The Vast Solar System - Assignment Example

?The Vast Solar System One of the most amazing part of creation would be the solar system. Today, the solar system is still a mystery to some people while those that understand what it really is are awed by its vastness. First of all, the solar system is made up of the star which we call the Sun; many planets namely Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto; and numerous comets, asteroids, and meteoroids. To further understand our solar system, it is important to get to know each planet that makes up the whole solar system. First of all, the earth in which we live in is the only planet that is able to support life. This is because of the fact that it consists of a thin layer of atmosphere that will protect living beings from cold and airless space outside. It is the third planet from the sun and is considered the fifth largest among other planets, with just a few hundred kilometers larger than planet Venus. Mercury, on the other hand is known to be the sun-scorched planet that is just slightly larger than the moon. It allows very little atmosphere and is covered with craters. During daytime, mercury is heated by the sun while at night, temperature in this planet drops hundreds of degrees below freezing that makes ice exist in its craters. Mercury has an egg-shaped orbit that revolves around the sun every 88 days. Venus, is another planet that is known for its having intense heat and volcanic activity. It has a similar structure and size with the earth however Venus have thick and toxic atmosphere that traps heat in a “greenhouse effect”. This planet’s temperature is able to melt lead. A glimpse below the clouds would reveal volcanoes and deformed mountains. What is strange about Venus is that it spins slowly in the opposite direction of most planets in the solar system. Mars, is one that is considered a cold desert world. It has a size half of the Earth’s diameter and has the same amount of dry land. Just like Earth, Mars also goes through seasons, has polar ice caps, volcanoes, canyons, and weather. However, the difference between the two is that Mars has a very thin atmosphere for liquid water to exist for long in the surface. Research shows that Mars shows signs of ancient floods but evidence for water can only be seen through its icy soil and thin clouds. Jupiter is the biggest planet in the solar system. This is because of the fact that it has dozens of moons and an enormous magnetic field which forms a kind of its own solar system. Jupiter does not resemble a star when speaking of its composition but it does not grow big enough to ignite. The planet consists of swirling cloud stripes that are punctuated by massive storms such as the Great Red Spot which is continuously raging for years now. If you are looking for a unique planet among all that is in the solar system, Saturn is the one that will perfectly meet the description. It is adorned with thousands of beautiful ringlets where all four gas giant planets have rings, which are basically made up of chunks of ice and rock but no other planet could compare to the spectacular and at the same time complicated rings Saturn has. Like other gas giants, Saturn consists mostly of a massive ball of hydrogen and helium. However, according to astronomers, Saturn is the most distant of the five planets first known. Saturn has a volume which is 755 times greater than that of the Earth where winds in its upper atmosphere would reach 500 meters per second in the equatorial region. These fast and strong winds combined with heat rising from within Saturn’s interior are the ones that cause the yellow and gold bands visible in the atmosphere that makes it unique. Uranus is the only giant planet who has an equator nearly at the right angles to its orbit. It has a size nearly the same with Neptune however, Uranus has more methane and is mainly made up of hydrogen and helium atmosphere than Jupiter or Saturn. Uranus has a blue tint which is caused by the methane. This planet was the first planet to be found using a telescope and is the seventh planet from the sun. It takes Uranus 84 Earth years to complete one orbit. Like Venus, Uranus rotates from east to west. This planet is one of the two ice giants of the outer solar system aside from Neptune. Speaking of Neptune, it is a planet known for its dark, cold, and supersonic winds. It is the last hydrogen and helium gas giants in the solar system. Neptune is 30 times as far from the sun as Earth and it takes 165 Earth years for it to orbit the sun. This ice giant planet was the first planet located through mathematical predictions. This planet is invisible to the naked eye because of its extreme distance from Earth. Its magnetic field’s main axis is tipped over about 47 degrees compared to the other planet’s rotation. Like Uranus, Neptune’s magnetosphere goes through wild variations during each rotation because of misalignment. Also, the magnetic field of Neptune is 27 times more powerful than that of Earth. Pluto is known to be the second most massive dwarf planet in the solar system and the tenth most massive body observed that orbits the sun directly. Originally, it was known to be the ninth planet from the Sun, however, Pluto was re-categorized as a dwarf planet and plutoid during the discovery that it is one of the several large bodies within the Kuiper belt. Pluto is composed of rock and ice and is relatively small, sizing to approximately a fifth of the Earth’s moon and a third of its volume. Pluto has a highly inclined orbit that takes it from 30 to 49 AU from the Sun that makes Pluto closer to the Sun than Neptune. Asteroids which are sometimes called minor planets are small, rocky fragments which were left overs from the formation of the solar system. Most of this space can be found orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. Asteroids differ in sizes and their total mass is less than that of the Earth’s Moon. According to the history of the solar system, the formation of Jupiter brought an end to the formation of planetary bodies between Mars and Jupiter causing small bodies in this region collide with each other which we call the asteroid belt that contains millions of asteroids. Oort clouds are certain comets that come from a vast distance which are spherical shell of icy bodies surrounding the solar system. They occupy space at a distance between 5,000 and 100,000 astronomical units. The outer part of the Oort Cloud is the region of space where the sun's gravitational pull is weaker. The Oort Cloud contains 0.1 to 2 trillion icy bodies in solar orbit. Sometimes, there are giant molecular clouds, stars, or tidal interactions with the Milky Way's disc that disturb the orbit of some of these bodies in the outer region of the Oort Cloud which causes the object to fall into the inner solar system that is called a comet. These comets are large, eccentric and take thousands of years to circle the sun. Comets are perceived as the "long-haired" stars that appear in the sky. Based on studies, an elongated comet looks like a fiery sword blazing across the night sky. Comets are leftovers from the dawn of the solar system and consist mostly of ice coated with dark organic material called the dirty snowballs. It is believed that comets brought water and organic compounds, which are the building blocks of life to the Earth and other parts of the solar system (Solar System Exploration. N.d.). References: "Mercury (planet) - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. . (Author), Peter Cattermole. "Planet Venus." Space Projects - Space Information - Space Shop. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. . "Earth Introduction." Views of the Solar System. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. . " Mars – Facts and Information about the Planet Mars | Space.com | Space.com ." Space, NASA Information & News | Outer Space Flight Videos & Pictures | Astronomy, Solar System Images | Space.com . N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. . "Solar System Exploration: Planets: Jupiter: Read More." Solar System Exploration. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. . Read More