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Understanding The Solar System 1stedition 3 08 23

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UNDERSTANDING THE SOLAR SYSTEM Pate Ray NECA ser roll Td COMPLETE GUIDE roe a icron red METEOR SHOWERS SPACE VOLCANOES Oa ores RECO Welcome ur Solar System is a try amazing place about whieh we know so much, yet atthe same time still have so much to learn In Understanding The Solar system, well explore the inner workings of our fascinating cosmic neighbourhood, from the wonders of our own planet to the secrets ofthe Ice Giants and all of four planetary neighbours. Marvel atthe Incredible star that makes ital posible, and delve beneath the surface of Earth's ‘very own natural satellite and some of the Solar Systems strangest moons, Well also bring you a host of articles on other fascinating space phenomena, such as comets, asteroids alien storms and more Guide to the Moon Everything you need to know about our natural satelite Strangest moons Discover sre ofthe facinating worlds inte Solar System Does Earth have a second moon? Learn more about the asteroid tracking our orbit around the Sun Escape to Titan When the Sun scorches Earth a tiny Sturian moon could becurnest hore Space volcanoes From Venus o Mars, voleanoes have helped shape the hodies of our Solar System Martian megatsunami the Red Planet Comets, asteroids and meteor showers Discover the space rocks that liter our Solar System Where are the biggest craters? "Explore some of the largest craters in the Solar System, ien storms Discover incredible weather on other worlds and what causes it PUMITETe Tee 1 The Great Red Spot is shrinking Along with being the Solar System’ largest planet, Jupiter also hosts the Solar System's largest storm, Known as the Great Red Spot, its been observed in telescopes since the 1600s and studied by modern instruments like those on NASA Juno, which recently ‘rovded evidence thatthe storm is hundreds of miles tall and Ukely fed by ‘winds from thousands of miles below The storm has been a raging conundrum for centuries, bt in recent decades another mystery emerge: the spot is getting smaller. In 2014 the storm was only 163500, Jllometres (10.250 miles) across, about half ts histori size. The shrinkage is being ‘monitored in professional telescopes, and also by amateurs. Amateurs are often able tomake more consistent measurements of Jupiter because viewing time on larger professional telescopes is limited and often split between diferent objects Tl Jupiter’s moon lo has huge volcanic eruptions pared to Eats peaceful Moon, Jupiter's moon lo may come asa surpri Jovian moon has hundreds of volcanoes and is considered the most ener ire nrc nc enn) poe neo erent peer nen eter ans raiipesreaie pen eeteney neni een nena ar Papers ayaon pease niece erent eet eas at Piet eee rete en Ee erat d ere beam ecm Par ss tea nl ses ee teat a oreo enero 10 UNDERSTANDING THE SOLAR SYSTEM Contents 25 unbelievable How the planets facts about the would look... Solar System they were atthe same ae oat distance from Earth as the Moon could be the strangest place in the cosmos Jupiter The largest planet has aot wo tellus, an Juno is on the case thes Everything you e Sun ‘The Solar System would need to know De noi werent or he about Saturn ewer of our nearest sar Theres more o this gs gant than meets the eye The swelling Sun ‘Scientists get a gruesome look Secrets of the at how our Sun will eat planets Ice Giants Join us as we peek into Mercury ‘the unknown, ‘This minute world is arguably the least explored ofthe four terrestrial planets 22 things you didn’t know about Venus arth’ssister planet san intriguing, and mysterious world What are planets like on the inside? ven among the worlds of our Solar Sytem we ee a ge variety of planets Earth The rocky world that we call home is full of wonders Complete guide to Mars ‘Were learning more about the Red Planet every day y pat Ce] Bre ee CT i Cane ees rh ee nti Papeete renen Perret ty Sunny Perens See erat Pee er ear Sekt ounce Pere ee eects eer n Poe Petre ra Ponerinae Ee ee ad poe ea oe Mars’ biggest volcano is bigger than Hawai Ba K elf olives Lule) ate) Pree Roe elt bern Rol LT] Piel Accs places too” Tree eee Sapa ennne enery eee Tete tran eas Skee eT Ly Eee peayc Teer ee eu ed Peter a) Reece ines Pe renen any eer cnry eee re Tos pee ete hee Sa eure states ee tee Caer een ety eeu Pere et eran poner ie es cone eerie) eee ee Pe eee ones eee The Solar System is really big [NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraR was launched in 1977, More than three decades later, in 2012 it became the frst human-made object to enter interstellar space by crossing the heliopause —the edge of the heliosphere. Thats the boundary beyond which most ofthe Suns ejected particles and magnetic feds dissipate. “If we define our Solar System as the Sun and everything that primarily orbits the Sun, Voyager 1 wil remain within the confines ofthe: ‘nti it emerges from the Oort Cloud in another 14,000 to 2,000 years? NASA says, The Moon is both mind- bogglingly distant and incredibly close depending on how you think about it ola System Even just our neighbourhood is really big Depending on how carefully you do the calculations and how you arrange them al of the planets in the Solar System could ft In between Earth and its Moon. The distance between Earth and the Moon varies as it orbits around us, as does the diameter of each ofthe planets - they're wider at their equator, so Saturn and Jupiter would have tobe tilted siderays for this to work But Lmagine lining them all up, pole to pole. They'd just barely squeeze in between us and our closest companion in space, blocking out the sky with their rings and gas giant bulk as they did so, The Moon isthe farthest from Earth we've ever sent humans, and it's both min-bogghingly distant and incredibly close depending on how you think about i Fight enormous planets could fit between here and there, and the distance from Farth tothe Sun is more ‘than 390 times the distance from Earth tothe Moon, Scientists use ‘an approximation ofthe Earth-Sun distance, also known as one astronomical unit, or AU, to campare distances within the Solar System, Jupiter is about §2 AU from the Sun, and Neptune is 30.0 AU fom the Sun ~ around 30 ties as far frm the star as Earth PIMITELE Tee Teta still shrinking Sree paren retin pare res Peet ear rry Pee reer Serer natal Siren ear Lana) ees eran Cry Pmt ener eee Oey eee eee ene peratremeieasoeyioety eee peer Se etree ee ory ere eee Beretta Venus is swept by powerful winds that could harbour life Venus is a hellish planet with a high temperature, high-pressure environment nits surface. Bane-dry and hot enough to melt ead, ts not exacly a welcoming environment, and has probably always been inhospitable to life. When the heavily shielded Venera spacecraft from the Soviet UUnion landed there inthe 1970s, each lasted a few minutes, or at most a few hours, before melting or being crushed beyond their ability to function But even above its surface, the planet has a bizarre environment. Scientists have found that its upper winds flow 50 Earth’s Van Allen belts are more bizarre than expected “There are several hands of magnetically trapped, highly energetic charged particles surrounding our planet, known as the Van Allen belts. While we've known bout the belts since the ddavn ofthe Space Age, the Van Allen Probes, launched in 2022, have provided our best ever view of them. They've uncovered quitea few surprises along the way. We now times faster than the planets rotation. ‘The European Venus Express spacecraft, ‘which orited the planet between 2006, and 2015, tracked the winds overlong periods and detected periodic variations. I also found that the hurricane-force winds appeared to be getting stronger overtime. A 2020 study that thrilled many astobiologists detected phosphine, a posible sign of {decaying biological matter, high in the ‘Venusian clouds, Could they be a sign of 1ife? Not without sufficient water, claim follow-up studies that reject the possibilty of life in Venus’ dry and windy atmosphere ‘now thatthe belts expand and contrat according to solar activity. Sometimes the Delis are very distinct from one another, and sometimes they swell nto fone massive unit. An extra raciation belt beyond the known two was spotted in 2013, Understanding these belts helps scientists make better redictins about space weather or solar storms UNDERSTANDING THE SOLAR SYSTEM unbelievable facts sr aly meee 4 1 There is water everywhere Water was once considered rare in space But water ice exists al over the Solar system. I's a comman component of com and asteroids, Water can be found a ice in permanently shadowed craters on Mercury re don't enough to support prospective and the Moon, though | wif Jnuman colonies i those places. Mars also has ice at its poles, in fost and likely below the surface dust. Even smaller bois in the Solar System have ice: Saturn's moon Enceladus and the dwatf planet among othe Scientists suspect Jup may be the