangerous radiation. It also provides the air that we breathe and contains oxygen which is necessary for most life forms on this planet.
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Earth's Surface Features
The highest point on the surface of the Earth is Mount Everest. This mountain rises to 8,848 meters. The lowest point on the Earth is the Mariana trench which is 11 kilometers deep. 70 percent of the surface of Earth is covered by water.
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Pluto's Discover
Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh from a dot on a photographic plate. Two pictures was taken a few days apart when Tombaugh noticed that a dim point of light had moved. Clyde Tombaugh became the third person in history to find a new planet.
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Pluto's Moon
Pluto has one moon called Charon. This moon orbits Pluto from about 12,000 miles from Pluto. The diameter of Charon is more than half the diameter of Pluto. Scientists consider Pluto and Charon a double planet.
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Pluto's Orbit
Pluto has an orbit that is more oval than the other planets. This planet will be closer than the planet Neptune until the year 1999 when their paths cross. These two planets will never collide After that Pluto will be the farthest because Plutos orbit tilts into a different plane from the other planets.
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Pluto Overview
Pluto is the smallest and farthest planet in the solar system. Pluto's orbit is different from the other planets in that it is in a slightly different plane than the rest of the solar system. It may be that Pluto did not form with the rest of the planets. Pluto has a moon called Chiron which is very large compared to Pluto. Some scientists consider Pluto and Chiron twin planets.
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Uranus's Moons
Uranus has 15 moons. Five of these moons are very large moons. Titania, Miranda, Umbriel, Oberon, and Ariel are the largest moons of Uranus. Select one of the moons to learn more about that moon.
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Great Dark Spot
Neptune's Great Dark Spot is a giant storm that is spins counter clockwise. It rotates once every 10 days. This storm is as large as the planet Earth. The great Dark Sport is a high-pressure zone that allows us to peer deeper into the atmosphere of Neptune.
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Nereid
Nereid is a strange moon of Neptune. This tiny moon has an oval orbit unlike the circular orbits of most moons. Scientists think that Nereid was an asteroid that was captured by Neptune's powerful gravitational pull. Nereid is a very dark moon.
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Neptune's Atmosphere
Neptune has an atmosphere made up mainly of hydrogen. About 15 percent of the atmosphere is helium and 2 percent methane and other elements. Sometimes a lower layer of hydrogen sulfide escapes the methane layer to the stratosphere.
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Neptune's Rings
Neptune has 5 rings. Three of the rings are very thin. Two of the rings are so diffuse that they could barely be seen by the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
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Miranda
The tiny moon Miranda is the closest moon to Uranus. This moon zips around Uranus in just one and a half days. It is only 300 miles across, but has a strange warped surface. This buckled surface makes scientists believe that this moon broke up and reformed again. This moon has some of the most interesting geologic activity in the solar system including ice flows, canyons, craters, and other fascinating formations.
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Umbriel
Umbriel is a dark gray rock moon of Uranus. It is marked with dark craters all over its surface. The dark surface is probably because of chemical darkening of methane ice. This moon only takes four days to orbit the planet. There is one mysterious bright ring that lies in one of Umbriels craters. It is believed to be a deposit of ice formed when water inside this moon reached the surface. The water came to the surface because a meteor formed a deep crater that reached the water inside the moon.
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Titania
Titania is a water-ice moon of Uranus. This is the largest moon of Uranus with a diameter of 998 miles. There are many giant cracks and trenches in Titania that were caused by large meteor impacts.
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Oberon
Oberon is the outermost of the five largest moons of Uranus. It travels around Uranus every 13 days. It was the first moon seen by Voyager cameras when Voyager passed by Uranus. The rays around the craters are due to impacts by meteors, much like the ray impacts on our moon. Inside some of the craters are dark patches of material that may have been created by volcanic activity. This moon has a diameter of about 960 miles.
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Uranus's Axis
Uranus is different from all the other planets because it is tilted on its side. As it spins and goes around the sun it one side of it gets 42 years of light then the other side gets 42 years of light. The tilt angle is 98 degrees from vertical. This tilt causes 2 summers and 2 winters each Uranian year.
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Uranus overview
Uranus is the seventh planet in the solar system. This planet is tilted on it's side and revolves quickly taking 17 hours to make one revolution. Uranus is about 4 times the diameter of earth and roughly the same size as Neptune. This planet takes 84 years to make its journey around the sun. The methane in the atmosphere gives Uranus its blue color.
