Ever since I was nine I've always been fascinated with astronomy. So, I thought I'd share a little with you.

I might do several posts on astronomy (depending on the comments I get) but I'll start with just one for now.

THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Our Solar System consists of:

1 star, the sun

9 planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and.... and...Eris!

65 known moons (the number always changes)

Thousands of asteroids

And less than 1,000 comets recorded

Billions and billions of years ago...

LOL! You won't find any of that garbage in this post!

The sun is the largest body in our solar system. It has 1,000 times the mass of everything in our solar system added together! The sun is what keeps the solar system together. It's the sun's gravitational pull that keeps the planets, comets, and asteroids orbiting. The sun is VERY large. 100 earths could be placed side-by-side and it still wouldn't reach from one end of the sun to the other. The sun is also very hot and bright, up to temperatures of 27,000,000 degrees!

The Solar System is so massive that using miles as a way to measure distances isn't practical. You'd end up writing numbers like this: 150,000,000,000. So an easier way to express distance is to use a special measuring stick called an astronomical unit. The earth's average distance (it wobbles from the moon's gravitational pull. So, it's always changing it distance) from the sun is equal to 1 astronomical unit or AU. The earth is 93,000,000 miles from the sun = 1AU. Pluto is 40 AU from the sun.

The Planets

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. So, it's orbit is the smallest, taking it only 88 earth days to make one Mercury year. But its day is very long. It takes 59 earth days to make one day on Mercury.

Since mercury is the closest planet to the sun you can imagine it would be very hot! It's so hot that no life could ever exist there. It reaches 800 degrees F in the day! You must remember that since this planet has such a long day it also has a long night. And at night its temperature gets as low as -280 F! Mercury has an extremely thin and unstable atmosphere. So, it's surface is littered with craters.

Venus is nicknamed, “Earth's Sister” because they are almost the same size. Unlike Mercury, Venus has a very atmosphere. The atmosphere is so dense that it would feel like you were under 3,000 feet of water! Its dense atmosphere acts like a blanket, not allowing any of the heat to escape, making it the hottest planet in our solar system! Mercury's daytime average is 900 F!

Earth is the only planet with liquid water on its surface, and has an atmosphere of mostly nitrogen and oxygen. Earth is the only planet that contains life, almost as if it was designed that way, huh? *grin*

Mars is around half the size of Earth. Its year is almost twice as long and its day is exactly as long as Earth's. It's a very red planet because the soil is full of rusting iron. At times the temperature seems almost tolerable. During the day it'll actually reach 50 degrees F at the equator. But at night it drops to a bitter -200 F. The Martian surface is very interesting. Mars holds the record for the largest mountain in our solar system, Olympus Mons. At the base it stretches 440 miles! And it reaches 78,000 feet into the Martian sky. Mars also has the record for the largest canyon in our solar system, Valles Marineris. This large canyon is 1, 860 miles long and some points drop down as low as 5 miles!

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. It is a gas planet. That means that there is no hard surface. The only hard service you'll find are on the rocks in the ring around the planet. Just a big blob of thick gas! It is thought that its core is made up of extremely dense slushy liquid.

As you move away from the core it leaves the liquidized hydrogen and into the atmosphere of helium. Jupiter is a very dangerous place. There are storms there that would totally engulf three of our earths and these huge tornado-like blizzards last for hundred of years. And lightning-bolts that arc hundreds of miles grace the landscape.

Saturn is my favorite planet (besides Earth). It has huge glorious rings that are mainly made up of water ice, rocky chunks of dust, metal, and a little bit of gas. Like Jupiter, the planet is made up of gas. But things are a lot calmer on Saturn. It's not nearly as hot or as dense as Jupiter. Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system.

Uranus is four times the size of the earth and is made up of mainly hydrogen. Uranus has a very thin ring, something like the one on Jupiter. Uranus is amazing because it is the only planet that “lays over.” What I mean by this is that Uranus orbits the sun sideways as if it were rolling around the sun. Its “north” pole points in to the sun at all times and its “south” pole is constantly pointing out away from the sun! I wonder what a day would be like on Uranus.

Neptune is the last gas planet in our solar system. Its atmosphere is similar to that of Uranus. But it's far more active. The winds there blow at around 1,300 MPH! There was a hurricane on Neptune that was made up of water, ice and methane gas. It was so massive that it could be seen from space! This very dangerous hurricane ended in 1998. It is thought that both Neptune and Uranus have a solid core the size of our Earth!

Pluto is not a planet!

I would have to devote a whole entry to explain why Pluto is not a planet.

So then, what's planet number nine?

Eris! Also known as “the tenth planet” until Pluto was “de-planeted,” Eris used to be called UB313. This planet is so new (discovered in 2003 and given its name in September of 2006) that there is not a lot known about it. Eris is very similar to Pluto so it wouldn't surprise me if they consider it not to be a planet in a few years.

There are a lot of other interesting objects in our solar system, such as moons that have atmospheres and rocks that seem to possess the conditions necessary to hold life. And I might write about these things if i get a few positive comments, even though I expect I'm just going to get a lot of, “You're boring,” and “I hate you,” and “*snore*”. LOL!

There is still a lot to be discovered.

In 1992 we thought that Jupiter had only 16 moons. If you look on the Internet, some sites say 22. Others say 28. I have a really neat program called Celestia (Linux program, but you can get it for Windows for free) that allows me to explore the universe and it says that the last known number is like 63 or something. So, we're always finding more. I'd encourage you to study this chart. It's pretty accurate.

Our universe is so complicated. Our solar system is so delicate. If we were even one percent closer to the sun our oceans would boil. And if we were one percent farther our oceans would freeze solidly. There is no way it could have happened by chance. Only a fool would say that our vast, mysterious universe is not created. And if it was created, doesn't that mean that there is a Creator? Psalms 14.1

Please comment.

-Paul

EDIT: It would actually take more than one percent to boil or freeze an ocean.