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Thankyou  Nadija T & Jessica H for the proof reading.

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The eighth planet from the sun, Neptune was the first planet located through mathematical predictions rather than through regular observations of the sky.

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The eighth planet from the sun, Neptune was the first planet located through mathematical predictions rather than through regular observations of the sky. (Galileo had recorded it as a fixed star during observations with his small telescope in 1612 and 1613.)

Invisible to the Naked Eye

When Uranus didn't travel exactly as astronomers expected it to, a French mathematician, Urbain Joseph Le Verrier, proposed the position and mass of another as yet unknown planet that could cause the observed changes to Uranus's orbit. After being ignored by French astronomers, Le Verrier sent his predictions to Johann Gottfried Galle at the Berlin Observatory, who found Neptune on his first night of searching in 1846. Seventeen days later, its largest moon, Triton, was also discovered.

Nearly 2.8 billion miles (4.5 billion kilometers) from the sun, Neptune orbits the sun once every 165 years. It is invisible to the naked eye because of its extreme distance from Earth.

The main axis of Neptune's magnetic field is "tipped over" by about 47 degrees compared with the planet's rotation axis. Like Uranus, whose magnetic axis is tilted about 60 degrees, Neptune's magnetosphere undergoes wild variations during each rotation because of this misalignment. The magnetic field of Neptune is about 27 times more powerful than that of Earth.

Neptune's atmosphere extends to great depths, gradually merging into water and other "melted ices" over a heavier, approximately Earth-size solid core. Neptune's blue color is the result of methane in the atmosphere. Uranus's blue-green color is also the result of atmospheric methane, but Neptune is a more vivid, brighter blue, so there must be an unknown component that causes the more intense color that we see. The cause of Neptune's bluish tinge remains a mystery.

Mystery Storm

Despite its great distance from the sun and lower energy input, Neptune's winds are three times stronger than Jupiter's and nine times stronger than Earth's.

In 1989, Voyager 2 tracked a large, oval, dark storm in Neptune's southern hemisphere. This hurricane-like Great Dark Spot was observed to be large enough to contain the entire Earth. It spun counterclockwise and moved westward at almost 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) per hour. (Subsequent images from the Hubble Space Telescope showed no sign of the Great Dark Spot photographed by Voyager. A comparable spot appeared in 1994 in Neptune's northern hemisphere but had disappeared by 1997.) Voyager 2 also photographed clouds casting shadows on a lower cloud deck, enabling scientists to visually measure the altitude differences between the upper and lower cloud decks.

The planet has six rings of varying thicknesses, confirmed by Voyager 2's observations in 1989. Neptune's rings are believed to be relatively young and relatively short-lived.

Neptune has 13 known moons, six of which were discovered by Voyager 2. The largest, Triton, orbits Neptune in a direction opposite to the direction of the planet's rotation. Triton is the coldest body yet visited in our solar system-temperatures on its surface are about -391 degrees Fahrenheit (-235 degrees Celsius). Despite this deep freeze, Voyager 2 discovered geysers spewing icy material upward more than five miles (eight kilometers). Triton's thin atmosphere, also discovered by Voyager, has been seen from Earth several times since, and is growing warmer-although scientists do not yet know why.

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The eighth planet from the sun, Neptune was the first planet located through mathematical predictions rather than through regular observations of the sky. (Galileo had recorded it as a fixed star during observations with his small telescope in 1612 and 1613.)

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Venus is Earths twin.

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Venus and Earth are almost the same size. Venus is the closest planet to Earth, but it does not have oceans or human life like Earth. Venus gets so hot during the day that it could melt a lead cannonball. The temperature rises to 484 degrees Celsius on the side facing the Sun.

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Neptune is covered in thin wispy  white clouds which stretch out around the planet

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Fun Neptune Facts for Kids - Cool Information About This Beautiful Blue Planet

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Neptune is a large planet that experiences extreme atmospheric weather conditions. After the demotion of Pluto, it now holds the distinction of being further away from the sun than any other planet in our solar system.

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ercury isthe smallest planet because

pluto is a durwf planet.

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News, email and search are just the beginning. Discover more every day. Find your yodel.

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venus is called the earths twin because it is the same size.ooooooooooooooooow

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Venus has no moons.

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What is the surface of Venus like? | Cool Cosmos

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As scientific technology became more advanced, scientists were able to put spacecraft into orbit around the Red Planet.  These types of missions allowed scientists and researchers to obtain even more information about Mars.

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jupiter is so big it could fit

13000 Earths inside it.

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Neptune is so far away that it took the space probe Voyager 2, 12 years to reach it

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Interesting Facts About The Planet Neptune

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saturn is the sixth planet from the sun.

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Of all the Jovian related questions that we get here at Universe Today, what is  Jupiter made of is one of the most common. Jupiter is mainly composed of  hydrogen and helium just like a star

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Mercuery is named after the Roman God

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Mercury is extremely difficult to study from Earth because it is so close to the Sun through much of its orbit. Ground-based telescopes show its phases, but very little else. The best way to find out what Mercury is like is to send spacecraft.

The first mission to the planet was Mariner 10, which arrived in 1974. It had to go past Venus for a gravity-assisted trajectory change. The craft carried instruments and cameras and sent back the first-ever images and data from the planet as it looped around for three close-up flybys. The spacecraft ran out of maneuvering fuel in 1975 and was switched off. It remains in orbit around the Sun. Data from this mission helped astronomers plan for the next mission, called MESSENGER. (This was the Mercury Surface Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging mission.)

That spacecraft orbited Mercury from 2011 until 2015, when it was crashed into the surface. MESSENGER's data and images helped scientists understand the structure of the planet, and revealed the existence of ice in permanently shadowed craters at Mercury's poles. Planetary scientists use data from the Mariner and MESSENGER spacecraft missions to understand Mercury's current conditions and its evolutionary past.

There are no missions to Mercury scheduled until at least 2025 when the BepiColumbo spacecraft will arrive for a long-term study of the planet.

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Facts About Mercury, the Closest Planet to the Sun

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Mercury is extremely difficult to study from Earth because it is so close to the Sun through much of its orbit. Ground-based telescopes show its phases, but very little else. The best way to find out what Mercury is like is to send spacecraft.

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Mars experiences violent dust storms which continually change its surface

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Neptune is a large planet, nearly  four times the size of Earth.