mos ke t's moon Europ candidate for gains all expectations there’ likey liquid water below i Barop host a deep ocean that researchers suggest could contain twice as much water as all of extraterrestrial life because racked and frozen surf Earths oceans combined, But Close-up examination of Comet 67P by the re know that not allie is the same, revealed a differen kind of the kind f ser ice than und on Earth, Peete rere Ore any Aor) Saturn has a yin-yang moon Ce eae uc ate ae ae oe ene Se ert ee eee Prcreeoeorte amir tert eer eenit acecmeee arte ‘rightly enough fo be spotted by felescopes and then dims down by several poet rremrelit peer ire erin ener Ty ere ne eee eee eer keer irre rete Tat may have created a postive feedback loop, as dark material heats up more eee errr error er a Pera eter een ae ncry BCT itera] liquid cycle RoIotchetee arcu) eee norte Cena neens pirates earner es erent nares lakes are fled with iquid methane and Peer otis Pen neice niet ret Porno rtery Pee eee ts eer erent 16 PUM ee! giant storm Penance erent oem bere rea eee rece ir eet aL and Cee eta entre flow by between 2004 and 2017 Images Pepe eat epee Perr ere) eet Pr eerr in ret) Er eae ose Rings are more common a we thought De ee eer eee ronnie Lert eet Niet ese years to reveal more. We now know that every planet in the outer Solar Serer eer aes Seneca td ea ere ar re Se pe a eee een ba ee ae ete) Eero na eee re eee ene recent ete e Tay eres UNDERSTANDING THE SOLAR SYSTEM News from the Sun Explore some of the features of our Solar System’s star ee 20 T ters i are spotte with a Sungrazing Cert of Cee ee rars Ea at akin Pee Se eat) pee Srey rs ce esd Pe erty Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) errr Ere er ee tT) Perera) ee eed peered eee eed ean ai) Permase errr pact piece te ety Peeters i cnr Uranus spins sideways Tis gas glans pretty weird on closer inspection. First, the planet roates on its side, appearing to rol around the Sun like a ball. The most likely explanation for the planets unusual orientation - about 90 degrees sideways compared tothe other planets ~fs that it underwent some sort of titanic collision inthe ancient pas, Uranus tilt causes what NASA considers tobe the mast extreme seasons inthe Solar System, For about a quarter ofeach Uranus year ~ or 21 Barth years, as each Uranus year is 84 years long the Sun shines directly over the north or south pole ofthe planet. That means for more than two decades on Earth, half of Uranus never ses the Sun at al, a | Pa Bie Muito A bea Whe PodColi- mel mint-wtol(olg System’s edge etree Ce earn ‘ond Mike Brown announced - based on eee eran s are ere aCe nan renarrated Rierencrnerr ett Peet era ee ee) eee mt ca ele inesrtent eee oe nents peers peer erery pani eee rere Pret ae ieee reer tel een Peeper tee ea Pe ren ete Ne een — 3 Peeters pear te pares pathebesonetenonaba penne ‘Several teams are now on the search for BURT fete ToT a Tat TANDING THE SOLAR SYSTE yeaa) is too hot Pe een een etree ny ee ee a aad Se en cd Scientists would suspect, especially See eee nero eee and scientists arent sure why. Winds on Rennie ec es Cece ea ney ed ees en ero eer ead Pere a a 2 Te Ur a bizarre atmosphere ee uae Perce rater eros ene Leeper ep ant and Perenr rnin Pee reg PT ern Ree aera r ats Pe eri prestrain ) one er Conard ee res emer tree ete ree There are Peeled Lod Fe Le ee ey would have fay unm, craterpecked environment. That changed when New Pe on oe Tet eee era nes ‘Among the astounding dscoveres wete icy mountains that are 3,300 metres 1,000 rte erenrt erat cer ee eer nn reat ieee en nets ree ee en erm enn teenie epee ee eee ene eres Arent Peers ten Et Honourable mentions for solar explorers Helios NASA/German ‘Center (DLR) 19740 1966 Uysses NASAVESA 1990 to 2009 Solar ‘and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) NASAVESA, 1995 to present Genesis NASA 2001 to 2004 Deep Space Climate Observatory (scove) NASAYNOAA, 2018 to present Parker Solar Probe NASA 2018 to present Solar Orbiter A 20200 present The coldest layer of the Sun is the photosphere - the visible surface’ Sun facts Bde kee R cy CoE oles) fol olla) Penne a neo Porat te Came erent Taney Leeper eee erred eee ras ee rae od pehaeeereiate) ea) ironic rit ieconrreieeny Perea es pated : aren error nny Pare Oner ry Senet ee ee nS ‘Aerospace Exploration Agency UAXA) main ference isha he Solar Orbiter Teer ent ste 7 Mn eer Sr en eh a nen eT rem ee eae Eaiemrcnrerm ts Cece ee eer Cre enc i 2 UNDERSTANDING THE SOLAR SYSTEM The The Solar System would be nothing if it weren’t for the power and influence of our nearest star he Milky Way is home to billions of stars, and the universe is home to billions of galaxies. Our star, the Sun, has created a residential spot we call the Solar System. The Sun is the true centre of the Solar System: not only does everything, else orbit around it from asteroids to gas siants, but it makes up 988 percent of the Solar System’ mass and is 108 times the diameter of Earth This colossus was formed 4.6 billion years ago from a cloud of dust and gas. After this cloud began to rotate and collapse it took 50 million years to form and become the star itis today. This was the point where the care ofthe star reached pressures andl temperatures so intense that nuclear fusion was ignited This ignition Kekstarted ‘the formation of helium from hydrogen, releasing radiation that provides Earth with light, warmth, power and so much more. ‘Ac the start ofthe Suns if, planets and everything else in orbit were stil forming {rom the leftover debris that began to fragment. The Sun has been in its mature state for nearly billion years, and i will continu tobe for another 5 billion years, AMter this the hydrogen will run out and the ‘Sun will ook to form heavier elements such as carbon, oxygen and so on. When this hhappens the radiation output willbe greater ‘than its gravity and it wil swell into a red ant, swallowing Mercury and Venus and ‘evaporating al the water and life on Earth Afterwards the outer layers will be expelled {nto the cosmos, andl what wil be left a white dwar sta, ‘The Sun has several zones within ts Interior and atmosphere, starting with @ core that burns at over 15 milion degrees Celsus 27 million degrees Fahrenheld). This takes up roughly a quarter of the distance to te surface, and outside the core are the 8 Sun radiation and then the convection zones. The coldest layer of the Sun isthe photosphere the visible surface. This is between 6125 and 4,125 degrees Celsius (1,000 and 7.460 degrees Fahrenheit. Next i the chromosphere and the mysterious corona, invisible without the ad ofan elipse. The corona’s temperature ranges fom 1t0 10 million degrees Celsius (7 to 17 milion degrees Fahrenheit, and is perplexing to astronomers because i gets hotter the further away from the Sun you ae, The activity ofthe Sun creates a magnetic field that permeates the Solar System, Because the Sun is essentially a ball of plasma - matter consisting of ionised gas — and nota soi it rotates at different speeds depending omits latitude. This unequal rotation causes kinks and twists inthe magnetic eld, creating sunspots and solar flares, which are usually accompanied by the expulsion of energetic particles in the form of solar ind and coronal mass ejections (CMES) These particles provide Earth with ts aurorae as they collide with the Earths upper atmosphere Ce prone trey UNDERSTANDING THE SOLAR SYSTEM yy] things you didn’t know about Venus PRR mee Ree mL TCR og Meee On mC RRR EST UNDERSTANDING THE SOLAR SYSTEM News from Mercury Discover some of the fascinating features of the Solar System’s smallest planet 26 Cee ad Beet meee ion) Cee ead Cee ees Peeper eee Pe Eee seer Cetin enn ee en) Deere eet Cnet ‘The pressure’s on Se Ceca Pt eect Peer sere Sees Cee Seater a SE ae ed es ae Poco) Coy Pree ny Canes ae a! Coe ery Sete att Pee ee ena) eee ie eon ee ee Seek ts Coes eae ety poe od eer eee ve econo coer See ear) ad ec a Cee) ay reece ety the Moon, Sn Roscoe eer Eee Peete aoa eee er) eet tar) eee cee ety Poe oie ets eee net ree ee eeay See eed rare event I's hellshly hot Venus she hottest planet inthe Solar System, even hotter han the daysice of “Mercury, which has femperatures of 427 degrees Celsius (201 degrees Fahrenheit). Because of Venus thick, carbon dioxideich ‘atmosphere, the heat Is ticenty retained, creating surface temperatures higher than {470 degrees Celsius (280 degrees Fahrenhel). Venusian volcanicity To.addto the hellish image of Venu, ‘also has the most volcanoes present on the ‘surface of al the planets in the Solr System, ‘On Earth here are 1.500 known active volcanoes, and Mars is bes! known forthe largest volcano inthe Solar System, Olympus Mons, However, Venus has over 1,400 maior volcanoes, and thas not including the ‘smaller ones or any that haven't been elected yet doesn't have a moon ‘Venus and Mercury ae the only planes in our Solar System that don't have their own ‘moon. I's @ bit more understandable why Mercury doesn't have a moon, because is close ‘roxy fo the Sun hos « negative etfect on any contenders. The planets also smaller than ‘some Solar System moons, such os Satum's tan. However, researchers have orgued thatthe ‘reason Venus doesn't have @ moon sit a simpli. There are two theories: the sis that ‘ony moon that Venus had was stolen by the Sun's gravity. The seconds known as the ‘double-mpact theory, which states hata large celestial body hit Venus billons of years 290, eating a moon ina similar way fo how Earth got ts unar companion. But several "milion years later, an even bigger object hi Venus, causing its retrograde rotation, ‘weakening he tidal forces and sending the moon fo sink ino Venus, never o be seen again. 