Outer Space Universe » The Solar System

Rendezvous with a Protoplanet: NASA’s DAWN and Vesta

Greg - Staff Writer — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:22:15 +0000

Did you know that on September 27, 2007, NASA launched a mission to rendezvous with a protoplanet? Well, here it is almost four years later and NASA reported that the DAWN probe successfully entered into orbit around Vesta on July 15, 2011. We are just beginning to see the first images of Vesta, an object in the asteroid belt which is DAWN's first stop in it's ten year mission.

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What is the Closest Planet to Earth – Mars, Venus, or Mercury?

Brian - Staff Writer — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 23:26:43 +0000

Planet Earth is the third planet closes to the sun. Using the old saying, "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas," it can be remembered that the order of the planets goes like this: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (if you consider it to be a planet). Accordingly, it would seem as though either Venus or Mars would be the closes planet to Earth. But which is it?

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Zodiacal Light: Reflection From The Interplanetary Dust Cloud

Greg - Staff Writer — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 01:51:33 +0000

Have you ever been out on a very dark, moonless night after all the remnants of sunlight have faded away and noticed a faint triangular shaped glow extending upwards into the sky? This relatively rare phenomenon is called the Zodiacal Light.

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10 Random Facts About Uranus

Greg - Staff Writer — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 01:42:19 +0000

I thought it would be fun to take a closer look at one of the planets in our Solar System - so here are 10 random facts about Uranus.

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Ganymede, The Largest Moon In Our Solar System

Greg - Staff Writer — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 01:20:01 +0000

Did you know that the largest moon in our Solar System orbits the largest planet in our Solar System? Ganymede, a moon orbiting Jupiter wins the prize as the largest moon in our Solar System.

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Where in the Solar System is the Asteroid Belt?

Greg - Staff Writer — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 23:53:30 +0000

I've been thinking about asteroids this week. Did you know that on October 12, 2010 an asteroid called 2010 TD54 passed within 28,000 miles of the Earth? That's pretty close. In fact, it passed within the orbit of the moon and close to the orbit of some of our own satellites.

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Comet Origins: Blame the Solar Nebula!

Greg - Staff Writer — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 01:50:34 +0000

Scientists generally agree today that comets were formed at the same time that our solar system was formed - about 4.6 billion years ago. At that time, the solar system was an enormous spinning disk of dust and gas called the Solar Nebula. Over time, gravitational attraction caused the dust and gas in the center to form our Sun and other areas consolidated into clumps of matter called planetesimals. Planetesimals were about one kilometer across.

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Our Solar System is in a Boring Part of the Milky Way Galaxy!

Greg - Staff Writer — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:06:28 +0000

I know you've all been thinking it! The Solar System is in a really boring part of the Milky Way Galaxy. We are marooned out here in one of the remote (some may say back water) areas of the Orion Spiral Arm about 20 degrees above the galactic plane and about 28,000 light years from the center of the galaxy.

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The Oort Cloud: Made of Comets, Has Massive Diameter

Greg - Staff Writer — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 02:38:07 +0000

The Oort Cloud is named after Dutch astronomer Jan Hendrik Oort. Oort speculated that the Solar System was surrounded by a vast spherical cloud of comets.

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Bodies and Planets Found in Our Whole Solar System

Greg - Staff Writer — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 17:09:36 +0000

Our solar system is a nine planet system and is part of the Milky Way Galaxy. There is a bit of controversy around exactly how many planets there are in the solar system because some astronomers don't count lowly Pluto.

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