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Fun Neptune Facts for Kids - Cool Information About This Beautiful Blue Planet

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Neptune is a large planet that experiences extreme atmospheric weather conditions. After the demotion of Pluto, it now holds the distinction of being further away from the sun than any other planet in our solar system.

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The First man to see mars  through a telescope was Galileo  Galilee in 1609!

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Since completing university, Paul has worked as a bookseller, librarian, and freelance writer. Born in the UK, he now lives in Florida.

The second closest planet to Earth after Venus, Mars has long been known about by people, and occupied a place in the human imagination and culture for centuries.

Often referred to as the "Red Planet", it is generally perceived as the next destination for a manned space flight.

Below are 15 facts about Mars.

Mars in Popular Culture

Out of all the planets in the Solar System, aside from Earth, Mars has captured the human imagination more than any other, certainly since the 19th Century.

There have been numerous books written and movies made that involve the planet, mainly because for many years it was considered the planet to most likely have intelligent life on it.

Martians were quite often portrayed as warlike aliens who wished to invade the Earth, as in the H. G. Wells science fiction novel: The War of the Worlds

After trips to Mars by the Mariner and Viking spacecraft missions, however, which showed Mars as a rocky, barren place, stories shifted focus from aliens and tended to more on the idea of humans having a colony on the planet, as in the movie: Total Recall.

Facts About Our Solar System

The Solar System formed more than 4.5 billion years ago.

There are billions of other systems in our galaxy, The Milky Way.

The Solar System consists of 5 main regions. The rocky terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) make up the innermost region. The Asteroid Belt sits between the Mars and Jupiter. Next come the outer gas giants: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Beyond Neptune lies The Kuiper Belt, a ring of asteroids and comets. The Oort Cloud, a spherical shell that is made up of dormant comets forms the outermost region.

Sources

Lodders, Katharina; Fegley, Bruce (1998). The planetary scientist's companion. Oxford University Press US. ISBN 0-19-511694-1

Carr, Michael H. (2006). The surface of Mars. Cambridge planetary science series. 6. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-87201-4

Hannsson, Anders (1997). Mars and the Development of Life. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-96606-1.

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Since completing university, Paul has worked as a bookseller, librarian, and freelance writer. Born in the UK, he now lives in Florida. The second closest planet to Earth after Venus, Mars has long been known about by people, and occupied a place in the human imagination and culture for centuries.

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Emma .w Neptune is  the  third larest planet in the solar syste

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Saturn is famous as the lord of

the rings.

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ESA - Space for Kids - Our Universe - Saturn's rings

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Saturn is famous as the 'lord of the rings', even though the other three giant gas planets - Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune - also have rings. Saturn's system takes pride of place, since its rings are extremely bright and very large.

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Neptune cannot be seen

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Neptune Facts - Planet Neptune - Neptune For Kids

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The Earth is 150 million kilometres from the Sun (93 million miles) and this measurement is taken as the standard for astronomical measurements of distance. Astronomers say that the Earth is one Astronomical Unit (1 AU) from the Sun. Neptune is unimaginably further.

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The Romans believed that Jupiter granted them supremacy because they had honoured him more than any other people had.

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The green and blue regions show where the atmosphere is clear.

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The seventh planet in the solar system - and the largest of the ice giants - Uranus has an atmosphere more comparable with Neptune than with Saturn and Jupiter. Known as ice giants, the two most distant planets from the sun have atmospheres that are heavily dominated by ices. The bizarre orientation of the planet, which orbits the sun tipped on its side, reveals that its inner core has a stronger influence on its weather patterns than the distant star.

(Image credit: Erich Karkoschka (University of Arizona) and NASA)

Atmospheric composition

Uranus' atmosphere is predominantly made up of hydrogen and helium. Unlike Jupiter and Saturn, these light gases dominate only the outer edges of the planet, but are not a significant contributor to the rocky interior.

The dull blue color of Uranus is caused by the presence of methane, which absorbs red light.

"I think poor Uranus is misunderstood, actually," planetary scientist Amy Simon said on NASA's Gravity Assist podcast. "Uranus is very bland in appearance most of the time. It's kind of a pale blue planet. It's the real pale blue dot."

Traces of hydrocarbons are also present in the air around Uranus. Ices made up of water, ammonia, and possibly methane also exist in the atmosphere.

Atmospheric composition by volume:

Molecular hydrogen: 82.5 percent

Helium: 15.2 percent

Methane: 2.3 percent

Layering in the atmosphere

As on Earth, the atmosphere of Uranus is broken into layers, depending upon temperature and pressure. Like the other gas giants, the planet doesn't have a firm surface. Scientists define the surface as the region where the atmospheric pressure exceeds one bar, the pressure found on Earth at sea level.

Just above the "surface" of Uranus lies the troposphere, where the atmosphere is the densest. The temperature ranges from minus 243 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 153 degrees Celsius) to minus 370 F (minus 218 C) , with the upper regions being the coldest. This makes the atmosphere of Uranus the coldest in the solar system. Within the troposphere are layers of clouds - water clouds at the lowest pressures, with ammonium hydrosulfide clouds above them. Ammonia and hydrogen sulfide clouds come next. Finally, thin methane clouds lay on the top. The troposphere extends 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the surface of the planet.

Radiation from the sun and from space heats the stratosphere of Uranus from minus 370 F (minus 218 C) to minus 243 F (minus 153 C). The stratosphere contains ethane smog, which may contribute to the planet's dull appearance. Acetylene and methane are also present. These hazes help warm the stratosphere. Hydrocarbons are less abundant in the atmosphere of Uranus than they are of other giant planets, however. The stratosphere reaches almost 2,500 miles (4000 km) above Uranus.

The thermosphere and corona of Uranus reach temperatures of 1,070 F (577 C), although scientists are unsure as to the reason. Because the distance to Uranus from the sun is so great, the amount of heat coming from the star is insufficient to generate such high temperatures. Extending twice as far from the center of the planet as its surface, the far-reaching outer layers are unique to Uranus. They create a drag on the ring particles that orbit the planet.

Cloud patterns on Uranus

Although the planet looks to be a solid shade of blue, it contains stripes like Jupiter and Saturn. But the bands are faint, and are only seen with enhanced images. As with other gas giants, the zones form as gases within the region warm and rise, while in the belts, the gases fall back to the planet as they cool. In the belts, the winds blow east, while they travel west within the zones.