9 Earth vs Venus | The Sun } ‘On Venus, the Sun would oppear no more ‘hana dim glowing pote rough the ‘Venu enveloped in clouds, na allowing ‘ony noreyasronomers to investigate the ‘Stace. While rth elko hon by ‘Shouds, much mee of eu plane's surface Ieviible trom space. ‘Boxed on past exploration misions, the ‘love of Venus confine rocks a erent Shades of grey, coring ou! valleys and ‘hing bith To mountains, smal Earth (i ‘Both planets ecto atest 1,500 active volcanoes on fhe sre, ond may more ‘ormont ones. Cee Mercury Sad Peters ipters atmosphere essere Peper eine cual ned een poorer) pony Bai penal ree cy ain perry ro ence) Lanne Parents Sees cern paleo any pornos incon) Ld oe cone E peta) bieiietenny Ll eto) loly System, Mercury Pole M UTES) expected to get swallowed by the growing Sun A perfect world for futuristic de spacecraft re “Conditions on Venus that would be favourable for life could exist in the clouds” SP Exudmlamaneed Cee te eee Ue in the clouds eee ee eer ey pe Cee en ered Sen et eo ear a mee Sere avo ee ene eens University of Wisconsin-Madson's Space Science and Engineering Center suggested ‘hat microbial fe could be present inthe rr eer ot ctr ol} Khorotres Ce ee. See ete Cond researchers have sald that cantons on ee etre ‘Yorus thot would be favourable for ite could ene eee ey eine suse ol muaes ot e226 ee eee! loots Q0t0 32 med. Here, ferrperahres Se ery Would be roughly 60 degrees Celsius (140 pee tea eee nner] degrees Fahrenhel) and pressures would be ne seven-year joumey a to Mercury 20 October 2018 Launch from Earth, 10 Aprit 2020 Earth flyby. 15 October 2020 First Venus flyby. 10 August 2021 ‘Second Venus flyby. 1 October 2021 First Mercury flyby. 9 January 2025 Sixth and final Mercury flyby. 5 December 2025 Orbital insertion ‘around Mercury. Exploring the past and future ry Re lim doit e Pore reer poet rerics Dee eer ray Visited the small planet. NASA has been the Eufopean Space Agency (ESA) and [ok a eres Soe Tae Caen eed Instumenta sulle fo investigate the planet Poiana at ea ae eee eet Peco eee Por eerie tyres eer Teen eteLae paecheiaa ese anaeey 2 UNDERSTANDING THE SOLAR SYSTEM Scientists get a gruesome look at how our Sun will eat planets Peering into our Solar System’s future nneday our Sun will and increasing its brightness by several model the physical processes occurring at expand into a red orders of magnitude for several thousands each scale,” said Ricardo Yarza, a graduate siant and engulf ot years astronomy student atthe University of its closest planets, The study was conducted using a California, Santa Cruz, and lead scientist and a new study ‘method called hydrodynamical simulations of the stud: “Instead, we simulate a small now explores how and provides a glimpse nto the possible _secton ofthe star centred on the planet to these devoured planets can influence the future scenarios of our own Solar System's understand the flow around the planet and. processes insde the dying star. When stars evolution. Because ofthe sizeof red glant measure the drag forces acting ni.” the size of our Sun run out ofhydrogen stars, the researchers had to model only, Nt only could the results provide a in thelr cores, they balloon into red giants small section ofthe boundary where __glimpse into what will happen 5 billion that can be more than ten times larger _the stars meet the planets to gain inlepth years from now when our Sun turns into than the original star. As these red giants insights into the interactions. “Evolved 8 red giant, ut they could aso explain engulf the planets that orbit them, many stars can be hundreds or even thousands recent findings of planets orbiting white things can happen. Engulfing large planets, of times larger than their planets, and dwarfs, the burned-out stellar corpses into ten or more times the size of Jupiter, can this disparity of scales makes it dificult which stars turn after the red giant phase trigger the star into shedding its envelope to perform simulations that accurately These studies, exploring the end stages of this planetary engulfinent, suggest that orth wile a0 scorched by Some planets may survive being burnt by the expanding Sun ht the red giants. In our Solar System, the closest planets to the Sun Mercury and Venus ~ are expected to get swallowed by the growing Sun entirely. Earth, while it may survive ‘ill be so scorched that it will become completely uninhabitable. Some ofthe ‘more distant and currently freezing cold bodies, such as Jupiter, Saturn and their ‘moons, may develop more lifefriendly conditions in the vicinity ofthe blown-up Sun. While only a few planets that have likely survived a red giant enguliment have been observed so far, researchers believe that further studies of exoplanets will lead to mare such discoveries 22 UNDERSTANDING THE SOLAR SYSTEM Mercury This minute world is arguably the least explored of the four terrestrial planets ercury isthe smallest ofall the planets in the Solar System and the closest planet to the Sun, but there's so much mare to it. Mercury is so tiny compared tothe other planets that you can actualy fit around 23,500 Mercurys into Jupiter, though its roughly 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) larger in diameter than the Moon. ‘The small planet orbits the Sun with less than half the distance between the sun and Earth, resulting in it being ‘tidally locked, Tidal locking occurs when an object isso close to its host that the sravity is overwhelmingly powerful; Dhecause ofthis influence, instead of continuously spinning on its axis like Earth does, the object has one side facing towards its host object at al times. tn this case Mercury is tidally locked to the Sun For every two revolutions around the Sun, Mercury rotates on its axis three times, ach orbit takes 88 Earth days, making a year on Mercury roughly a quarter of an, Earth year ‘As Mercury is so close tothe Sun, the surface temperatures can be scorching, reaching highs of 450 degrees Celsius (G40 degrees Fahrenheit). Enduring this Dhombardment of solar radiation, the planet also struggles to keep hold ofits atmosphere, meaning that no heat is ‘wapped. This means the nightside ofthe planet - the one facing away from the Sun can have temperatures as law as 180 degrees Celsius (290 degrees Fahrenhel. While Mercury i a similar size to the Moon, ifs also similar in appearance, Its ‘a heavily cratered, rocky body with some of the largest craters in the Solar System One such crater studied by previous exploration missions is a great example. The Caloris Basin, whichis roughly 1,550 kilometres (960 miles) wide, is about the sizeof Texas and was formed ‘when an asteroid about 100 kilometres (Go miles) across hit Mercury's surface {billion years ago, impacting the planet ‘with energy equivalent o a trillion one rmegatonne bombs. Ifyou scratch beneath the surface, the true weirdness of Mercury starts to become apparent. Under the ultra-thin cratered crust is an extremely dense planet, with somewhere between 70, and 85 per cent of the planet being an enormous iron core, Astronomers have spent years constraini solid, molten or both, and they seem to agree it has a solid iron core with an juter molten core, Astronomers believe that a molten core explains Mercury's very weak magnetic fed. After data was brought back from NASA’ Mariner 10 and MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) space probes and analysed, astronomers posited that Mercury s the exposed core ofa much larger planet, with its outer layers lost to a powerful collision billions of years ago. whether its Atmospheric Creda Leu Cly 32.1% 30.1% 15.1% 13.9% ym, by) LP Poy Pr Pa UNDERSTANDING THE SOLAR SYSTEM News from Earth What's happening on our home planet? Extinction event ee eee See eet Cte nei eaten ei tietd Ce ee eee ee ete er Petra Ce eit eer Deed ee nerd Soe ea Sr ee ca Sen eres ‘exit thanks tothe action of climate Te) Perot ta ‘tater onthe far side of the Moon, Similar in pee ete eee ee ee Ces ceo Ce ee Lo eee ec Rote tree ae Pee rn) et amet peer reer eters Car eer peener eer en eeer og eee ero erry erent Cee cs eee eat ete) Se ed Itthe word can keep global average temperature rises within the terms ofthe Peis On Renmin reer oreo eect eerie Artificial island reed een ee pasereee a tire pene ere ear ete eee se are ord Coreen eee ee ed reer rect cere ee eer the Motaves as the owes! eain of Cetera pee eet Eeaesineestrisesenntiony eee ae ee