The Solar System is full of many strange moons. Our own, however, is probably the most unusual. For example – the Moon is really huge. Virtually as a Planet. The Earth’s satellite is a quarter of the size of the Planet. With the exception of Pluto and Chiron, it is larger than any other moon in the Solar System located in the orbit of a Planet. What’s more – the Moon is so big it does not even orbit the Earth. Both space objects are in the orbit of a point located between them, called barycentre. It is located...
Astronomers got the most detailed (so far) view of Io’s largest volcanic lake – an impressive view of the Jupiter’s moon which is the most volcanic active place in the Solar System. In an article published in Nature, experts from Berkeley – University of California, describe how they were able to explore the largest volcanic lake not from images taken by spacecraft, but by observation in transit of Europa – other of Jupiter’s moon. They have been able to observe the movement of the waves in Loki Patera – the largest lake of lava in the lo’s volcanic caldera,...
Yes, Earth’s Magnetic Poles Shifts. Regularly. Actually the magnetic poles have switched places many times over the history of the Planet. Within the last 20 million years, the Earth follows a rhythm of that reversal, where in every 200,000 to 300,000 years the Erat’s Northern magnetic pole became southern and the southern – northern. Between every successful shift though, the poles sometimes try to swap again, but not successfully. About 40,000 years ago, poles are made the last failed attempt, and last successful change is about 780,000 years ago. So we’re probably about to switch the magnetic poles again, following...
I am sure that we all know a lot of interesting facts about the Solar System, but this does’t mean we should stop getting information for some more. Here I put 9 facts that I find really fascinating and hope some of them you will hear for first time! Enjoy reading! 1. The hottest Planet is not the closest to the Sun. Mercury is the closest Planet to the Sun and it’s logical to be the hottest, right? There is a small detail, however – an atmosphere, that you can’t find in Mercury. The atmosphere of Venus is 100 times more...
This is just great – a interactive map of the Solar System, where you can see how the Planets and the main objects move around the Sun, writes io9. The author of the project is Jeroen Gommers. You can click on any object and draw it manually to see how it all works. Of course, the map is not 100 percent accurate – orbits are compacted very close each other, and the size of the Planets is not very precise. However, it looks great, is’n it? YOU CAN SEE THE MAP HERE Your kids are Astronomy fans and you are...
You already have seen many landscapes of Mars, you know that there is water and probably traces of life, and you have read about the plans of Elon Musk to visit the Red Planet. But how much do you actually know about our space neighbor? Although there are still many mysteries to solve, scientists already know a lot about Mars. Lets have a look at this 10 interesting facts about Mars that you probably did not know earlier. Advertisement 1. Like Earth, Mars has ice caps on its poles. The northern cap is deep up to 3.2 kilometers and extends...
Titan, the largest Moon of Saturn and the only moon in the Solar System known to have clouds and a dense atmosphere. It is the only body other than Earth that is known to currently have liquid on its surface. It was discovered telescopically in 1655 by the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens—the first planetary satellite to be discovered after the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. In an Earth-based telescope, Titan appears as a nearly featureless brownish red globe, its surface permanently veiled by a thick haze. It is larger than the planet Mercury and more massive than Pluto, and, in significant ways, it resembles a planet more than it does a typical...