When Voyager 2 flew by the planet in 1986, it only observed 10 cloud patterns on the planet. As technology improved, higher resolution images taken from Earth revealed fainter clouds. The clouds, which exist primarily in the troposphere, are carried by winds reaching up to 560 mph (900 km/h).

Simon said that temperature is a large part of the reason for Uranus' blandness. The ice giant doesn't have a lot of heat. In fact, it is the only planet that doesn't give off more heat than it receives from the sun, she said. That slows down the rise and fall of heat that would otherwise drive storms.

"You don't get the equivalent of thunderstorms. So, you don't see the bright clouds on Uranus that you see on the other planets," Simon said.

While storms on Uranus aren't as numerous as they are on other worlds, that doesn't mean the planet doesn't have occasional activity. In 2014, seven years after the planet made its closest approach to the sun, astronomers spotted active weather spots on the ice giant.

"The weather on Uranus is incredibly active," astronomer Imke de Pater of the University of California, Berkeley, in a 2014 statement.

"This type of activity would have been expected in 2007, when Uranus's once every 42-year equinox occurred and the sun shined directly on the equator," astronomer Heidi Hammel of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy said at the time. "But we predicted that such activity would have died down by now. Why we see these incredible storms now is beyond anybody's guess."

Some of the storms were even large enough that they could be spotted by amateur astronomer.

"I was thrilled to see such activity on Uranus," French amateur astronomer Marc Delcroix said in the same statement. "Getting details on Mars, Jupiter or Saturn is now routine. But seeing details on Uranus and Neptune are the new frontiers for us amateurs, and I did not want to miss that."

Storms aren't the only bright spot on Uranus. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope snapped its first image of auroras on the planet in 2011. When a team led by an astronomer from Paris Observatory took a second look at the auroras using Hubble's ultraviolet capabilities, they "found themselves observing the most intense auroras ever seen on the planet," NASA said in a statement.

"By watching the auroras over time, they collected the first direct evidence that these powerful shimmering regions rotate with the planet."

'Tis the season

Unlike other planets in the solar system, which spin along the same plane as the sun, Uranus, discovered in 1781, was knocked on its side by a collision soon after its formation. With its equator down, the planet appears to roll around the sun. This means that only one pole at a time faces the distant star.

"Because it's tilted over on its side, that means that, for example, the south pole wouldn't see sunlight for about 40 years," Simon said. "So, it's got really extreme seasons, which help to drive the weather."

(The planet also spins backwards as a result, so that if it rotated with its equator along the plane of the solar system, the sun would rise in the west rather than the east.)

On most planets, the equator receives the most sunlight, causing warm air to rise and move to the poles. But the equator of Uranus hardly ever faces the sun. Therefore, the warm air should rise from the pole that faces the sun, and fall back at the cooler pole. But the bands and zones of Uranus reveal otherwise. The planet's stripes rotate around the equator the same way they do on Jupiter and Saturn. Instead sunlight, the interior heat of the planet appears to drive its weather.
Follow Nola Taylor Redd at @NolaTRedd, Facebook, or Google+. Follow us at @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+.

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Uranus' Atmosphere: Layers of Icy Clouds

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The blue color of Uranus is caused by methane.

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Neptune has a shorter day than the Earth.

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Mercury has no planets.

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Kids learn about the planet Mercury of the Solar System including fun facts, mass, day, year, and distance from the Sun. Astronomy for kids and teachers.

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This website lets you play with all of the planets in space

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Do-It-Yourself | Kids - NASA Solar System Exploration

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NASA's real-time science encyclopedia of deep space exploration. Our scientists and hardworking robots are exploring the wild frontiers of our solar system.

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Saturn has 60 moons.

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Saturn is well known for being a gas giant, and for its impressive ring system. But would it surprise you to know that this planet also has the second-most moons in the Solar System, second only to Jupiter? Yes, Saturn has at least 150 moons and moonlets in total, though only 62 have confirmed orbits and only 53 have been given official names.

Most of these moons are small, icy bodies that are little more than parts of its impressive ring system. In fact, 34 of the moons that have been named are less than 10 km in diameter while another 14 are 10 to 50 km in diameter. However, some of its inner and outer moons are among the largest and most dramatic in the Solar System, measuring between 250 and 5000 km in diameter and housing some of greatest mysteries in the Solar System.

Saturn's moons have such a variety of environments between them that you'd be forgiven for wanting to spend an entire mission just looking at its satellites. From the orange and hazy Titan to the icy plumes emanating from Enceladus, studying Saturn's system gives us plenty of things to think about. Not only that, the moon discoveries keep on coming. As of April 2014, there are 62 known satellites of Saturn (excluding its spectacular rings, of course). Fifty-three of those worlds are named.

Discovery and Naming:

Prior to the invention of telescopic photography, eight of Saturn's moons were observed using simple telescopes. The first to be discovered was Titan, Saturn's largest moon, which was observed by Christiaan Huygens in 1655 using a telescope of his own design. Between 1671 and 1684, Giovanni Domenico Cassini discovered the moons of Tethys, Dione, Rhea and Iapetus - which he collectively named the "Sider Lodoicea" (Latin for "Louisian Stars", after King Louis XIV of France).

n 1789, William Herschel discovered Mimas and Enceladus, while father-and-son astronomers W.C Bond and G.P. Bond discovered Hyperion in 1848 - which was independently discovered by William Lassell that same year. By the end of the 19th century, the invention of long-exposure photographic plates allowed for the discovery of more moons - the first of which Phoebe, observed in 1899 by W.H. Pickering.

In 1966, the tenth satellite of Saturn was discovered by French astronomer Audouin Dollfus, which was later named Janus. A few years later, it was realized that his observations could only be explained if another satellite had been present with an orbit similar to that of Janus. This eleventh moon was later named Epimetheus, which shares the same orbit with Janus and is the only known co-orbital in the Solar System.

By 1980, three additional moons were discovered and later confirmed by the probes. They were the trojan moons (see below) of Helene (which orbits Dione) as well as (which orbit Tethys).

The study of the outer planets has since been revolutionized by the use of unmanned space probes. This began with the arrival of the Voyager spacecraft to the Cronian system in 1980-81, which resulted in the discovery of three additional moons - Atlas, Prometheus, and Pandora - bringing the total to 17. By 1990, archived images also revealed the existence of Pan.