err Pee cee eae eee ncae) See erry ee) ces Ceca eee ree Ce ta cet ucaed ee eee as eee PO een) ere eee er ret ra ee ees naa ees CE ee eed Peet neers Proton Tere tas Ce ects cee eer arene) per er eee ee Ruste i ee ences ecUn one ee What are planets like on the inside? Even among the worlds of our Solar System we Tama sO CCE he terrestrial planets~ crust Like Venus, there must not be Mercury, Venus, Earth and convection in the core, as Mars has no e Pee es \ similar layers: ahot dense Jupiter isthe firs ofthe gaseous planes core, awarm pliable Re es perenne Eee ery rocky crust. Mercury is around 70 per cent its atmosphere I's thought that Jupiter has ‘metallic and 30 percent rocky. Its core isa dense core, possibly rocky, surrounded ‘thought to comprise as much as 85 per by ‘metallic’ hydrogen. This i a strange Per ee ee eta a 4,000 kilometres (2.485 miles) n diameter. pressures, where hydrogen behaves like Rr eae ete) ree meen gern ene ne See ee St cet eee a ECO een ay mercury} cee ee ee ero) Se ee eg ne litle magnetic fed. Earth’ field i created hydrogen atmosphere. Saturn is thought by rotation and convection in our molten to be similar to Jupiter, witha rocky or core; Venus does seem to have a molten __icy core surrounded by the same types of ee ee ee eee PO Cad Pee eet es doesnt get recycled lke Earth’, so the giants, due tothe layer of mixed methane, ee ee eR es as heat isnot estaping tothe surface. rocky cores ~ equivalent tothe mantle Fortunately for us, Earth has a significant in terrestrial planets, These are known ee es radiation, but our core isn just liquid. The liquid near the core and fade out into the peer et eet eae ee ee ee purr] eet eee ect Toys Mi a1 7 ves 4 Pe Ocean) Cre eee ee en cd determined by studying the way seismic MOLTEN ROCK ‘waves travel through Earth. The solid ee ee eee emt) ee eee eee ye ete ries) deep, which i then topped by 2900 (RON ee ee Uc) Se ne Peer ncemme tne . SU oe Ld Sra Iino Too slow to be magnetic Although i's often retened to os Earth's win, something that eiterentiates the two planets deep down to thelr cores is ‘hat Venus creates « negligible magnetic field, Planetary scientists boieve that Venus hae anon core thats a similar size to Ears, However, th sluggish rotation of Venus, which consequently reduces the ‘motion ofthe planets core, weakens the plane's magnetic fel, or magnetosphere Itshad many ‘The case of the spacecratt visitors missing lightning Before attention fumed tothe exploration of There are electrical pulses bursting through Mars, Venus was where space agencies the heavy atmosphere, but missions to ‘wanted to send heir obotlc missions to. This Venus o find them have made things even ‘genesis of interplanetary exploration began more confusing, Ground based telescopes with alot of spacecraft and launch failures, and space probes alike, including the ESA's starting with the Soviet Union's Tyazhely ‘Venus Express and the Japan Aerospace Sputnik in February 1961, which experienced Exploration Agency's UAXA) Akatsuki, have ounch fallue, Here have since been 45. had nothing more than some subtle hints ‘other missions launched with the intention about he presence of Venusion lightning. ‘of expoting the planet. Of these misions, Researchers believe it could sill be present, ‘more than 20have been successful The just much more localised and rare, which is very ts! fo conduct a successtul planetary why here has been no definive evidence ‘encounter was NASA's Mariner 2 space yet Orit could be the cose that there ist probe on 1é December 1942 lightning at Soviet success at Venus Betore the itsoltion of he Soviet Union in 1991, he country was prominent in Venus ‘exploration missions inthe 1970s and 1980s. One histvic mission that he Soviets conducted. ‘wos Venera 7 in December 1970, which became the fist mission fo land on a diferent planet. Then, in March 1982, he Venera 13 landee managed to survive Venue’ extreme: femperatures and pressures fran astonishing two hours. UNDERSTANDING THE SOLAR SYSTEM Earth The rocky world that we call home is full of wonders rather pretty blue and-white planet orbiting an otherwise obscure G-type main sequence star, Earth is notable largely for being the only place in the universe to have evolved organic life. Other than this uirk of chemistry, the third planet from the Sun also has active plate tectonics, and its one of the few planets whose :moon fits perfectly aver its Sun during an eclipse. It is the densest planet in its Solar System, and the largest of the four rocky planets closest tots star. An atmosphere 100 kilometres (62 miles) thick coats the planet, offering it protection from ultraviolet light given out by its nearest star thanks to it layer of ozone. Heating of the upper atmosphere means its slowly losing its hydrogen and helium into space, Dutata very slow rate ‘With its thick atmosphere and yellow sunlight, much of Earths vegetation is green. Its positon at around 150 mailion Jlometres (93 million miles) from is star ‘means liquid water is commonplace on its surface - both salty and non-salty forms, freezing atthe poles - though a recent ‘nerease in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels is causing this ice to melt. Unlike its neighbour Mars, biological ie flourishes Doth in Earth’ oceans and on the third of the planet not covered with water. ‘An axial tt of 235 degrees leads to seasons on Earth, which combine with Doth atmospheric and oceanic circulations to produce a variety of weather types, some of them extreme. A single natural satllte is tdally locked tothe planet, nd its gravitational pull affect the ‘water level beneath it, causing tides. Along with many artificial satelite, Earth also has a small number of quasi: satellites, mostly captured asteroids circulating around Lagrange points L4 and L5 in horseshoe orbits Earth is currently 20,000 years into an interglacial period, pat ofa cycle of ice ages that sees glaciers coat large parts of the planet over periods of up to 500,000 ‘years. The current interglacial should end in around 25,000 years, though warming caused hy increased atmospheric carbon. dioxide levels could delay this by trapping heat within the atmosphere. Im abbillion years time, the energy received by Earth from its star will have increased by ten per cent, enough for the daceans to be lost thanks to a combination of subduction into the planet's mantle and photodissociation ofthe water molecules by increased levels of ultraviolet light Without surface water, plate tectonics will come toa halt. Earth will become similar to ts neartwin Venus, witha runaway ‘greenhouse effect eventually raising the surface temperature to 1.330 degrees Celsius (2426 degrees Fahrenheid. 'm another 5 billion years, the Sun will run out of hydrogen to burn in its core and will begin the process of swelling lnc a red gant. As it expands, Earth, along with Venus and Mercury, will be engulfed by its chromosphere, Tidal forces will beak up the Moon, briefly turning It into a ring system before the surface and mantle are stripped from the Earth, leaving only its core. The final legacy of Earth will bean increase inthe Sun's metal content of 0.01 per cent Perens omnenreny The Evolution of Planet earth 54 billion years ago Earth formed from a protoplanetary disc around ‘a young ster. 45 billion years ago Dense elements sank to the centre, forming Earth's core, while the ‘outside layer cooled and solidified, 4.48 billion years ago. ‘A massive impact with ‘another body sent a portion of Earth's ‘crust into orbit, forming the Moon. 44 billion years ogo Volcanism released water ‘vapour into Earth's amosphere, raining down to begin the formation of oceans. 35 billion years ago Earth's magnetic fleld wos established, with a magnetosphere ‘about half the modem radius. 750 milion years ago The earliest known supercontinent, Rodinia, began to break apart. 