The Astronomers

Wandering Stars: a tour of the planets

A beauteous rip through the solar sytem, based on NASA's Science on a Sphere program "The Wanderers." In ancient times, humans watched the skies looking for clues to their future and to aid in their very survival. They soon observed that some stars were not fixed, but moved in the sky from night to night. They called these stars the wanderers. At the center of our solar system is the sun, binding the planets with its gravitational pull. From our viewpoint on earth, the sun appears small in the sky, but in reality it dwarfs even Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system. The distance from the sun to the small worlds traveling it are vast. Light takes eight minutes to reach earth, and nearly a day to reach the farthest known bodies. Join us now as we tour our solar system, starting with sun-baked mercury and traveling to the remotest outskirts, where small, icy bodies move with only the faintest connection to our sun. Mercury Mercury, the closest planet to Sun is also the smallest terrestrial planet. It orbits so swiftly that its year lasts only 88 Earth days. The airless cratered surface could almost be mistaken for our moon, relentlessly bombarded by meteoroids for four and a half billion years. One of these encounters left a giant scar called the golarus basin, one of the largest impact sights in the solar system. Temperatures on the surface of mercury can reach a blistering 800 degrees Fahrenheit, and can dip to 300 degrees below zero on the night side. Venus Venus, as seen from Earth, is the brightest object in sky after the Sun and Moon. Russian probes were the first to land on Venus in the 1970's and 1980's. Venus's surface is volcanic. Its atmosphere is composed of thick, dense carbon dioxide with sulfuric acid clouds. Both are potent greenhouse gases that trap incoming sunlight. Venus rotates slowly—one Venusian day lasts almost four Earth months. Earth Earth is the only planet with life as we know it. The atmosphere and temperatures are "just right" for life. It is the only known body in our solar system where water can exist as a gas, liquid, and solid. Vast oceans dominate surface of the planet. Seasonal changes occur on the surface. Earth has a solid surface that constantly shifts due to plate tectonics. Mars Once geologically active, Mars has the largest dormant volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons. It also hast the longest valley in the solar system, called Valles Marineris. Mars has a thin, atmosphere primarily composed of carbon dioxide. Surface conditions are dynamic. Mars has seasons as well as massive dust storms that cover the planet. Its surface features include the smooth, low-lying northern hemisphere and the craggy, heavily-cratered southern uplands. Evidence suggests that Mars had water running on its surface at some time in the past. Asteroid belt The asteroid belt is composed of small rocky pieces. The big question is "What happened here?" and "Why no planets?" The asteroid Ceres is large enough to be classified as a dwarf planet. Jupiter Jupiter is the largest and most massive planet in the Solar System. It rotates rapidly, completing one rotation every 10 hours. Long-lasting, high-speed winds and storms dominate Jupiter's atmosphere. Jupiter has a faint planetary ring system and over 63 moons. The largest moons, discovered by Galileo in 1610, vary widely. Io is volcanically active. Europa's cracked surface likely hides an ocean below. Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System. Callisto is heavily cratered. Saturn Saturn's seemingly serene atmosphere hides powerful storms and winds on its surface. Saturn is known for its extensive ring system made of chunks of ice, rock, and dust with small moonlets embedded within the rings. Saturn has more than 60 moons. Conditions vary among the moons. Titan, the largest moon, has a thick, smoggy, atmosphere covering its icy surface with lakes of liquid methane or ethane. Small Enceladus has water and ice geysers at its south pole. Its water vapor coat other nearby moons and create a thin Saturn ring. Uranus Uranus receives 400 times less sunlight than Earth. Uranus lies nearly sideways, making its axis nearly parallel to the plane of the Solar System. This extreme tilt give rise to seasons that last nearly 28 Earth years. Uranus as many moons and a faint ring system. It has only been visited by one spacecraft, Voyager 2, in 1986. Like the other giant planets, Uranus's atmosphere is primarily hydrogen and helium with a trace of methane gas over deep clouds, giving it a pale blue-green tint. Neptune Neptune also has many moons and a faint ring system. Its Great Dark Spot, a large storm with extremely strong winds, disappeared in the 1990s. Neptune's vivid blue color is due to its frigid temperature: -371°F (-224 °C).

Wandering  Stars  moon  nasa  earth  orbit  solar  system  venus  sun  galileo  einstein  star  planet  universe  space  apollo  astronauts  Apollo  Program  Ufo  rocket  galaxy  asteroid  origins  lunar  jfk  john  f.  kennedy  orbiter  camera  crater  meteor  impact  comet  buzz  aldrin  astronaut  neil  armstrong  radiation  astronomy  alien  aliens  shuttle  outer  secret 

Channels: Planetary science 

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Space Odyssey: Voyage To The Planets 1 - BBC