This was followed by the Cassini-Huygens mission, which arrived at Saturn in the summer of 2004. Initially, Cassini discovered three small inner moons, including Methone and Pallene between Mimas and Enceladus, as well as the second Lagrangian moon of Dione - Polydeuces. In November of 2004, Cassini scientists announced that several more moons must be orbiting within Saturn's rings. From this data, multiple moonlets and the moons of Daphnis and Anthe have been confirmed.

The study of Saturn's moons has also been aided by the introduction of digital charge-coupled devices, which replaced photographic plates by the end of the 20th century. Because of this, ground-based telescopes have begun to discovered several new irregular moons around Saturn. In 2000, three medium-sized telescopes found thirteen new moons with eccentric orbits that were of considerable distance from the planet.

In 2005, astronomers using the Mauna Kea Observatory announced the discovery of twelve more small outer moons. In 2006, astronomers using Japan's Subaru Telescope at Mauna Kea reported the discovery of nine more irregular moons. In April of 2007, Tarqeq (S/2007 S 1) was announced, and in May of that same year, S/2007 S 2 and S/2007 S 3 were reported.

The modern names of Saturn's moons were suggested by John Herschel (William Herschel's son) in 1847. In keeping with the nomenclature of the other planets, he proposed they be named after mythological figures associated with the Roman god of agriculture and harvest - Saturn, the equivalent of the Greek Cronus. In particular, the seven known satellites were named after Titans, Titanesses and Giants - the brothers and sisters of Cronus.

In 1848, Lassell proposed that the eighth satellite of Saturn be named Hyperion after another Titan. When in the 20th century, the names of Titans were exhausted, the moons were named after different characters of the Greco-Roman mythology, or giants from other mythologies. All the irregular moons (except Phoebe) are named after Inuit and Gallic gods and Norse ice giants.

Saturn's Inner Large Moons:

Saturn's moons are grouped based on their size, orbits, and proximity to Saturn. The innermost moons and regular moons all have small orbital inclinations and eccentricities and prograde orbits. Meanwhile, the irregular moons in the outermost regions have orbital radii of millions of kilometers, orbital periods lasting several years, and move in retrograde orbits.

Saturn's Inner Large Moons, which orbit within the E Ring (see below), include the larger satellites Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, and Dione. These moons are all composed primarily of water ice, and are believed to be differentiated into a rocky core and an icy mantle and crust. With a diameter of 396 km and a mass of 0.4×10 20 kg, Mimas is the smallest and least massive of these moons. It is ovoid in shape and orbits Saturn at a distance of 185,539 km with an orbital period of 0.9 days.

Some people jokingly call Mimas the "Death Star" moon because of the crater in its surface that resembles the machine from the Star Wars universe. The 140 km (88 mi) Herschel Crater is about a third the diameter of the moon itself, and could have created fractures (chasmata) on the moon's opposing side. There are in fact craters throughout the moon's small surface, making it among the most pockmarked in the Solar System.

Enceladus, meanwhile, has a diameter of 504 km, a mass of 1.1×10 20 km and is spherical in shape. It orbits Saturn at a distance of 237,948 km and takes 1.4 days to complete a single orbit. Though it is one of the smaller spherical moons, it is the only Cronian moon that is endogenously active - and one of the smallest known bodies in the Solar System that is geologically active. This results in features like the famous " tiger stripes " - a series of continuous, ridged, slightly curved and roughly parallel faults within the moon's southern polar latitudes.

Large geysers have also been observed in the southern polar region that periodically release plumes of water ice, gas and dust which replenish Saturn's E ring. These jets are one of several indications that Enceladus has liquid water beneath it's icy crust, where geothermal processes release enough heat to maintain a warm water ocean closer to its core.

The moon has at least five different kinds of terrain, a "young" geological surface of less than 100 million years. With a geometrical albedo of more than 140%, which is due to it being composed largely of water ice, Enceladus is one of the brightest known objects in the Solar System.

At 1066 km in diameter, Tethys is the second-largest of Saturn's inner moons and the 16th-largest moon in the Solar System. The majority of its surface is made up of heavily cratered and hilly terrain and a smaller and smoother plains region. Its most prominent features are the large impact crater of Odysseus, which measures 400 km in diameter, and a vast canyon system named Ithaca Chasma - which is concentric with Odysseus and measures 100 km wide, 3 to 5 km deep and 2,000 km long.

With a diameter and mass of 1,123 km and 11×10 20 kg, Dione is the largest inner moon of Saturn. The majority of Dione's surface is heavily cratered old terrain, with craters that measure up to 250 km in diameter. However, the moon is also covered with an extensive network of troughs and lineaments which indicate that in the past it had global tectonic activity.

It's covered in canyons, cracking and craters and is coated from dust in the E-ring that originally came from Enceladus. The location of this dust has led astronomers to theorize that the moon was spun about 180 degrees from its original disposition in the past, perhaps due to a large impact.

Saturn's Large Outer Moons:

The Large Outer Moons, which orbit outside of the Saturn's E Ring, are similar in composition to the Inner Moons - i.e. composed primarily of water ice and rock. Of these, Rhea is the second largest - measuring 1,527 km in diameter and 23×10 20 kg in mass - and the ninth largest moon of the Solar System. With an orbital radius of 527,108 km, it is the fifth-most distant of the larger moons, and takes 4.5 days to complete an orbit.

Like other Cronian satellites, Rhea has a rather heavily cratered surface, and a few large fractures on its trailing hemisphere. Rhea also has two very large impact basins on its anti-Saturnian hemisphere - the Tirawa crater (similar to Odysseus on Tethys) and an as-yet unnamed crater - that measure 400 and 500 km across, respectively.

Rhea has at least two major sections, the first being bright craters with craters larger than 40 km (25 miles), and a second section with smaller craters. The difference in these features are believed to be evidence of a major resurfacing event at some time in Rhea's past.

At 5150 km in diameter, and 1,350×10 20 kg in mass, Titan is Saturn's largest moon and comprises more than 96% of the mass in orbit around the planet. Titan is also the only large moon to have its own atmosphere, which is cold, dense, and composed primarily of nitrogen with a small fraction of methane. Scientists have also noted the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the upper atmosphere, as well as methane ice crystals.

The surface of Titan, which is difficult to observe due to persistent atmospheric haze, shows only a few impact craters, evidence of cryovolcanoes, and longitudinal dune fields that were apparently shaped by tidal winds. Titan is also the only body in the Solar System beside Earth with bodies of liquid on its surface, in the form of methane-ethane lakes in Titan's north and south polar regions.