180 million years ago The most recent supercontinent, Pangaea, broke apart 65 million years ago Formation of the Himalayas began as the Indian subcontinent diifed into Asia, 6 milion years ago ‘Assmall Atfican ape began a family tree that led fo a dominant species. Earth facts ¥ fe Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission eee ey Joint development belweon NASA and Barend error are ey ee eed ree rere rte reel Dee eee) Perrone ra Pear merce eee renee CE chy Polen nana eet Peet cL Sierra pees een Seen Cet cht ieee nena rt en eerie pouepenrennn ene et Peete a) Pereenpeimnere yeti) Pion reece nons ec ee Nee ag ener ree tT help uso better understand everything epee aaa reared ere eae res erp ieemninereeme ern erepnene yr oe peat ne ane nl eet res ‘means and sateguarding biodiversity od levels and eT a. 4 Ny er guide to Mars MaKe ae OR aCe Ca Maelo SRL CRYTULE wee ars the fourth planet from the Sun, Befiting the Red Planets bloody colour, the Romans named it after their god of war. The bright rust colour Mars is known for is due to iron-rich minerals {nits regolith ~the loose dust and rock covering its surface, The sol of Earth i @ Kind of regolith too, albeit one loaded with organic content. Te iron minerals on Mars oxidise or rus, causing its soi to look red. ‘The planet’ thin atmosphere means liguid water lkely cannot exist on the ‘Martian surface for any appreciable length of time. Features called recurring slope lineae may have spurts of briny water flowing onto the surface, but this evidence {is disputed; some scientists argue the hydrogen spotted from orbit in tis region ‘may instead indicate briny salts. This ‘means that although this desert planet is just half the diameter of Earth, it has the same amount of dry land. ‘The Red Planet is home to both the highest mountain and the deepest, longest valley inthe Solar System. Olympus Mons is roughly 25 kilometres (16 miles) high bout tree times as tll as Mount Everest, ‘while the Valles Mariners system of valleys - named after the Mariner 9 probe that discovered it~ reaches as deep as ten Jllometres (six miles) and runs east to west, for roughly 4,000 kilometres (2.500 miles), About one-fifth the distance around Mars and close to the width of Australia. Scientists think that Vales Marineris formed mostly by rifting of the crust as it got stretched, Individual canyons within the system are up to 100 kilometres (60 miles) wide, The canyons merge in the central part of Valles Marineris in a region 600 kilometres (370 miles) wide. Large channels emerging from the ends of some canyons andl layered sediments within suggest that the canyons might once have been filled with liquid water. Mars also has the largest voleanoes inthe Solar System - Olympus Mons being ane of them, The massive voleano, which is about 600 kilometres (370 miles) in diameter, {is wide enough to cover the state of New ‘Mexico. Olympus Mons isa shield voleano, ‘with slopes that rise gradually lke those of Hawallan volcanoes, and was created dan bet sijing rao hs tm al ecpsidl cones errs meen igh al ero hanes ves nd aes re fund (ma wie ant 0 homes 20 me long Waray ein as Sy sugesed a ly ter lhe rn ure ca ol cone depends on ener and pres Unease fs oon Sl pun Te norte pas ese Spe pena cee by er at Then hempere mat es isles evan ane suern memes ray be thmrin enh anne seth Ts righ eto avr ange pat shrty The number of craters on Mars Varies The ee-eap which covers Mors southern po fram place to place, depending on how —_Somposed ot woler and carbon dloxide 5 felled Ce] Breit Pere e peer! Pees ® eo Dad a CT 1 Ys Balt the future holds Se eaters ee ee eer ers Ce eee oe) pre eerie ries ee ear rr ore) Se et te aa! pean earner eer ta pe ee eee er te ae eens eee rnd ‘and withthe added help of buoyancy, robotic misions could pee tee eet eee nats Rewinding the clock "Much lke Mars, Venus could have once supported ie. 700, millon years ago, Venus sutfered dramatic changes in its imate that saw it bulk up is cimosphere in a proces known {8 « Tunaway greenhouse effec’. Belore he runaway greenhouse etect took over it's believed that Venus had a reasonable atmosphere and could have harboured liquid water for about 20 Silion years. Bofore carbon loxide dominated the atmosphere and made ittoo ho! and dense is possible that Venus had an ‘environment hat could have supported Me for blions of yours. Seen toi above Stationary Relational Msn ete tts Red Ce ed ecard en ee ee ee ees mere re oe ee Cay een De ee ee cerry Pinner Ce ee pod era ed cee en pare Me er ey eee cas Mars effort, Tianwen-1. Hope arrived in February 2021 and is studying the atmosphere, weather and climate, Tanwen-2, which consists ofan orbiter and a lander-rover duo, also reached Mars orbit in February 2021, Robots aren't the only ones getting 4 ticket to Mars. A workshop group of scientists from government agencies, academia and industry have determined that a NASAIed manned mission to Mars should be possible by the 2030s. Robotic missions have seen much success in the past few decades, but it remains a considerable challenge to get people to Mars. With current technology it would take at least six months for people to travel to Mars, Red Planet explorers ‘would therefore be exposed for long stretches to deep space radiation and to microgravity, which has devastating effects on the human bods. Performing activities in the moderate gravity of Mars could prove extremely dificult after many ‘months in microgravity Research into the elfets of microgravity continues on the International space Station in preparation NASA srt the only entity with crewed Mars aspirations, Other nations, including nen vtontonce ll china and Russa, have also announced thei goals for sending humans tothe Red Planet, And Fon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX has long stressed that he established the company back in 2002 primarily o help humanity ste the Red Manet, spaceX i currently developing and testing a fully reusable deep space transportation system called Starship which Musk hellves isthe breakthrough needed t0 get people to Mars at ong est. > spac Charles @.Choi Space scionce wor Chosiesisa contributing wnor forspace.com andlive Science. He cover: allfingshuman ‘ngins and astronomy os well esphyics Robert Lea Robie awit withadegreo Imphysies and astronomy. Me spectalses nphyaies, astionomy, shephyses and quantum prises UNDERSTANDING THE SOLAR SYSTEM Labeled Release life detection experiment, orever maintained that the landers sped evidence of microbial metabolism in the ‘Martian dit. ‘The next two craft to successfully reach the Red Planet were Mars Pathfinder, a lander, and Mars Global Surveyor, an orbiter, both NASA craft that launched in 1996. small robot on board Pathfinder, called Sojourner, ecame the first wheeled rover ever to explore the surface of ‘another planet, venturing over the planet’ surface and analysing rocks for 95 Earth days. In. 2001, NASA launched the Mars ‘Odyssey orbiter, which discovered vast amounts of water ice beneath the Martian surface, mostly inthe upper metre (three feet) It remains uncertain whether more ‘water lies underneath, since the probe cannot see water any deeper. In 2003, Mars passed closer to Earth than ithad at any time inthe past 60,000, years. That same year, NASA launched The Viking landers took the first close-up pictures of the Martian surface, but found ‘wo golf-cartsized rovers, named Spirit and Opportunity, which explored ‘lifferent regions ofthe Martian surface after touching down in January 2004. Both rovers found many signs that water ‘once flowed on the surface, Spirit and ‘Opportunity were originally tasked with ‘three-month surface missions, but both kept roving for far longer than that. NASA didn’t declare Spirit dead until 2011, and ‘Opportunity was stil going strong until ‘that dust storm hit in mid-2018, ‘Next in 2008, NASA sent a lander called Phoenix to the far-northern plains of Mars, The robot confirmed the presence of ‘water ice in the near subsurface, among ‘other finds. n 2011, NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission sent the Curiosity rover to investigate Mars’ past potential to host life. Not long after landing inside the Red Planet's Gale erater in August 2012 the ‘ar-sized robot determined thatthe area ‘hosted a longved, potentially habitable lakeand-stream system inthe ancient pas no strong evidence for life Curiosity has als discovered complex: ‘organic molecules and documented. ‘seasonal fluctuations in methane ‘concentrations in the atmosphere, ‘But NASA isnt the only interested party. ‘The ESA has two spacecraft orbiting the planet: Mars Express and the Trace Gas ‘Orbiter, Also, in September 2014, India's Mars Orbiter Mission reached the Red Planet, making it the fourth nation to successfully enter orbit around Mars. In November 2018, NASA landed a stationary craft called InSight on the surface. Insight is investigating Mars' Internal structure and composition, primarily by measuring and characterising, ‘marsquakes, NASA also launched the life- hunting Perseverance rover in July 2020. Perseverance landed an the floor of Mars" Jezero crater in February 2021 along with tiny test helicopter known as Ingenuity. 