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Uranus's Rings
The rings of Uranus are very thin. These rings are only a few meters thick, but are very wide. The outer ring is called the epsilon ring. The epsilon ring is acts strange because it is not very wide on one side. On the far side of Uranus this ring is 62 miles wide. On the near side it is 500 miles wide.
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Uranus's Atmosphere
Uranus does not have any distinct features on its surface. Its atmosphere is made of 84 percent hydrogen, 14 percent helium, and 2 percent methane. This atmosphere may be 6,200 miles deep. We see Uranus as a bluish-green planet because the methane in the atmosphere absorbs the red parts in the sunlight.
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Mars Volcano
The martian volcano Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the solar system. This volcano rises 90,000 feet above the surface of Mars. This volcano is 3 times higher than Mount Everest. It covers the same area as France.
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Titan
Titan is the largest moon of Saturn. It is about the size of the planet Mercury. This is the only moon in the solar system that has a thick atmosphere. This moon has oceans of liquid methane, as well as glaciers of Methane ice on its surface. The atmosphere has a large amount of nitrogen similar to our planet. The chemicals in this atmosphere are similar to those that may have started life on this planet. Titan is a very cold moon. The surface temperature is -292 degrees F. This moon is a good candidate to visit because it has low gravity and a dense atmosphere which makes flying easy.
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Iapetus
Iapetus is a very strange moon of Saturn. This moon has a very bright and very dark side. The bright side is probably made of ice. The dark side faces the direction of the orbit of Iapetus. This dark side is as dark as a blackboard and reflects only 4% of the light that reaches it. This may mean that this moon sweeps up dust as it orbits Saturn.
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Enceladus
Enceladus is a smooth moon of Saturn with almost no large craters. This moon is the most reflective object in the solar system. Their are large sections of this moon that have no craters. Scientists think that the inside of this moon got so hot that it melted the icy crust as well as many of it's craters.
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Phoebe
Phoebe is very far from Saturn. It orbits Saturn at a distance of 8 million miles. It takes 550 days to make one orbit around Saturn. This moon is very Dark. Because Phoebe has a retrograde orbit, scientists think that it is not a moon, but a captured asteroid or comet.
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Rhea
Rhea is a moon of Saturn. This moon has more craters than any other moon of Saturn. The white streaks in this picture may actually be snow coming out of breaks in the crust. This moon takes nearly five days to make it's orbit around Saturn.
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Dione
Dione is a moon of Saturn. This moon is about half ice. Thousands of craters mark the surface. Dione orbits 51,250 miles from Saturn. The bright streaks on Dione make scientists believe that geologic activity has occurred recently.
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Tethys
Tethys is a small moon of Saturn. This moon orbits Saturn about 30,000 Km from Saturn and takes about 2 days to make the journey. Tethys has many scars from ice expanding and breaking. Tethys has a great 750 Km break in its crust named Ithaca.
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Hyperion
Hyperion is a moon of Saturn that appears to have been smashed by a collision with another object. It is very icy and wobbles as it travels around Saturn. It takes Hyperion 21 days to go around Saturn.
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Saturn's Ring Shepherds
Saturn's rings are truly amazing. What is most amazing about the rings is what holds them together. It seems that some of Saturn's moons are what keeps the rings together. These moons are called shepherd moons because their gravitational pull helps to keep the small pieces of rock and ice together into what appears to be the large disk that we see from Earth.
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Saturn's Rings Size
Saturn's rings are huge. From end to end the distance is 2/3 the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
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Saturn's Rings Overview
Saturn's fantastic ring system is made of tiny ice particles as small as tiny ice crystals as well as pieces the size of a house. These rings may have been created by a moon that was smashed into pieces or maybe they were created from a moon that never formed.
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Saturn's Atmosphere
Saturn, like Jupiter, is made mostly of hydrogen and helium gases. These gases do not have any color. Saturn gets it's pale yellowish color from sulfur and phosphorus compounds in it's clouds.
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Saturn's Clouds
Saturn's clouds are very cold. The tops of the clouds can reach temperatures of -140 degrees Celsius. These clouds zoom around the equator at unbelievable speeds. Sometimes these clouds can reach speeds of nearly 1250 miles per hour. These are the fastest winds in the solar system. The rest of the clouds move at twice the speed of the clouds on Jupiter.
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Saturn's White Spots
Because Saturn is tipped on it's axis, some of the planet is hidden from the sun. The rings act as a shield and keep part of the planet in darkness for several years as the planet goes around the sun. Once this hemisphere begins to receive sunlight again, the heat creates gas bubbles which break through the surface as oval patches of light.