Space Odyssey: Voyage To The Planets This two-part science fiction docu-drama examines the possibilities of a dangerous, manned space mission to explore the inner and outer planets of the Solar system. Five astronauts pilot the nuclear thermal rocket powered Pegasus spacecraft on a tour of the solar system. Their mission is a collaboration of the NASA, CSA, ESA and РКА space agencies and takes the crew to Venus, Mars, a close flyby of the Sun, Jupiter's moon Io and Europa, Saturn, Pluto, and the fictional Comet Yano-Moore. Most of the planetary destinations the crew reaches are followed by a manned landing there. Prior to the mission large tanks of hydrogen were deposited in stable orbits around the planets to allow the crew to refuel to have sufficient delta-v for the multi-year mission. The crew encounter many hardships and disappointments along the way. A Venus EVA that almost ends in disaster when the lander Orpheus encounters launch delays, the near-loss of the shield during the aerobrake in Jupiter's upper atmosphere (according to the first part of the miniseries) and the loss of samples from Jupiter's moon Io all test the crew's resolve. The most devastating blow comes when the ship's medical officer dies of solar radiation-induced lymphoma in Saturn orbit, forcing the crew to decide whether to continue the mission to Pluto, or abort and return to Earth. In the original British release, the crew decides to press on to Pluto, making history.

Adventure  Asteroid  Astronaut  Astronauts  Atheist  Atheism  Atmosphere  BBC  Belt  Comet  Comets  CSA  Delta  Earth  ESA  Europa  EVA  Flyby  God  In  Inner  Io  Jupiter  Land  Lander  Landing  Manned  Mars  Martian  Mercury  Mission  Moon  Mons  Nasa  Neptune  Odyssey  Of  Olympus  On  Orbit  Orbiter  Outer  Pegasus  PKA  Planet  Planets  Pluto  Probe  Propulsion  Radiation  Ring  Rings  Risk  Rocket  Saturn  Science  Scientists  Ship  Solar  Space  Spaceship  Spacecraft  Star  Sun  Surface  System  Telescope  The  To  Travel  Trek  Uranus  Venus  Venusian  Voyage 

Channels: Planetary science 

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PREVIEW: Alien Planets & Eyeball Earths

Music by Zero Project. The hunt for planets beyond our solar system has reached a fever pitch. With some 500 planets revealed by ground telescopes, now, the ultimate planet finder, the Kepler space telescope, has released a tsunami of data. Among over a thousand new planet prospects are 200 multi-planet solar systems and 58 worlds in life-friendly orbits. They're all within a narrow window on the sky the size of your hand. That's why this may be the tip of the iceberg in a galaxy that's literally crawling with planets. Scientists are now beginning to envision what these worlds are like, with atmospheres, oceans, geological history. In the process, they are redefining what a planet might need to spawn life.

alien  planets  earth  kepler  gliese  581  planethunting  nasa  space  universe  solar  systems  stars  milky  way  orion  esa  eso  telescope  astronomy  hubble  spitzer  shuttle  orbit  ufo  moon  speed  of  light  hawking  einstein  black  holes  mercury  venus  jupiter  saturn  neptune  pluto  kuiper  belt  uranus  mass  supernova  planetary  science  environment  widescreen  airplanes  aliens  photography  scifi 

Channels: Planetary science 

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Ptolemaic vs. Copernican Model

Simulation of the Ptolemaic geocentric model and then the Copernican heliocentric model of the solar system, from 1543-1550; original movie by Rick Pogge, using Starry Night Pro (v3.0.2); Download original video from http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Movies/

Ptolemy  Copernicus  geocentric  heliocentric  solar  system  orbit  simulation 

Channels: The Astronomers 

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Launchpad Kepler

Join NASA on the Kepler Mission as this traveling telescope images the light from faraway stars to locate Earth-sized and smaller planets. Using the transit method, the Kepler telescope measures the brightness of a star and uses the data to predict habitable zones.

Education  NASA  eClips  NIA  Launchpad  high  school  secondary  eclipse  transit  habitable  zones  telescopes  orbit  planets  stars  Kepler  CCD  field  of  view 

Channels: Major questions in astronomy 

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Heliocentric Orbit for Kepler Telescope

Simulation of the path of Kepler telescope

Tech  space  aerospace  astronautics  aeronautics  orbits  kepler  heliocentric  orbit  telescope  orbita  telescopio  tierra  Earth-like  planets  planetas  sistema  solar  system  astronautica  satellite  satelites 

Channels: Major questions in astronomy 

Added: 3404 days ago by adminn

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Ptolemaic vs Copernican Model

Simulation of the Ptolemaic geocentric model and then the Copernican heliocentric model of the solar system, from 1543-1550; original movie by Rick Pogge, using Starry Night Pro (v3.0.2); Download original video from http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Movies/

Howto  Ptolemy  Copernicus  geocentric  heliocentric  solar  system  orbit  simulation 

Channels: The Astronomers 

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First Images of Alien Planet

Earth seems to have its first fuzzy photos of four alien planets outside our solar system. Three of them orbit the same distant star, Fomalhaut. The fourth circles a different star.

Earth  seems  to  have  its  first  fuzzy  photos  of  four  alien  planets  outside  our  solar  system.  Three  them  orbit  the  same 

Channels: Extragalactic astronomy  Observational astronomy  Major questions in astronomy 

Added: 3745 days ago by Astro

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