2020 also saw the launch ofthe United ‘Arab Emirates’ fist Mars mission, Hope, ‘and Chinas frst fully homegrown, UNDERSTANDING THE SOLAR SYSTEM Ce oa Peierls Mars’ atmosphere, causing temporary warming periods that allowed water to flow. ‘Mars i 6791 kilometres (4,220 miles) in diameter — far smaller than Earth which 1s 12,756 kilometres (7,926 miles) wide. ‘The Red Planet i about ten per cent as massive as our home, with a gravitational pull 38 per cent as strong. A 454logram person here an Barth would weigh just 28 kllograms on Mars, but their mass ‘would be the same on hoth planets. The atmosphere of Mars is 95.32 percent carbon dioxide, 2.7 per cent nitrogen, 1.6 per cent argon, 0.13 per cent oxygen and (08 per cent carbon monoxide, with minor amounts of water, nitrogen oxide, neon, heavy water, krypton and xenon, ‘Mars lot its global magnetic fela about 4 billion years ago, leading to the stripping of much ofits atmosphere by the solar wind, But there are regions of the planet’ crus today that can beat least ten times more strongly magnetised than anything measured on Earth, suggesting those regions are remnants ofan ancient slobal magnetic eld, Mars likely nas @ solid core composed of iron, nickel and sulphur. The mantle is probably similar to Earth’ in that it's composed mostly of peridotite, made up of silicon, oxygen, iron and magnesium. The crust is probably rade ofthe voleani rock basal, wich Js also common in the crusts of Earth and the Moon although some crustal rocks, especially in the northern hemisphere, may be a form of andesite, a voleanic rock that contains more silica than basalt does [NASA InSight lander has heen probing the Martian interior since touching dawn, near the planets equator in November 2018, Insight measures and characterises marsquakes, and mission team members are tracking wobbles in Mars tit over lime by precisely tacking the lander's position on the planet surface. Data has revealed key insights about Mars’ internal $ serueture. insight team members recently # estimated thatthe planet's coe i 1,780 to 2080 kilometres (1110 t0 1,300 miles) ‘wide, Insight observation also suggest that Mars’ crust i 24 to 72 kilometres (14 t0 45 miles) thick on average, with the mantle making up the rest of the planet’ non atmospheric volume. For comparison, Earth's core Is about 7,100 peiert Atmospheric CreTail LoCo eer me ers 90% a Disha = tye Cea Reems od 71% Clara py Helium 5% ee tohave a fluffy texture, lke freshly fallen snow. Mars is much colder than Earth, in large part due to its greater distance from the Sun. The average temperature is about 60 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahwenheid) although it can vary from -125 grees Celsius (195 degrees Fahrenheit) neat the poles during the winter to as such as 20 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit at midday near the equator ‘The carbon-dioxiderich atmosphere of ‘Mars is about 100 times ess dense than Earths on average, but it is nevertheless thick enough to support weather, clouds and winds. The density ofthe atmosphere varies seasonally as winter forces carbon ioxide to freeze out of the Martian ar. In the ancient past, the atmosphere was likely significantly thicker and abe to support ‘water flowing on the planet’ surface. Over time, lighter molecules in the Martian atmosphere escaped under pressure from the solar wind, which affected the atmosphere because Mars doesn't have a slobal magnetic field This process is being studied today by NASA Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission [NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter found the first definitive detections of carbon: dioxide snow clouds, making Mars the only ‘body inthe Solar System known to host such unusual winter weather. The Red Planet also causes water-ice snow to fall fram the clouds. The dust storms on Mars are the largest In the Solar system, capable of blanketing the entire planet and lasting for months. (One theory as to why dust forms can grow so big on Mars is because the airborne dust particles absorb sunlight, warming the Martian atmosphere in their vicinity ‘Warm pockets of air then flow towards colder regions, generating winds. Strong ‘winds lit mare dust off the ground, which In turn heats the atmosphere, raising more ‘wind and kicking up more dust. These storms can pose serious risks to robots on the Martian surface. NASA's Opportunity rover ‘died? after being engulfed ina giant 2018 storm, which blocked sunlight from reaching the robots solar panels for weeks ata time, ‘Mars les farther from the Sun than Earth does, so the Red Planet has a longer ‘year ~ 687 days compared to 363 for our home world, But the two planets have simular day lengths; i takes about 24 hours and 40 minutes for Mars to complete one rotation around its axis. The axis of Mars, lke Earth’, is tted in relation co the Sun ‘This means that ike Farth, the amount of sunlight falling on certain parts ofthe Red Planet can vary during the year, giving Mars seasons However, the seasons that Mars experiences are more extreme than Earth's because the Red Planet’ eliptical oval-shaped orbit is more elongated than that of any of the other major planets ‘When Mars is loses othe Sun, its southern hemisphere istited towards four star, giving the planeta shor, warm summer, while the northern hemisphere experiences a short, cold winter. When Mars i farthest from the Sun, che northern. hemisphere is tilted towards it, giving the planet along. mild summer, while the southern hemisphere experiences a long, cold winter. ‘The tilt of the Red Planet’ axis swings wildly overtime because i's not stabilised by a large moon. This has Jed to diferent climates on the Martian surface throughout its history. A 2017 study suggests thatthe changing tt also influenced the release of methane into I ceric el ‘face for Forth viewing UNDERSTANDING THE SOLAR SYSTEM Jupiter The largest planet has a lot to tell us, and Juno is on the case ith inthe eight planet through its orbit over 2,000 have lineup of our Solar System, been discovered and its great mass Jupiter also happens to be means that the centre of gravity for it the largest, and by quite and the Sun lies above the Sun's surface, some distance. The mass of meaning they act almost like a binary this gigantic bal of gas is__system. The giant planet's gravity well ‘two-and-a-half times that ofall the other also means it can intercept comets and planets put together, and you could fit asteroids heading into the inner Solar 11.2 Earths within its radius, While there's System and may partially shield the inner likely a rocky core somewhere under the planets from bombardment. Another enormous gaseous atmosphere, scientists theory is that it draws small bodies in can’t be sure whether it's solid or not, but from the Kuiper Belt. Whichever is true, gravitational measurements suggest t Jupiter experiences 200 times mare ‘ould make up as much a6 15 percent of impacts than Earth Jupiter's mass. Galileo discovered Jupiter’ four ‘What is known i that Jupiter is largest moons, known asthe Galilean contracting, and this generates more ‘moons, in 1610 ~ the first time moons hheat than the planet receives from the had been observed around another Sun, warming the huge number of moons planet. Humanity has since explored that orbit around it. also has a faint the planet with observatories and space ing system — too thin tobe seen from probes, beginning in 1973 with a fyby Earth with any but the largest telescopes by Ploneer 10, Many missions to the and first spoted by the Voyager 1 probe outer Solar System have used Jupiter's in 1979, gravity asa slingshot to correct their Jupiter plays a major role in many course or gain speed, but the first eraft theories of the formation of our Solar to orbit the planet was the aptly named System. In the grand tack hypothesis, Galileo in 1995 Jupiter formed at 3.5 astronomical units (AU) ~ 1 AU is the Farth-Sun distance before plunging inward towards the Sun ‘until t reached 1.5 AU, then reversing course and moving out again, stopping at its current distance of 5.2 AU. It erossed the asteroid belt twice, scattering rocks in all directions and contributing tothe low ‘mass of the belt today. It may also have caused rocky planets orbiting closer to the Sun to crash into the star’ surface This answers questions such as why Mars 4s so small - Jupiter's presence limited ‘the material available for its formation ‘and why there are no large planets orbiting close to the Sun, as we see in ea ey other solar systems Leeann Jupiter has also had a long-lasting effect < bene mint med on the resto the Soar Sytem. thas aj Cope tcs, feet of asteroids and comets that foow 2 aetna 50 lometres (4400 miles) wide ~ bigger than ‘Mars itself ~ and its mantle is oughly 2,900 kilometres (1,800 miles) thick. Earth has two kinds of crust, continental and ‘oceanic. Average thicknesses are about 40 Jlometres (25 miles) and eight kilometres (five miles) respectively The two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, were discovered by American astronomer Asaph Hall over the course ff a week in 1877, Hall had almost given up his search for a moon of Mars, but his Wife urged him on. He discovered Deimos, the next night, and Phobos six days after that He named the moons after the sons of the Greek war god Ares - Phobos means “fear, while Deimos means ‘dread’. Both are likely made of carbon-ich rock mixed ‘with ice and are covered in dust and loose rocks. They ae tiny next to Earth's Moon and are irregularly shaped since they ack fenough gravity to pull themselves into a ‘more circular form, The widest Phobos gets is about 27 kilometres (17 miles) and the widest Deimos ges is roughly 15 Jelometres (nine miles Both moons are pockmarked with craters from meteor impacts. The surface (of Phobos also possesses an intricate pattern of grooves, which may be cracks that formed after an impact created the moon’ largest crater ~a hole about ten Jelometres (six miles) wide, nearly half the width of Phobos. The two satellites always show the same face to their parent