Sunday, August 21, 2016
Monday, August 17, 2015
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Friday, July 31, 2015
Barren Mercury!
Mercury is the closest and the smallest planet in the Solar System. From Mercury the sun appears three times as large as it is viewed from earth. I believe that it is easy to understand how hot the surface of planet Mercury is because it is the closest planet to the sun. Temperature can rise up to 430 degrees Celsius and during night, temperature drops to -170 degrees Celsius as the planet does not have an atmosphere to retain the heat.
Mercury can be observed in the sky from Earth and it makes an indirect appearance 13 times a century. We can observe a special event known as a transit, where Mercury pass across the face of the sun. The first two transits of the 21st century occurred on May 7, 2003 and November 8, 2006. The next one will occur on May 9, 2016. (Isn't it next year???! I'm excited!)
Mercury is one of the fastest planets as it travels through space nearly 50 km per second which is the reason Mercury completes an year or a revolution in just 88 days. The surface of Mercury resembles to the Earth's moon, because of its barren surface.
The Caloris Basin which is a result of an asteroid impact is about 1300 km in diameter. Mercury shrank in radius about 1 - 2 km as the planet cooled down after its formation. It is the second densest planet of the solar system.
Mercury can be observed in the sky from Earth and it makes an indirect appearance 13 times a century. We can observe a special event known as a transit, where Mercury pass across the face of the sun. The first two transits of the 21st century occurred on May 7, 2003 and November 8, 2006. The next one will occur on May 9, 2016. (Isn't it next year???! I'm excited!)
Mercury is one of the fastest planets as it travels through space nearly 50 km per second which is the reason Mercury completes an year or a revolution in just 88 days. The surface of Mercury resembles to the Earth's moon, because of its barren surface.
The Caloris Basin which is a result of an asteroid impact is about 1300 km in diameter. Mercury shrank in radius about 1 - 2 km as the planet cooled down after its formation. It is the second densest planet of the solar system.
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
The Solar System
The sun and its family of planets which is our immediate neighborhood is known as the solar system. The planets' moons or their natural satellites, comets, asteroids and meteoroids are all included in the solar system. Everything inside the solar system is held together with the help of the sun's gravity.
There are 8 planets in the solar system. Actually there were 9 but Pluto is not now included as a planet because of several reasons. (I will mention them later in another post).
The Inner Planets
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are considered as inner planets because they lie on the inner side of the asteroid belt which orbit the sun. The planets formed about 4.6 billion years ago and all these inner planets were formed from dust particles and they ended up being rocky planets.
Outer Planets
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are considered as outer planets as they are located outside the asteroid belt. They are also known as gas giants.
Models of the Solar System
Above is a picture of the heliocentric model which was explained by Sir Nicholas Copernicus. Later Johannes Kepler improved this model.
Early astronomers believed that the sun and all the other planets revolved around the Earth. This concept is known as the geocentric model of the solar system. The heliocentric model which placed the sun at the centre was first introduced by Aristarchus of Samos and was later explained and developed by Sir Nicholas Copernicus. Galileo Galilee's observations with his newly made telescope strongly supported the heliocentric model.
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