Titan is also distinguished for being the only Cronian moon that has ever had a probe land on it. This was the Huygens lander, which was carried to the hazy world by the Cassini spacecraft. Titan's "Earth-like processes" and thick atmosphere are among the things that make this world stand out to scientists, which include its ethane and methane rains from the atmsophere and flows on the surface.

With an orbital distance of 1,221,870 km, it is the second-farthest large moon from Saturn, and completes a single orbit every 16 days. Like Europa and Ganymede, it is believed that Titan has a subsurface ocean made of water mixed with ammonia, which can erupt to the surface of the moon and lead to cryovolcanism.

Hyperion is Titan's immediate neighbor. At an average diameter of about 270 km, it is smaller and lighter than Mimas. It is also irregularly shaped and quite odd in composition. Essentially, the moon is an ovoid, tan-colored body with an extremely porous surface (which resembles a sponge). The surface of Hyperion is covered with numerous impact craters, most of which are 2 to 10 km in diameter. It also has a highly unpredictable rotation, with no well-defined poles or equator.

At 1,470 km in diameter and 18×10 20 kg in mass, Iapetus is the third-largest of Saturn's large moons. And at a distance of 3,560,820 km from Saturn, it is the most distant of the large moons, and takes 79 days to complete a single orbit. Due to its unusual color and composition - its leading hemisphere is dark and black whereas its trailing hemisphere is much brighter - it is often called the "yin and yang" of Saturn's moons.

Saturn's Irregular Moons:

Beyond these larger moons are Saturn's Irregular Moons. These satellites are small, have large-radii, are inclined, have mostly retrograde orbits, and are believed to have been acquired by Saturn's gravity. These moons are made up of three basic groups - the Inuit Group, the Gallic Group, and the Norse Group.

The Inuit Group consists of five irregular moons that are all named from Inuit mythology - Ijiraq, Kiviuq, Paaliaq, Siarnaq, and Tarqeq. All have prograde orbits that range from 11.1 to 17.9 million km, and from 7 to 40 km in diameter. They are all similar in appearance (reddish in hue) and have orbital inclinations of between 45 and 50°.

The Gallic group are a group of four prograde outer moons named for characters in Gallic mythology -Albiorix, Bebhionn, Erriapus, and Tarvos. Here too, the moons are similar in appearance and have orbits that range from 16 to 19 million km. Their inclinations are in the 35°-40° range, their eccentricities around 0.53, and they range in size from 6 to 32 km.

Last, there is the Norse group, which consists of 29 retrograde outer moons that take their names from Norse mythology. These satellites range in size from 6 to 18 km, their distances from 12 and 24 million km, their inclinations between 136° and 175°, and their eccentricities between 0.13 and 0.77. This group is also sometimes referred to as the Phoebe group, due to the presence of a single larger moon in the group - which measures 240 km in diameter. The second largest, Ymir, measures 18 km across.

Within the Inner and Outer Large Moons, there are also those belonging to Alkyonide group. These moons - Methone, Anthe, and Pallene - are named after the Alkyonides of Greek mythology, are located between the orbits of Mimas and Enceladus, and are among the smallest moons around Saturn. Some of the larger moons even have moons of their own, which are known as Trojan moons. For instance, Tethys has two trojans - Telesto and Calypso, while Dione has Helene and Polydeuces.

Moon Formation:

It is thought that Saturn's moon of Titan, its mid-sized moons and rings developed in a way that is closer to the Galilean moons of Jupiter. In short, this would mean that the regular moons formed from a circumplanetary disc, a ring of accreting gas and solid debris similar to a protoplanetary disc. Meanwhile, the outer, irregular moons are believed to have been objects that were captured by Saturn's gravity and remained in distant orbits.

However, there are some variations on this theory. In one alternative scenario, two Titan-sized moons were formed from an accretion disc around Saturn; the second one eventually breaking up to produce the rings and inner mid-sized moons. In another, two large moons fused together to form Titan, and the collision scattered icy debris that formed to create the mid-sized moons.

However, the mechanics of how the moon's formed remains a mystery for the time being. With additional missions mounted to study the atmospheres, compositions and surfaces of these moons, we may begin to understand where they truly came from.

Much like Jupiter, and all the other gas giants, Saturn's system of satellites is extensive as it is impressive. In addition to the larger moons that are believed to have formed from a massive debris field that once orbited it, it also has countless smaller satellites that were captured by its gravitational field over the course of billions of years. One can only imagine how many more remain to be found orbiting the ringed giant.

We have many great articles on Saturn and its moon's here at Universe Today. For example, here's How Many Moons Does Saturn Have? and Is Saturn Making a New Moon?

Here's an article about the discovery of Saturn's 60th moon, and another article about how Saturn's moons could be creating new rings.

Want more information about Saturn's moons? Check out NASA's Cassini information on the moons of Saturn, and more from NASA's Solar System Exploration site.

We have recorded two episodes of Astronomy Cast just about Saturn. The first is Episode 59: Saturn, and the second is Episode 61: Saturn's Moons.

Cassini mission, cassini-huygens, Enceladus, Featured, Giovanni Cassini, Saturn's death star moon, Saturn's Moons, tiger stripes, Titan, William Herschel

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How Many Moons Does Saturn Have? - Universe Today

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Saturn is well known for being a gas giant, and for its impressive ring system. But would it surprise you to know that this planet also has the second-most moons in the Solar System, second only to Jupiter?

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Kids learn about the planet Venus of the Solar System including fun facts, mass, day, year, and distance from the Sun. Astronomy for kids and teachers.

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Venus is the second planet.

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Discover Venus - Windows to the Universe

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Venus is one of the brightest objects in the sky, so it is clearly visible to the naked eye. It can be tricky to spot because it is always near the Sun. Because of this, it rises and sets with the Sun each day.

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Venus has no moon.

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According to ancient roman myth,<br>Jupiter was the king of all the gods.

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Not only does saturn have
a very large family of moons.

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Astronomy for Kids is an astronomy site designed with kids in mind, as well as their parents

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Neptune is the eighth planet

from our sun and the fourth

of the outer planets.

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Mars has higher mountains, and deeper canyons than any other planethttp://www.kidsastronomy.com/mars.htm

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uranus is  the onlygaint planet whose eqautoy  is nearly at right angles to its orbit.