planet, just as our Moon does to Earth remains uncertain how Phobos and Deimos formed. They may be former asteroids that were captured by Mars gravitational pull, or they may have formed in orbit around Mars at roughly the same time the planet came into existence. Ultraviolet light reflected from Phobos provides strong evidence that the :moon isa captured asterold. Phobos is sradually spiraling towards Mars, drawing bout 18 metres (six feet) closer to the Red Planet each century. Within 50 million years, Phobos will ether smash into Mars Or break up and form a ring of debris around the planet. ‘The first person to observe Mars with telescope was Galileo Galilei in 1610, 1m the following century astronomers iscovered the planets polar ice caps. In ‘the 19th and 20dh centuries, some - most ‘The Perseverance rover captures a plus a i selects boulder fo it famously Percival Lowell ~ believed they saw a network of long, straight canals on Mars that hinted at a possible civilisation, However, these sightings proved to be mistaken interpretations of ‘geological features. |Anumber of Martian rocks have fallen to Earth over the aeons, providing Scientists with a rare opportunity to study pieces of Mars without having to leave ‘ou planet, One of the mast controversial finds was Allan Hills 84001 (AL84001) =a Martian meteorite that may contain tiny fossils and other evidence of Mars lite, Other researchers have cast doubt on this hypothesis, but the team behind the famous 1996 study have held firm to their interpretation, andthe debate about ALHB4001 continues toda: In 2018, separate meteorite study found that organic molecules ~ the carbon-containing building blocks of if, although not necessarily evidence of life ise - could have formed on Mars through batterylike chemical reactions. Robotic spacecraft began observing Mars inthe 1960s, with the US launching Mariner 4 in 1964 and Mariners 6 and 7 in 1969. Those early missions revealed Mars tobe a barren world, without any signs of life or the elvilisaions people such as Lowell had imagined there, n 1971 Mariner 9 orbited Mars, mapping about 80 per cent ofthe planet and discovering, its voleanoes and canyons. The Soviet Union also launched numerous Red Planet spacecraft inthe 1960s and early 1970s, Dbut most of those missions filed. Mars 2 and Mars 3 operated successfully, but were "unable to map the surface due to dust storms. NASA’ Viking 1 lander touched down on the surface of Mars in 1976, pulling off the first successful landing on the Red Planet ts twin, Viking 2, landed six weeks later in a diferent Mars region, ‘The Viking landers ook the first close: up pictures of the Martian surface, but found no strong evidence for life. Again, however, there has heen debate: Gilbert Levin, prinelpal investigator of the Vikings 45 PIMC ‘83D mage of Olympus Mons, the orges!, the surface i the southern hemisphere is extremely od, and so has many craters ~ including the planet largest, 2,300-kllometre (100. mile) Hellas Planitia - while the northern Much of the surface of hemisphere is younger and so has fevver craters, Some voleanoes also have just a few craters, which suggests they erupted recently, with the resulting lava covering up any old craters. Some crater have unusual deposits of debris around them resembling solidified mudflows Indicating that the imp: underground water oF ice. 12018, the European Space hich have been found to host microbes. Mars Express also sped a huge, in Korolev crater. Vast deposit of v appear tobe finely layered stacks of rater ice and dust extend from the poles to latitudes of about 80 degrees in both Martian hemispheres, These were probably leposited by the atmosphere p of much ofthese layered deposits in both hemispheres are caps of water ice that i spans of time. On remain frozen year-round, ‘Additional seasonal caps of frost appear inthe wintertime, These are made of slid carbon dioxide, also known as ‘dry ice’ (ESA) Mars Express spacecraft detected hich has what could be a slurry of water and grains gas inthe atmosphere - Mars! thin air is about 95 per cent carbon dioxide by ne In the deepest part of the winter this frost can extend from the poles t -ondensed from carbon dioxide underneath the icy Planum Australe, This body of water is sald to be about 20 kilometres (12.4 miles) across. I under similar undergro latitudes as low as 45 degrees, or halfw to the equator. The dry ice Palery (ea Tae eam ae secrets for decades rc ror) S ound location is reminiscent of ind lakes in Antarctica, rer appears Ss + Ce ed ron race Gas ; cet To) ree Era MN al Pray penne rer eT Coy ran crpeneey Peer Ca 2 wa Ww j br Sous Ce Ce Perseverance ] hat ifthe other Solar ed ee! esis Roa right sky with one (or more planets at the Moon's distance SENOS g cee ae er the other planet or Earth or both ~ would Pee a Rs eee nee ee ces Pee ons Pence tc Rereree retract ey rd cere ecco) ers ea poten voryecve opera eee) otc) Cd THE ow ners Oat ee ees a er from a distance, although if were close. ere nrc ee eres Se ee Petereny Mercer irs Ce oe eae need astronauts when they were walking on Pees Cee nes eee hs ‘ky from our perspective, so night, whien Poca fam the Sun, would be much brighter. Pluto ieee ceerereanes rte) peereeuers Pereener Cs PORE ene ns ‘with a radius of 3389.5 kilometres (2,106 en eee ree ee planet larger than our Moon fora satelite Would have an effet an the tides, causing Pe oe one Poe teed ee ‘and it would have a creepy red tt to I cee Pee ene ed een ert Sa re ater ad Rornerene seers tt renee eet eet ect Pee eee ay ‘hat of Earth’, and in truth Earth would, aCe ‘Although not as huge as Jupiter or Sc UU en era ee ee a reason why Neptune and Uranus are ee Peco times that of Ear, although Uranus has Sr eee eee fener : UNDERSTANDING THE SOLAR SYSTEM How the planets would look... ..if they were at the same distance from Earth CR EL UM ake aC Ce ood Meducoad rs og Sd Cr reer ieee Venushos oe ee ene peed Pee mete ets Pereeiht man yc histon eE aee Fosclyetei re 7 tnt ne ar eer oe ee ooo peivhornte nr net ker ren TS ere eer Peete ke a ee neem perenne ar ean a CS eat el a er ed cae ee es pana) [oneene an Pepe pean Pie peer rer peer amnee ate) Ps ata Robin Hague Peet Peer rreninn Pere ne i oe Pease nee neta Eocene C) 3) ( Y 2) STANDING THE SOLAR SYSTEM News from Jupiter Delve into the Gas Giant's fascinating secrets occasionally tempestuous atmosp) eRe CMEC CUTae ee UNDERSTANDING THE SOLAR SYSTEM N none =) (=) Co) 1 Ice Giants At the far reaches of the Solar System, Ven VON CRRA CRB On y But recent research may have given med a OR ae Evolution of the Jovian giant 46 billion years ago ‘The Solar System began to form from a cloud of gas and dust ‘around a new star. ‘4596 billion years ago Jupiter and Satum began {0 take shope, 2400 BCE Babylonians tracked 0 {ull cyclo of Jupiter's movement ‘across the skies. 270 BCE Jupiter was part of ‘Adistarchus of Samos’ heliocentric ‘model of the Solar System. 1610 Galileo discovered the Galilean moons: Ganymede, Callisto, lo and Europa. 3 December 1974 Pioneer 11 passed within 142,500 kilometres (26,400 miles) of Jupiter's cloud tops. 5 March 1979 Voyager 1 performed a flyby of the gas giant planet. ‘8 December 1995 The Galileo probe entered Jupiter orbit. 5 July 2016 The Juno probe entered a polar orbit around the planet. Jupiter facts eee Tico ear) Perel Geter) errr reir ty enemas rorenueecege ear otel irs eee ee Pryce Teepe In 2024 NASA's Europa Clipper should Peewee Loe tt Ce eeu an Pineiro) Der ramne tare ees ce Meas erry perenne saa paneer ea De Re ae cea Preteen era PL Ne renee Pierce) ose eed Peer ee eee en penne anemre TInt) Set ee ee Poneto: Piremnnre erie ty Pear pee ee Lerner ten et et etry rene ees Crone einer and its outer neighbouring satellites warms Solar System after Jupiter's Ganymede, surviving fragment ofa moon that was the moon’ south polar region, creating —-A.combination of high gravity and cold once much larger. lapetus, which rivals, reservoirs of liquid water just beneath conditions allow Titan to hold onto a Rhea in size, has starkly contrasting light the ley crust. As the surface flexes, water substantial atmosphere, making it one and dark hemispheres, the end result of a escapes into space, shooting huge plumes ofa kind among Solar System satelites. complex process that begins with lapetus of vapour high above the moon’ surface. ‘This atmosphere is mostly nitrogen, picking up dust that spirals Saturnovards Enceladus’ near-surface liguid water but a small amount of methane forms from its dark outer neighbour Phoebe. ‘makes ita prime candidate in the search clouds that render it an opaque orange. Phoebe itself's the largest of more than {or life elsewhere in the Solar System, When the Cassini probe’ infrared 50 outer ‘rregular* moons - small ey The centrepiece of Saturn's moon cameras plerced this vell, they revealed a bodlies that fllor tilted, elongated and system, the appropriately named Titan, curiously Earthlike landscape with eroded sometimes backward orbits. Grouped into dwarfs all the other satelites. With a ‘continents