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Saturn Overview
Saturn is the second largest planet in the solar system. Saturn is known for its fabulous ring system. These rings are made of little pieces of ice and rock. Saturn Rotates very rapidly which causes Saturn to become squished at the poles. This makes Saturn look like an oval egg. Saturn has 24 moons, more than any other planet.
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Ganymede
Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system. It is slightly larger than the planet Mercury. There are many lines of mountains and valleys on Ganymede which means that geologic activity occurs on Ganymede just like on the planet Earth. Ganymede has a small atmosphere of water vapor, and carbon dioxide.
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Europa
Europa is a moon of Jupiter. The surface of this moon has long, dark streaks across it. It may be that Europa has a surface of ice and the streaks are actually cracks in the ocean of ice. Since there are very few craters on this moon, scientists believe that water is escaping from inside Europa toward the surface and covering them up. Europa is one of the smoothest moons in our solar system.
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Phobos
Phobos is a small moon of Mars. This moon is only 21 Km across but from Mars would appear to be one third the size of our moon. This is because Phobos is so close to Mars, only 6000 Km. Our moon is 50 times farther. The large crater on this moon is called Stickney, and is about 10 Km across. This photo was taken in 1978 by the Viking 1 spacecraft.
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Ariel
Ariel is a moon of Uranus which has many canyon systems. Scientists believe that these canyons may have been created by Ariel expanding and stretching the crust of its surface. Other possibilities are that some liquid like methane or ammonia cut these canyons.
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Callisto
Callisto is a moon of Jupiter that has changed very little since the birth of the solar system. It has many craters, probably more than any other planet. Callisto has a crust of ice, under this surface is water. This water freezes and forms ice and rock on the surface. This moon is about the same size as the planet Mercury, It also has an enormous impact in the shape of a bulls-eye called Valhalla.
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Jupiter's Great Red Spot
The Great Red Spot is a giant storm on Jupiter that has been going for at least four hundred years. It was first discovered in 1655 by Galileo. The spot is constantly changing color and size. It goes from a grayish red to a brick red. It gets large enough to fit 3 Earth's inside of it. This spot constantly spins. The swirling gas is pushed by the winds of the planet.
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Jupiter's Winds
Jupiter spins fast, just 10 hours are one day on Jupiter. This fast spin creates strong winds. These winds cause giant storms like the Great Red Spot.
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Jupiter's Moons
Jupiter has 16 known moons. Eight of the small outer moons are probably asteroids that were captured by Jupiter's strong magnetic pull. The four largest moons of Jupiter are Callisto, Ganymede, Europa, and IO. These moons are called the Galilean moons because of the great Astronomer who discovered them in 1610.
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Jupiter's Colors
The colors of Jupiter are a mystery to scientists. No one knows where the colors come from or why they don't all mix together. Most of Jupiter is made of Hydrogen and Helium. These gases do not have any color, so scientists think that the colors come from chemicals of some kind.
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Jupiter's Surface
The surface of Jupiter is not solid like on our planet. Below the beautiful clouds is an atmosphere of hydrogen gas. Deep inside of Jupiter the pressure is so great that the gas is turned into liquid. Making hydrogen liquid is impossible to do on Earth, only the tremendous pressure of Jupiter can cause this to happen. Jupiter has a great dark ocean of liquid metal hydrogen that is 29,000 miles deep.
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Jupiter's Magnetic Field
Jupiter's Magnetic field has been known about ever since radio telescopes were first developed. This planet constantly gives off radio static as well as large bursts of radio noise. The large bursts are caused by lightning on the planet. Jupiter's magnetic field is 10 times stronger than the magnetic field on the Earth. The field is made larger from the material coming out of IO. This field is so large that it is larger than the sun!
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Jupiter's Size
Jupiter is enormous. You could fit 1000 Earth's inside one Jupiter. Jupiter is twice as massive as all the other planets, moons, and asteroids in the solar system combined. Jupiter is so bright in the sky that you do not need a telescope to see it.
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Jupiter's Axis
Jupiter has no seasons because it is only tilted on it's axis 3 degrees. The Earth is tilted 23 degrees on it's axis. This is why we have Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall.
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Jupiter Overview
Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. This huge planet is one of the gas giants and is made mostly of hydrogen and helium gases. The planet rotates quickly with a 10 hour day. Jupiter has 16 moons and a huge storm three times larger than the planet Earth.
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Storms of Venus
Venus has a huge planet-wide thunderstorm going on all the time. This never ending storm sweeps the clouds we see from the earth around the planet every 4 days. The clouds move very fast, about 350 kilometers an hour. The tops of the clouds are very cold, -45 degrees Celcius. Every second we see about 25 lightning bolts. The rain on Venus is not water, but sulfuric acid. This is the same type of acid found in batteries.
