Planets

Visit https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system/full-moon/ to read more about these names.

This is the Andromeda galaxy!  It is the furthest thing away from Earth that can still be seen with the naked eye on a clear night.  It is 2.3 million light years away from us.  The galaxy used to be called the ‘Great Andromeda Nebula’, since they thought that is was a bunch of glowing gases, or a solar system in formation.  The Andromeda galaxy is a major galaxy, and is slightly bigger than our Milky Way.  So spectacular.

This is the International Space Station (ISS), and orbits the earth 16 times each day.  It is located between 335 and 460 km above the Earth, and the ISS’ construction began in 1998, when the first sector was put into orbit.  Since then, the space station has been growing and growing and has the inhabitable space of a Boeing 747.  On board, there are 6 laboratories, and there are multiple bedrooms that can house up to 7 astronauts.  The ISS is easily seen from Earth and can be easily distinguished with a telescope

This is an asteroid.  Between the planets of Mars and Jupiter, there lays an asteroid belt, made up of millions of different sized rocky fragments.  Asteroids can vary from a few millimeters wide, to hundreds of kilometers wide.  The largest body in the asteroid belt is the dwarf planet Ceres, which is 952km wide.  The reason Ceres is classified as a dwarf planet rather than an asteroid is because of it’s spherical shape.  There are many near - Earth asteroids (NEAs) that come past Earth every year, and could potentially harm us.  Anything 150m in width or larger is classified at a threat.  Thousands of asteroids enter our atmosphere every year, but most are so small that they burn up whilst entering the surface.  Asteroids large enough to survive are classified as meteorites.  Did you know that Earth is twice as likely to be hit by something we don’t know rather than what we do?

This is the Kuiper belt.  The Kuiper belt is made up of floating ice and rock rotating around the sun.  Pluto is considered part of the Kuiper belt, as it’s orbit is oval shaped and goes through the middle of the belt.  More than 100,000 objects that are larger than 100km wide are believed to exist in the Kuiper belt.  The belt is a flattened disc measuring ~3 billion km edge to edge.  The belt was named after Gerard Kuiper, who proposed the idea of an icy ring surrounding the outside of Neptune.  Gerard was Dutch, explaining why Kuiper is pronounced like Ky-per.

This is Eris, one of our wonderful dwarf planets.  Eris is actually larger than Pluto, and this caused for the status of Pluto to be looked into, eventually causing a demotion.  Eris has one moon called Dysnomia, which is very small.  Ers itself is still smaller than our moon, though.

This is Miranda, Uranus' moon. It is the smallest and innermost of the five round moons, and was discovered by Gerard Kuiper. One of the highest cliffs in the solar system lies of this moon, yet nobody actually knows how this moon got so many obscure shaped features.

One of Saturn's many moons, Enceladus. If you haven't heard, recently Enceladus has become a top contender for finding new life in our solar system. According to NASA, the Cassini spacecraft found hydrothermal vents underneath the water. This meaning that the temperature of the water goes up, and a source of food is found. But the question remains, is there life on the moon?

One of Jupiter's four Galilean moons, Callisto. Callisto is covered with large impact basins, the most notable called Asgard and Valhalla. The many spots that Callisto is covered in are spots of fresh ice exposed by recent impact, creating a 'starry' appearance. Callisto is the least dense Galilean moon, having more ice than rock.

Neptune’s largest moon, Triton. Even though this moon is one of the coldest places in the solar system, it still remains volcanically active. Triton is very young, only only a few million years old, and is it thought that since its orbit rotates in the opposite direction to Neptune’s rotation, it was a Kupier belt object that was pulled by the planets gravity. Titan’s shiny methane ice and nitrogen frost surface reflects 70% of sunlight. Titan is definitely very cool (pun intended), and we could still learn so much about this moon.

Here are some quick, simple facts about our stunning planet, Saturn! - one year on Saturn is equal to 29.5 earth years - Saturn has 62 known moons - Saturn’s rings are divided into 7 sections - Saturn is the flattest planet - Saturn’s largest moon is called ‘Titan’. - Saturn’s rings are made of dust, ice and rock Hope you enjoyed just a small amount of facts for Saturn! Sorry for the lack of post yesterday:)

The second closest planet to the sun, Venus. Venus is about the same size as Earth, having a 12,104 km diameter. Venus has phases, like our moon, that can be seen as a crescent to a full circle. When visible at dusk and dawn, Venus is the brightest shining object in the sky (besides the sun & moon of course), brighter than mercury and mars. It is the hottest planet, and it's surface temperature can reach up to 470 degrees Celsius. This is because Venus traps the sun's heat, unlike mercury which doesn't. A day on Venus lasts longer than its year, lasting for 19 days over. Venus is definitely a planet we could explore more, we just need to find a way to combat the blistering heat! ☀️

The moon! This is Earth's moon, and is approx. 385000km from Earth. Since the moons orbital and rotational period is the exact same (27.32 Earth days), we only get to see one side of the moons, whilst the other faces into the darkness of space. Scientists believe that about 4.5 billion years ago, a mars sized planet called Theia hit Earth. The leftover debris created the moon, and the planet Theia was destroyed. The moon controls our waves, and creates low and high tides. From the force of the tides, the moons core has been pulled about 2km towards the earth, making the moon seem bigger on one side. The apollo 11 mission in 1969 was the first mission that sent man to walk on the moon. "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." 🌕🌑

Our Solar System. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and then little dwarf planet Pluto. Ours is located inside of the Milky Way, and orbits our sun.

Jupiter's innermost Galilean moon, Io. Out of the four moons (Galilean ones), Io is the densest. Io is the most volcanically active moon or planet in the solar system, and spouts lava for hundreds of miles. Being just a bit larger than Earth's moon, it's orbit is ~ 422,000km away from Jupiter. Io was discovered by Galileo Galilei on the 8th of January 1610. Europa, Ganymede and Callisto were also discovered by Galileo, naming these four the 'Galilean moons'. This moon kind of look a little bit gross though, don't you think? 🤔🌖