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IntroductionThe seventh planet from the sun with the third largest diameter in our solar system, Uranus is very cold and windy. The ice giant is surrounded by 13 faint rings and 27 small moons as it rotates at a nearly 90-degree angle from the plane of its orbit. This unique tilt makes Uranus appear to spin on its side, orbiting the sun like a rolling ball.

The first planet found with the aid of a telescope, Uranus was discovered in 1781 by astronomer William Herschel, although he originally thought it was either a comet or a star. It was two years later that the object was universally accepted as a new planet, in part because of observations by astronomer Johann Elert Bode.

William Herschel tried unsuccessfully to name his discovery Georgium Sidus after King George III. Instead the planet was named for Uranus, the Greek god of the sky, as suggested by Johann Bode.

Ten Things to Know About Uranus

Did You Know?

Did You Know?

Uranus' unique sideways rotation makes for weird seasons. The planet's north pole experiences 21 years of nighttime in winter, 21 years of daytime in summer and 42 years of day and night in the spring and fall.

Pop Culture

Pop Culture

Uranus is the "butt" of more than a few jokes and witty (and not so witty) puns, but it's also a frequent destination in various fictional stories, such as the video game Mass Effect and TV shows like Doctor Who. The radioactive element uranium was named after Uranus when it was discovered in 1789, just eight years after the planet was discovered.

Make Your Own 3D Images

More to Explore

With a few materials and a few steps, you can build your own glasses to view 3D images.

In this 1-hour activity, students shrink the scale of the vast solar system to the size of their neighborhood.

In this lesson, students will replicate the Voyage model to experience the size of the solar system.

› More

Resources

Power to Explore: Radioisotope Power

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IntroductionThe seventh planet from the sun with the third largest diameter in our solar system, Uranus is very cold and windy. The ice giant is surrounded by 13 faint rings and 27 small moons as it rotates at a nearly 90-degree angle from the plane of its orbit.

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If you weighed 70 pounds (32 kg) on the Earth, you would weigh about 27 pounds (12 kg) on Mars.

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Check out this wep like omg

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SIMILAR: The Greek god Zeus and the Roman god Jupiter were both married to their sister. Both were fond of their children. The children of both had special magical powers. They both had more power than any other god. They could shape shift, and look like any mortal or animal they chose.

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Venus is 67 millen miles, or
108 kilometrs, from the sun.

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Introduction:

Each time you look up to the sky and see a star you are looking at a sun in another galaxy. If you were on another planet looking back at our solar system, you would see our sun as a star.

It's believed that every sun has planets orbiting it. Our Milky Way galaxy has more planets than it has stars. In our solar system we have eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are the inner rocky planets.

Jupiter and Saturn are the outer gas giants. Uranus and Neptune are the outer ice giants. In recent years, astronomers have designed a new class called the "dwarf planets."

These are smaller worlds, not quite big enough to be considered a standard planet, and include Pluto. Venus is the second planet from the sun.

Venus Statistics:

View on Maps: google.com/maps/space/venus

Distance from Sun: 67.24 million mi

Radius: 3,760 mi

Diameter: 7,520.8 mi

Orbital period: 225 days

Mass: 4.867 × 10^24 kg 0.815 M⊕

Surface Temperature: 462 °C

Number of Moons: None

First Recorded: 17th century BCE by Babylon astronomers

How did Venus get its name:

Throughout history, Venus was one of the planets that many civilizations recognized. Named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, it was also known by the Greeks as Aphrodite. All of the planets in our solar system are named after male gods or mythological creatures, with the exception of Venus.

It is the only planet named after a female and it's thought that it was because it is the brightest planet.

At one time, some of the astronomers in the ancient past thought that Venus was actually two stars.

This was due to the fact that it appeared as both the morning and the evening star. Because it was so bright, astronomers assumed that the planet itself must be beautiful.

However, once space exploration began, scientists realized that the planet had a horrible environment.

Many missions have been sent to Venus but it's almost impossible to get to the surface of the planet due to its extremely hot temperatures.

Formation and Rotation:

Around 4.5 billion years ago our solar system finally settled into its current configuration. What this means is that there were quite a few planets that were relocating from one place to another.

Scientists have a theory that we may have had other planets that were either thrown out into the universe or that collided and merged to create the current planets.

Venus formed when swirling gas and dust was pulled by gravity. Venus is a "terrestrial planet" and therefore has a central core, a rocky mantle and a solid crust.

Because they share similar gravity, composition, density, mass, and size, Earth and Venus have often been referred to as "twins." However, those are the only similarities between the two planets.

Venus' heat, combined with the inner pressures have given the planet over 1,600 volcanoes. While scientists think that most are dormant, there are some that may still be active.

Venus has the honor of being the only single planet in our solar system, other than our Earth, to have volcanic activity and the Venus has the most volcanoes. This makes it the single planet with the most volcanoes in the solar system.

Due to its slow rotation on its axis, one day on Venus takes 243 Earth-days to complete one rotation.

It is thought that billions of years ago, Venus might have had a similar climate as the one on Earth. Scientists think that there may have been large amounts of water, even big enough to create oceans on Venus.

However, the high temperatures on Venus that produce the extreme greenhouse effect, allowed the water to boil off. This left a planet that is too hostile and hot to sustain life as we know it.

Structure and Surface:

There are a lot of similarities between Venice and Earth, and one of the most notable is its structure. Venus has a 2,000 mi/3,200 km radius iron core.

Above the core is a mantle that consists of hot rock similar to lava that churns slowly due to the interior heat of the planet.

The surface is a bulging thin rock crust that moves as the mantle shifts. This movement creates the volcanoes.

Looking at Venus from out in space it appears as a very bright white color. This tone is due to the fact that Venus is covered in a thick layer of clouds that reflect the sunlight.

Peering through the clouds shows that the surface is covered in rocks and volcanoes. The rocks are various shades of grey and appear to be similar to those on Earth.

However, the thick atmosphere causes the sunlight and if you were standing on Venus, the rocks would look orange.

Venus is covered in valleys, mountains and tens of thousands of volcanoes. The tallest mountain on Venus is Maxwell Montes, standing over 20,000 ft/8.8 km high.

It is similar to Earth's highest mountain, Mount Everest. The landscape is rather dusty and the temperatures on the surface can reach as high as 880 degrees F/471 degrees C.