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Mars Atmosphere
The atmosphere of Mars is thin because the planet is much smaller than the Earth or Venus. Most of the atmosphere is made of Carbon Dioxide and would not be breathable for humans. If we went to Mars we would need spacesuits like the spacesuits we used on the moon. In the summer, winds on Mars can reach up to 200 miles per hour.
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Mars Riverbeds
Mars has dozens of channels that look like dried riverbeds. These riverbeds were cut by some liquid, probably water. Some of the channels on Mars are 1600 kilometers long and 10 kilometers deep. Most of the water on Mars is located at the poles now. But these dried channels tell us that rivers, lakes, and oceans existed on Mars billions of years ago.
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Mars Moons
The moons of mars were not discovered until 1879 by the American astronomer Asaph Hall. Since the planet Mars was named after the God of War Hall named the moons after the horses that pulled the chariot. Phobos (fear) and Deimos (terror) were the names given to the e two moons of Mars.
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Mars Overview
Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. It lies between the Earth and The planet Jupiter. Mars is the last of the inner-planets. Mars is the most likely place we will go on our next great space mission. Mars is red because the iron in the soil has rusted. Mars get to its closest point every 15 to 17 years. At this point Mars is only 56 million kilometers away from the Earth. This is just a little farther that Venus's 42 million kilometers.
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Mars Craters
The surface of Mars has many craters. Some of the creators are several hundreds of kilometers across. These huge craters have been battered by erosion.
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Surface Features of Venus
Sixty percent of the surface of Venus is made of gently rolling plains. The highest point discovered on Venus is a mountan higher than Mount Everest namesd Maxwell Montes. This mountain is 30,300 meters tall. The most spectacular part of Venus is a huge valley just east of Aphrodite. This canyon is one of the largest in the solar system, and is four times longer than the Grand Canyon and twice as deep.
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Atmosphere of Venus
The Atmosphere of Venus is made of 97 percent Carbon dixoide. Carbon dixoide is a very heavy gas which makes the atmosphere very dense. This is why everything we have sent to Venus has been crushed by the pressure of this atmosphere. This atmosphere distorts the rays of light making things appear strange. If you were on Venus looking at someone else, that person would look like someone standing in a funhouse mirror.
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Greenhouse Effect on Venus
The clouds on Venus are so thick that telescopes cannot see through them. These clouds trap the heat in and act like a blanket for the planet. This blanket is called a greenhouse effect because the clouds work like the glass of a greenhouse letting the heat and light in but not out. Greenhouses are used on Earth to help plants grow. The greenhouse on Venus, however, has gotten so hot that nothing could grow there.
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Terraforming Venus
The planet Venus is not a nice place to visit. It is the hottest planet in the solar system. The heat on Venus is hot enough to melt lead. The pressure is 90 times the pressure on the planet earth. This pressure crushed the first few probes that were sent to Venus. It is believed that it may be possible to change Venus into a planet that is more like Earth. A micro-organism, like a bacteria, could be created to eat the Carbon-Dixoide and release oxygen and nitrogen. This would could create an atmosphere that would cool the planet to a temperature where life could exist.
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Venus Overview
The planet Venus is located between our planet and the planet Mercury. Venus is the closest planet to the Earth, at its closest point Venus is only 33 million miles from the Earth. Venus spins in the opposite direction of most of the other planets. Venus is also the hottest planet in the solar system. The atmosphere of Venus traps the heat from the sun causing the surface temperature of this planet to reach 900 degrees F.
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Mercury's Gravity
When Mercury formed, the heat from the sun burned away all except the heaviest materials. This made Mercury a very dense planet. Because mercury is so dense it has a stronger gravitational pull than our moon. This means that when a meteor hits mercury the material from the impact is not ejected as far as it would be on the moon.
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Mercury's Day
A day on Mercury is 59 Days on the Earth. This long day causes the sun to heat Mercury to a temperature of 427 degrees Celsius. The night on Mercury can get very cold this long night can freeze the surface to -183 degrees Celsius. This is colder than the coldest temperatures ever recorded on the planet Earth.
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Mercury's Magnetic Field
When the Mariner spacecraft explored Mercury, scientists did not expect to find any magnetic field. They were surprised to find a weak magnetic field caused by Mercury's huge core. The core extends out 3/4 from the center of the planet. The rock that covers the core is only 400 miles thick.
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Mercury Overview
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. Mercury has no water or air. There is no wind or erosion to change the surface of Mercury. Mercury looks much like it looked when it was first created.
