Asteroids are something called minor planets. They are lumps of rock orbiting the Sun, mostly in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The first and largest asteroid, Ceres, is 936 km in diameter and was found on New Year’s Day 1801. Since then thousands have been found. Twelve of them are more than 250 km wide and 26 are larger than 200km in diameter. As telescopes have improved, more and more small asteroids have been detected. There are probably about 100,000 asteroids larger than 1km in diameter. Some experts think there may be as many as 1.2 millions. Vesta, the fourth asteroid to be discovered (in 1807), is the only one bright enough to be seen without a telescope. Toutatis (asteroid 4,179) was discovered in 1989. It is named after the Celtic god Toutatis, whose name is, used as an oath by the comic strip character Asterix the Gaul. Toutatis measures 4.6 by 2.4 by 1.9 km. it passes Earth every four years and is one of the largest space objects to come so close to us.
Leia Mais…Friday, June 26, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Halley’s Comet
British astronomer Edmond Halley (1656-1742) was the first to prove that comets travel in orbits, making it possible to calculate when they will next be seen from Earth. He predicted that the comet he saw in 1682 would return in 1759. It did and was named in his honor. The regular 76- year orbit or Halley’s Comet means that we can find historical accounts of its appearances going back more than 2000 years. They were often believed to foretell important events. More than 20 comets return more regularly than Halley. The most frequent visitor is Encke’s comet, which is named after the German astronomer Johann Franz Encke (1791-1865). In 1818, he calculated the 3.3 year period of its orbit. The closest a comet has ever come to Earth was more than 500 years ago. On 20 February 1491, the so called comet of 1491 came within 1,406,220 km of Earth.
Leia Mais…Sunday, June 21, 2009
The moon facts
Earth’s moon is the most familiar and also the largest satellite in relation to its planet in the entire solar system. It is the first body in the solar system on which the vehicles from Earth landed, and the only one to be explored by Humans. The diameter of the moon is about 3,475 km with its mass is about 734,556,000,000 tonnes; (it is compared as a person weighing 65 kgs on Earth would weigh 10.79 kg on the moon). The far side of the moon is always faces away from Earth, so it was unheard of until October 1959, when the Soviet Luna 3 probe sent pictures back to Earth. The only Human remains on the Moon are those of geologist Eugene Shoemaker who was an expert on planetary collisions. His ashes are carried about NASA’s Lunar Prospector Spacecraft, which was crashed into a carter on 31 July 1999.
Leia Mais…Saturday, June 20, 2009
The sun facts
The sun is 149,597,893 km from Earth and has a diameter of 1,391,940 km. This is more than 100 times larger than Earth. Its mass is equivalent to 99.98 percent of the mass of the entire solar system. The sun is mostly made up of two light gases, 75 percent hydrogen and 23 percent helium, with relatively small quantities of other elements – including metals such as gold. Helium was discovered in the Sun before it was detected on Earth. Its name comes from Helios, the Greek word for Sun. The temperature of the sun has a surface temperature of the sun is about 5,880K but it can be 56,000,000k at its core. (K represents Kelvin, which is an astronomical temperature; it can be converted to Celsius by subtracting 273.16.) At the sun’s center, nuclear fusion constantly changes hydrogen into helium, and the energy and heat released from this process rise to the surface. The yellow surface we see is called the photosphere.
Leia Mais…Thursday, June 18, 2009
The Pluto
The Pluto is the last planet in our solar system that our scientists discovered ever so far. It’s the farthest planet when compared from the sun. Though discovered by an American, Pluto’s name was suggested by an 11-year-old British school girl, Venetia Burney. In 2015, a spacecraft will visit Pluto for the first time. Pluto is composed up of primarily of rock and ice. And, it is relatively small compared with all the other eight planets in our solar system. The diameter of the planet is about 2,390 km and with its mass is about 129,000,000,000 tonnes. The average distance from the sun is about 5,913,520,000 km. It’s rotation is calculated as 6 days 9 hours 18 minutes. The orbit of this planet around the sun is about 247 years 256 days. The average temperature of this planet is about -215.35 degree Celsius. The total number of moons for this planet is about 3 (Charon and two unnamed, discovered 2005)
Leia Mais…Wednesday, June 17, 2009
The Neptune
The Neptune is the eighth planet in our solar system with its diameter is about 49,522 km. It mass is about 1,024,700,000,000,000 tonnes in weight. The average distance from the sun is about 4,498,252,900km. The rotation is about 16 hours 7 minutes. The orbit around the sun is about 164 years and 298 days. The average temperature is about -200.15 degree Celsius. The total number of moons for this planet is about 13 in total. It’s named after the Roman god of the sea. It has 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than Uranus. The orbits of Neptune and Pluto cross each other. Neptune is the furthest of the nine planets currently, and for 20 years of every 248. Surface winds are the strongest of any planet at up to 2,000 km/hr. Neptune’s year is so long that has not completed an orbit round the sun since its discovery and will not until 2011.