Scientists believe that the surface of Venus was completely changed as volcanic activity occurred 300-500 million years ago. Venus has two highland areas:

Ishtar Terra in the northern polar region, about the size of Australia; and Aphrodite Terra near the equator, about the size of South America. Aphrodite Terra is around 6,000 mi/10,000 km.

There are an enormous number of craters on Venus, however, none seem to be smaller than 0.9-1.2 mi (1.5-2 km) across.

The craters are caused by meteoroids striking the surface and since the smaller ones burn up in the dense atmosphere, only the biggest ones make it through to hit the surface.

Atmosphere. Magnetosphere, and Moon Status:

There are two broad layers of atmosphere on Venus including one layer that is a cloud bank covering the entire plant, and another that includes everything that is below the cloud bank.

The consistency of the clouds is very dense and they are made up of sulfuric acid and Sulphur dioxide. Between the mixtures and density, the clouds reflect around 60% of the sunlight that hits Venus back out into space.

Even though it's the second planet closest to the sun, it is the single hottest planet within our solar system.

The atmosphere of Venus is mostly made up of carbon dioxide and has clouds of sulfuric acid droplets. This thick atmosphere is responsible for trapping the heat of the sun and creates the intensely hot surface temperature of up to 880 degrees F/470 degrees C.

The atmosphere itself consists of many layers and the temperatures vary within each layer. Around 30 mi from the surface, the clouds have about the same temperature as we find on Earth's surface.

If you could stand on the ground on Venus, you would look around and it would appear like a very overcast and hazy day on Earth, however, due to the heavy atmosphere, you would feel like you were 1 mi/1.6 km under water.

One of the astounding things about Venus is that as it moves forward in its orbit around the sun combined with a backwards axis rotation, the clouds in the top level whip around the planet every 4 Earth days at hurricane-force winds of 224 mi/360 km per hour.

The lightning bursts in the atmosphere light up the clouds. The closer you get to the surface, the slower the cloud speed becomes so that those closest to the surface are only moving at a few mph.

The slow rotation of Venus makes the magnetic field a lot weaker than on Earth. Even though Earth and Venus share similar size and seem to have similarly-sized iron cores, Earth's faster rotation allows us a stronger magnetosphere.

Venus doesn't have any moons or rings.

Could Life Exist on Venus?

There have been no humans that have visited Venus, but there have been a few spacecraft that have been sent to the surface. Due to the extreme heat, the spacecraft have not survived very long as they overheat all of the electronics on the crafts.

These high temperatures are the reason that we don't believe that life could exist on the surface, however there are some scientists that speculate that there may be a possibility of life in the top cloud layers of the atmosphere of Venus. These upper cloud layers have less extreme temperatures.

Interesting Information:

As the second planet from the Sun, Venus is our closest neighbor in our solar system. Although very similar in size and structure to our Earth, Venus spins more slowly and in the opposite direction than most of the planets in our solar system.

Venus has a thick atmosphere that traps the heat from the sun giving it a "runaway greenhouse effect." It is the hottest planet in the solar system with surface temperatures hot in enough to melt lead and other metals.

The few glimpses that we have had of Venus below its dense clouds have shown badly deformed mountains and volcanoes.

Scientists have noted a rather odd thing about the rotation of Venus. It's rotation is in the opposite directions of most of the other planets, with only Uranus and Venus rotating clockwise.

This is called a "retrograde rotation," and is thought to have occurred when collisions happened back in its history of formation.

A collision with a major object could have been strong enough to change the rotations of the planets.

Venus is the only planet in our solar system named for a female, and to do this honor justice, almost all of the surface features on Venus carry the name for both real and mythological women of Earth.

There is a volcanic crater named for Sacajawea, the Native American woman who played a key role in guiding the Lewis and Clark exploration in America, and a deep canyon is called "Diana," after the Roman goddess of the hunt.

Space Missions to Venus:

Akatsuki 2010: The Venus Climate Orbiter mission (PLANET-C), or "AKATSUKI", is studying Venus' atmospheric circulation.

Venus Express 2005: The (ESA) European Space Agency's Venus Express is studying the Venus atmosphere including the surface to the ionosphere.

Galileo 1989: The orbiter included ten science instruments as well as an atmospheric probe to study Jupiter, its moons, and the magnetosphere as it orbited.

Magellan 1989: Accomplished its mission as the first to ever arrive and map Venus' entire surface.

Vega 2 1984: The sister spacecraft to Vega 1, with an almost identical mission as Vega 1.

Vega 1 1984: The most ambitious deep space mission by the Soviets with twin spacecraft designed with redundant mission goals.

Venera 16 1983: Soviet twins Venera 15 and 16 orbiters, the mission was to use radar to create a detailed map of the surface of Venus with a resolution of 1-2 km or around 1 mile.

Venera 15 1983: Soviet twins Venera 15 and 16 orbiters, the mission was to use radar to create a detailed map of the surface of Venus with a resolution of 1-2 km or around 1 mile.

Venera 14 1981: Identical to its twin, Venera 13, the Soviet mission of the spacecraft was carried out as it had three corrections midcourse on its way to Venus.

Venera 13 1981: Designed similarly to the previous Soviet twin missions, Venera 13 and 14 were spacecraft to accomplish Venus flybys.

Venera 12 1978: Soviet mission with a twin Venera 11, to accomplish a flyby and then a lander to explore the ionosphere, atmosphere, and surface of Venus.

Important Events:

On January 31, 2019, a research group from Japan identified a huge streak structure amidst the Venus clouds.

Using the observations from the Japanese spacecraft, Akatuski, the team used large-scale climate simulations to discover the origins of the structure.

Facts about Venus for Kids:

Venus has over 1,600 volcanoes, the most of any planet within the solar system.

It takes Venus 243 Earth days to make one complete rotation.

Compared to Earth's 365 days, it takes Venus only 224.7 Earth days to make one rotation around the sun.

The surface of Venus is so hot that it would melt lead and scientists call it a "runaway greenhouse effect."

If you could stand on the surface of Venus, the air pressure would be so extreme, that it would be like being under Earth's ocean half a mile down.

The only planets that we can visibly see cross in front of the sun called "transits" are Mercury and Venus.

Venus has wind storms that can get up to 450 mph/724 kph, which is faster than the largest Earth tornado.