and lowlying plains that several distinct faalies, they are thought diameter of 5,149 kilometres (3,199 miles), resemble ocean basins. With an average _1o be the fragmented remains of comets it the seconctargest moon in the entire temperature of -179 degrees Celsius C111 or asteroids from the outer Solar System, degrees Fahrenheit), Tian’ terrain has captured by Saturn’ gravity ong after been shaped by both cryovolcanic activity their formation. Together, the outer limits and a'methane cle’ resembling Earth's of their distant orbits extend the Limits ‘water cycle, This involves the volatile ofthis dazzling system to more than 30 chemical shifting between atmospheric milion Kilometres (18.6 mllion rales) 25, slid ice and liquid rain that erodes fom Saturn itself. the surface and gathers in lakes around the moon's winter pole ‘The final two large moons are also AE) olteshas degroesin astronomy Cost coped ing shadows con by rogues inrguing,Sponglike and misshapen ndvciece communica Sunrone overtne southern face of henge Hyperion isa mere 360 kilometres Sd arficles onallaspects of ‘shone Saturn's 2009 equinox (223 miles) long, and is thought to be a ‘ounivese anus and Neptune could be stranger than we once thought. On the surface these two planets ~ roughly midway in size between arth and Jupiter seem unassuming. M diferent from one another. Uranus is a featureless, pale-azure planet, and [Neptune a deep-blue one with white cloud bands and a dark storm system similar {o Jupiter Great Red Spot. But at heart they may be much more alike, as well as unlike anything we would encounter on Earth, Studies are showing that in terms of chemistry, density, temperature and pressure, the interiors ofthese worlds have the complexity of a Shakespearean character, and even that they may have actual diamond rain Although NASAS pioneering Voyager 2 spacecraft visited both planets in 1986 and 1989, sending back a wealth of images andl data, no spacecraft has heen to either ‘world since, That may be due to the fact that Uranus and Neptune are the last two official planets, lying at the planetary edges of our Solar System 2.9 and 45 bilon kilometres (18 and 2.8 bilion mile) from the Sun respectively. Much of our information - and all of our up close images of these worlds - come from Uranus and Neptune are generally thought of as ‘failed’ versions of Jupiter and Saturn ‘Voyager 2, although both are studied by ‘ground and space-based telescopes. ‘The giant planets formed in the outer Solar System where hydrogen and helium ‘were more abundant, Clearly Uranus and Neptune aren't small and rocky ke the planets of the inner Solar System. But nor do they quite reach the status of ‘gas giant’ lke Jupiter and Saturn, even though they have similar bulk compositions of hydrogen and helium by percentage. They belong to a class oftheir wn: so-called ‘ce giants. The ce refers to some of the volatile chemicals found - mostly - deep within One scientist, Professor Jonathan Fortney of the University of California, Santa Cruz, says: “Uranus and Neptune are generally thought of as faled versions of Jupiter and Saturn. They did not accrete tens to hundreds of Earth ‘masses of hydrogen and helium, probably because there was less gas father from the Sun by the time they formed.” Fortney Is a member ofthe science team for @ proposed future mission tothe ice giants led by NASAS Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Goddard Space Fight Center and the uropean Space Agency ‘Hydrogen and helium would also have ‘evaporated close to the Sun once it started shining. This volatility also applies to the ices, which include ammonia, water and methane compounds. Water might seem like a surprising addition, bu its liquid on Earth because of the pressure of our atmosphere, if you discount temperature variations ‘The current broad consensus by planetary sclentist is that both planets have rocky iron-nickel Mars to Earth sized cores; ud, fey mandes that are 10 to 25 times Earth's mass — ith Uranus? calculated tobe 13.4 times ~ and hydrogen: 82.5% Pere 15.2% Helium py read a rr) reer Petre) iL) eed Pr Poa Bt Pei aieeenerrr Pepe rete eerie nate preci Pees eer Pera reser eer ec corel Cees ea to) Coat eis ee cy creed mystery, but recent studies ofthe way ic affects the planet’ rings suggests it is probably fuzzy or diffuse, amounting to about 17 Earth masses of material and extending 60 per cent ofthe way to the surface, where it becomes mixed with the metallic hydrogen above. Deep within the planet, one or more mechanisms generate vast amounts of heat, allowing Saturn to radiate 25 times more energy ‘than it receives from the Sun, In part this is probably due to a wellunderstood ‘mechanism of gravitational contraction that sifts denser material towards the core, but it likely that other chemical and physical processes within the liquid layers also play a role Although all four ofthe Solar Systems siant planets are now known to have rings of one kind or another, Saturn’ are by forthe brightest and most extensive They were first spotted by Galileo Galilei in 1610, though his crude telescope could only show that the planet appeared strangely elongated. It wasn't until 1659 ‘that Christiaan Huygens realised the true structure of the rings as a broad but thin dise around the planet, which disappears from view when the plane of ‘the rings lines up with Earth twice in each Saturnian year The two brightest rings, stretching to about 24 times Saturn's diameter, are designated A and B, and are separated by a mostly empty gap, the Cassini Division. Inward of the B Ring lies the C Ring, semi ‘transparent ut stil visible from Earth eS pen Preetcrtar) Pena Perr cot artsy ered Peoretc Bary eer ere rd eer ‘7 TANDI PETE) Co ea pacer perry) pote iiere et eta Cooter ‘while a tenuous D Ring extends al the way down to Saturn’ upper atmosphere. The narrow braid of the F Ring hems the A Ring’ outer edge, while several minor rings ~ fragmentary ares’ or clouds of tiny particles le still further out ‘The laws of physics mean that its Impossible for rings to be solid bodies the varying strength of Saturn's gravity ‘would tear them apart. Instead, each ing and the many distinct ringlets ‘within them ~ is eomposed of countess icy fragments, each following its own Individual orbit around the planet. The orbits are almost perfectly circular and lie ina single narrow plane less than @ ‘lometre (0.62 miles) deep, but the system is constantly evolving as the gravity of Saturn's major moons pulls fragments out ofthis neat arrangement and collisions with their neighbours jostle them back ito line. Cassini images have revealed Increasing levels of detall within the rings, including dark radial ‘spokes’ rippling { mete way across the rings lke a wave and propeller shaped structures caused by ring fragments clumping together ‘Within and just beyond the rings, probes have traced the influence of socalled ‘shepherd moons’ such as Daphnis - small satelites ranging from a few kilometres to afew tens of kilometres across that keep Individual ringlets in line, ereate gaps in the system and may even contribute fresh ‘material tothe rings. The evolving nature ofthe system, which grinds down ring fragments over time and ulkimately loses material a it spirals down onto Saturn's equator, means thatthe rings must either be relatively young ~ one recent analysis points to formation from the breakup of ‘Tange, ey comet about 100 milion years ago - or have somehovr been replenished with new material overtime, ‘The shepherd moons are just the innermost members ofa vast family with 82 members a the most recent count, Saturn has the biggest satellite system of any ofthe major planets Beyond the rings orbit eight major moons, substantial worlds that formed from, ‘material left behind during the birth of Satur itself The inner five major moons follow a broad trend of increasing size, from 400-kilomerre (248:mile) Mimas, through Enceladus, Tethys and Dione, to 1,500Xilometre(832-nlle) Rhea; each consists ofa mix ofiee and rock, and most show signs of geological activity at various stages in their past, most likely low-temperature cryovolcanism creating eruptions of iy slush. The exception is the extraordinary Enceladus ~a brilliant white world 504 kilometres (313 miles) in diameter whose terrain has not only been reshaped by very recent resurfacing. but is also blanketed in fresh snow. Heat ‘generated as Enceladus is distorted by a ‘gravitational tug of war between Saturn Major missions to Saturn O89 Cm Coa pase re Bierce Eevetce oe A Peat fl 2 Pet ek) ry cree) nr ‘of the magnetic. cron ees arn reer err pay Entered Contact. inferstellor space in Inforstolor space 58 he Voyager2 = Cassini Prd eed rd 18 ‘August 1977 fe 2° 2008 ren eon Peverenepeny pe are peer rire) Perry ret Dee rey ens Ere anes aan peeer ret Images of more ene rings oe ot Huygens _ Dragonfly Seinen orion Sey ie ea enn eter) pause oy pen atr ey error cron pee ed ponereons peer crete pementoty ey conn pineerd poe Sears

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