Leia Mais…The Uranus
The Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun in our solar system. All the named satellites of Uranus are called after characters from either William Shakespeare’s plays or Alexander Pope’s poem ‘the Rape of the Lock. Some have only recently been discovered and as yet to not have names. Uranus has rings like those of Saturn, but they are visible only with a powerful telescope. It is named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky Uranus (Ancient Greek). The diameter of the planet is about 51,118 km and its mass is about 863,320,972,200 km. The average distance from sun is about 2,870,972,200 km. The rotation of the planet is about 17 hours and 17 minutes. The orbit of this planet is about 84 years 4 days. The average temperature of this planet is about -197.15 degree Celsius. The total number of moons of this planet is 27 in total.
Leia Mais…Monday, June 15, 2009
The Saturn
The Saturn is the second largest planet but the least dense. Its distinctive rings are made of pieces of ice and rock which were probably parts of comets and asteroids. There rings are being examined by the joint NASA/ European Space Agency project Cassini/ Huygens. Launched in 1997, Cassini began a four-year orbit of the ringed planet in July 2004. It is named after the Roman god known as Saturn (that became the namesake of Saturday). The Saturn is composed of mainly hydrogen and small quantity of helium. The diameter of the planet is about 120,536 km and its mass is about 5,684,600,000,000,000 tonnes. Its average distance from the sun is about 1,426,725,400 km. Its rotation is about 10 hours 34 minutes. The orbit of the planet is about 29 years 168 days. The average temperature is about -139.5 degree Celsius. The number of moons for this planet is 34 in total.
Leia Mais…Wednesday, June 10, 2009
The Jupiter
It’s the largest planet in the Solar System and is big enough to contain more than a thousand Earths. Four of its many moons were among the first ever astronomical discoveries made with a telescope, by Galileo in 1610. More were identified by later astronomers and in 1979 by the space probe Voyager 2. The diameter of the planet is about 142,984 km. The mass of the planet is about 18,986,000,000,000,000 tonnes. The average distance from the sun is about 778,412,010 km. The rotation is about 9 hours and 50 minutes. The orbit is about 11 years 314 days. The average temperature is about +14.85 degree Celsius to +19.85 degree Celsius (30,000 degree Celsius at core). The total number of moons is 63 in total. This mega planet is a gas giant with a mass slightly less than one-thousandth that of the Sun. And, when we compare with all the planets in our solar system the mass is two and a half times.
Leia Mais…Animal Space Pioneers
Before humans went into space animals were used to test equipment. The first animal to be sent up in a rocket – but not into space – was Albert 1, a male rhesus monkey. He was launched in a US Air Force converted German V2 rocket in 1948. He and his successor, Albert 2, died during the tests. However, on 20 September 1951 a monkey and 11 mice were recovered after a launch in a US Aerobee rocket. Many further animal experiments were carried out before the first manned space flight to test the effects of radiation and weightlessness on living bodies. Laika, a female Samoyed husky, became the first animal in orbit after being launched by the USSR in Sputnik 2 on 3 November 1957. There was no way to bring her down and she died after ten days in space. More dogs were launched in tests before human cosmonauts went into orbit. Two female Samoyed huskies, belka and Strelka, orbited successful on 19 August 1960.
Leia Mais…Saturday, June 6, 2009
The Mars
The mars are the fourth planet in our solar system next to our planet earth. It’s also known as the ‘Red Planet’ due to its physical color of the planet. This planet is named after Mars, the Roman God which is specially meant for War. The diameter of the planet is about 6,794 km and its mass is about 6,421,900,000,000 tonnes. The average distance from the sun is about 227,940,000 km. Its rotation is about 1.025957 days. The orbit around the sun is about 686.98 days. The average temperature is the planet is about -63 degree Celsius. The total number of moons is two. Several space probes have flown past or landed on Mars, providing information on its atmosphere and features, such as the Volcano Olympus Mons. This stands 27 km high – more than three times the height of Mount Everest. The latest craft to visit the red planet is Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which began a four- year orbit in 2006.
Leia Mais…Tuesday, June 2, 2009
The Earth
The Planet Earth where we are living is the third planet in our solar system. The diameter of our Earth is about 12,756.3 km and its mass is about 48,690,000,000,000 tonnes. The average distance of the planet from the sun is about 149,600,000 km. Its rotation is about 0.99727 days and its orbit is of about 365.256 days. The average temperature of our planet is about +15 degree Celsius. And, the number of moons to our planet is one. Earth is a watery planet – 70 per cent of its surface appears blue – and the only one that can support life. From space, astronauts have observed cities, forest fires, roads, airports, dams and other large structures, such as Great Pyramid and the Great Wall of China. Our earth is the Home for the millions of species that includes Humans. It’s the only place in this universe where life is known to exist.
Leia Mais…
