Image via Wikipedia

One of the planets that has been the source of a lot of mystery and tales is Mars. So what does this planet hold? What are some of the secrets? Here are some of the facts that people have discovered about Mars.

·        It’s the fourth farthest from our sun. it orbits it at a distance that is about 141 million miles, and it takes about 686.93 days on Earth or approximately 1.8807 Earth years to make a full revolution.

·        It’s the seventh biggest planet.  It’s about half of Earth’s diameter and it has about a 1/10th the mass of Earth. Its density is approximately 30% lower than Earth’s. The core of Mars is probably a lot like Earth’s, being mostly iron with some nickel.

·        The planet Mars is small and rocky. Like the other three terrestrial planets – Venus, Mercury, and Earth, it has a surface that’s been changed a lot by impacts from assorted bodies, crust movements, volcanism, and things like dust storms.3

·        The surface of Mars is the most similar to that of Earth than any other planet. It would be a really harsh place for anything to live, however, because the temperatures go from -225 – +60 degrees Fahrenheit, and it’s average temperature of -67.

·        It’s probably our best hope for finding some kind of life other than on Earth. The atmosphere is thin and it’s made up of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, argon, and some oxygen, as well as water.  Water has also been found in liquid on Mars.

It’s really easy to see that Mars is very interesting without all the myths that surround it. It’s constantly being studied and maybe someday we’ll find some life on it.  But until then all we can do is look at it and dream about what might be and what we might find.

The planet Mercury was named after Mercury, who was the Roman god in charge of thievery, travel, and commerce.  It’s t he planet that’s closest to our sun and it’s the eighth in size.  The existence of Mercury was known since prior to the 3^rd century B.C.  It was given two names by the Greeks. Apollo first named it when it was a morning star and Hermes named it when it came out in the evening.

It has a really big iron core which is probably partially, if not completely, molten. The outer shell is made of silicate and is only approximately 500-600 km in thickness.  The atmosphere is very thin and it’s made of atoms which were blasted off the surface by solar wind. Because of the great heat, the atoms go into space quickly.  Therefore, the atmosphere of Mercury is always replenished.

It’s a planet of some extremes. The temperature varies go between 90K and 700K.  Interesting enough, Venus is hotter and fewer fluctuations.  It has an orbit that is quite eccentric – when it’s at perihelion it’s a mere 46 million KM from the son but when it’s at aphelion it’s 70 million.

The planet doesn’t have any known satellites or moons.

Mercury Statistics:

• Mean Radius: 2439.7 km
• Mass: 0.055 (as compared to Earth =1)
• Density: 5.43
• Gravity : 0.376
• Period of Orbit: 87.97 days on Earth
• Period of Rotation:58.65 days on Earth
• Orbit Semimajor Axis: 0.387 au
• Orbit Eccentricity: 0.206

This is the interesting information that people have discovered about the planet Mercury. As you can see, there are a lot of interesting things about the planet that you probably never knew.  It’s a planet that a lot of people have studied and that is why it’s favorite planet of a lot of people.

Image via Wikipedia

A favorite planet of many is the planet Venus. Here are some fun facts about Venus that you may find interesting and informative to remember when you are using your telescope to find it.

• It is the second planet that is found from our Sun. It orbits 108,200,000 km from our Sun. Its path takes it around the Sun and in between the planet Mercury and Earth.
• It’s the sixth biggest planet in our solar system – its diameter is 12,103.6 km and its mass is 4.869e24 kg.  It’s 95% the size of Earth.
• It’s been called the sister planet to Earth.  It’s close to our size, it’s density is similar as is the chemical composition, and it’s got a few craters, which means its age is similar.  This is why a lot of people used to think that it might have life on it, but this is something that’s been proven impossible however.
• People use to think that it was two bodies, called Eosphorus, which was the morning star, and Hesperus, evening star.
• On the surface of Venus, the atmospheric pressure is 90 atmospheres. It’s composed of the gas carbon dioxide. It’s obscured by cloud layers that are made of the gas sulfuric acid, which makes an incredible greenhouse affect which brings its temperature to more than 740K.
• The rotation of Venus is 243 days on earth and the orbit of Venus is 225 days. Its days are longer than the year and it rotates backwards, which means it spins in the direction that’s opposite to the orbit around our Sun.  if you were on Venus, you would think that the sun is rising in the planet’s west and setting in its east.

If you look for Venus when looking through a telescope, you’ll find that the facts above are going to run through your mind while you gaze at it.

Image via Wikipedia

Neptune, who was a Roman god, was named Poseidon by the Greeks, was known as the sea god.  The namesake planet for him is the planet that is eighth from our Sun and the fourth largest in diameter.  Its mass diameter is smaller than Uranus but the mass is bigger.

Like Uranus, scientists think that it has a core that’s rocky and that’s about the same as the Earth’s mass, and they believe it’s surrounded by an ocean that’s huge and that’s mixed with material that’s rocky. The atmosphere is for the most part helium and hydrogen with a little bit of methane.

It’s visible using binoculars when you know where you should look for it, but you need to have a big telescope if you want to see anything but a dot.  When you look at it through the telescope , it looks like a small disk that is green in color.

Like the other gaseous planets, it has rings, four of them. There are also 13 satellites that orbit it, 8 of which have names and five that don’t have names yet.

The satellites are the following:

• Naiad:     Distance – 48 km   Radius 29
• Thalassa: Distance – 50 km   Radius 40
• Despina:  Distance – 53 km   Radius 74
• Galatea:   Distance – 62 km   Radius 79
• Larissa:    Distance – 74  km   Radius 96
• Proteus:    Distance – 118  km Radius 209
• Triton:      Distance – 355  km  Radius 1350
• Nereid:      Distance – 5509 km Radius 170

Those who are familiar with Roman mythology are going to recognize a lot of these names.  For those who are interested in learning more about the planet Neptune, you are going to find that there’s a lot of information about this and the other planets in our solar system on the Internet and through books.    There is a lot of information about astronomy and the planets and stars for you to discover.