Pop Culture:

Venus was named after the goddess of love and beauty, and the name has become synonymous in our society with "women."

An example of this was the book was written in 1992 by author John Gray, entitled "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus," where Gray referenced the two planets as a relationship guide for men and women.

Early 20th century science fiction writers also loved using Venus as a popular destination in their books.

This was, of course, before science had discovered how horrible the surface and atmosphere was.

In today's video games, Venus has been used as a backdrop for such games as Transhuman Space, Battlezone, and Destiny.

Even Disney fans will remember the animated film "The Princess and the Frog," where the firefly, Ray falls in love with Venus, "the evening star", whom he mistakes as another firefly.
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/venus/overview/ https://www.space.com/15988-venus-planet-weird-facts.html
Planets

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Venus Facts for Kids - Interesting Facts about Planet Venus

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Each time you look up to the sky and see a star you are looking at a sun in another galaxy. If you were on another planet looking back at our solar system, you would see our sun as a star. It's believed that every sun has planets orbiting it.

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Mercury is
a small planet which orbits closer to the sun

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Fun Mercury Facts for Kids - Cool Information About This Small Planet

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Uranus has 21 moons (and growing).

uranus is the 7th planet from the sun.

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Kids learn about the ice giant planet Uranus of the Solar System including fun facts, mass, day, year, and distance from the Sun. Astronomy for kids and teachers.

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This is video  about  saturn.

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What are the Rings of Saturn? Come See the Accompanying Article at KidsKnowIt.com: http://www.kidsastronomy.com/saturn.htm

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You may sometimes hear Mars referred to as the "Red Planet

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Saturn is made of materials whitch are lighter than water.

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Uranus, is the seventh planet of the Solar System,and has 27 known moons,[1] all of which are named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.[2]

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Uranus was the last giant planet without any known irregular moons, but since 1997 nine distant irregular moons have been identified using ground-based telescopes. Two more small inner moons, Cupid and Mab, were discovered using the Hubble Space Telescope in 2003.

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Mars is often
called the red planet.

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ESA - Space for Kids - Our Universe - Mars - the red planet

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Mars is often called the 'Red Planet' because it appears in the sky as an orange-red star. The colour caused the ancient Greeks and Romans to name it after their god of war. Today, thanks to visiting spacecraft, we know that the planet's appearance is due to rust in the Martian rocks.

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Jupiter is the largest planet in our Solar System.  Ancient Astronomers named Jupiter after the king of the Roman Gods.

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Interesting Facts About The Planet Jupiter

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Jupiter is the fifth planet from

the sun.

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Venus - Astronomy For Kids - KidsAstronomy.com

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Venus lies much closer to the Sun than does our planet. That single fact has caused an unstoppable chain of events that doomed Venus to its fiery existence. Owing to its closer proximity to the Sun, Venus' temperature should have been only slightly warmer than that of the Earth.

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uranus has 11 rings
uranus wasent discovered until 1781

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uranus the planets evening star morning solar system

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Uranus is a greenish-blue planet, twice as far from the Sun as its neighbor Saturn. Uranus wasn't discovered until 1781. Its discoveror, William Herschel, named it Georgium Sidus (the Georgian star) after the English king, George III. Later its name was changed to Uranus, after an ancient Greek sky god, since all the other planets had been named after Roman and Greek gods.

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In 2011Neptune completed the first orbit of the sun since it's discorvery 165 years before in 1846.

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Neptune Facts - Planet Neptune - Neptune For Kids

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The Earth is 150 million kilometres from the Sun (93 million miles) and this measurement is taken as the standard for astronomical measurements of distance. Astronomers say that the Earth is one Astronomical Unit (1 AU) from the Sun. Neptune is unimaginably further.

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Mercury is very heavy.

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Along with gold, lead, and uranium, mercury is one of the heavier kinds of atoms. Every atom of mercury has 80 protons and 121 neutrons in its nucleus.

Like those atoms, all mercury atoms are made inside older stars that have become supernovas. Most of these heavy atoms are solid at room temperature, the way you think of metal as a solid chunk of something. But mercury is unusual: it is a liquid at room temperature. That's because mercury's outside electrons don't hold on to other mercury atoms very tightly or very well.

On Earth, mercury is pretty rare. It usually combines with sulphur molecules to make a rock called cinnabar. We get mercury by crushing the cinnabar and roasting it in ovens. Because mercury is liquid at room temperature, but expands slowly as it is heated, people use it inside thermometers to measure heat.

Bibliography and further reading about mercury:

Cite this page: Carr, K.E. What is mercury? Atoms, elements, chemistry. Quatr.us Study Guides, June 2, 2017. Web. April 30, 2018.

Karen Carr is Associate Professor Emerita, Department of History, Portland State University. She holds a doctorate in Classical Art and Archaeology from the University of Michigan. Follow her on Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter, or buy her book, Vandals to Visigoths.

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What is mercury? Atoms, elements, chemistry

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Along with gold, lead, and uranium, mercury is one of the heavier kinds of atoms. Every atom of mercury has 80 protons and 121 neutrons in its nucleus. Like those atoms, all mercury atoms are made inside older stars that have become supernovas. Most of these heavy atoms are solid at room temperature, the way [...]

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In astronomy mythology, Uranus was the lord of the skies and husband of Earth.  He was also the king of the gods until he was overthrown by his son Saturn

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Know Your Planets: Uranus | Worksheet | Education.com

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Did you know that Uranus can get as cold as -144° Fahrenheit? Learn more about the third largest planet in our solar system on this planet printable.

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At first, the only way modern explorers could study Mars was with satellites that would fly close to the surface of Mars and take pictures as it did so.

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Jupiter has a ring just like Saturn and Uranus.

The Planet has over 60 known satellites (moons) but most of them are extremely small and faint.

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Interesting Facts About The Planet Jupiter

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Mars excites scientists because its mild temperament is more like the Earth's than any of the other planetsMars has higher mountains, and deeper canyons than any other planet

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you can't see neptune without a lage telescope.Neptune was first seen in 1849

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Neptune Facts - Planet Neptune - Neptune For Kids

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The Earth is 150 million kilometres from the Sun (93 million miles) and this measurement is taken as the standard for astronomical measurements of distance. Astronomers say that the Earth is one Astronomical Unit (1 AU) from the Sun. Neptune is unimaginably further.

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Mercury can be very hot in the day and very cold in the night.

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News, email and search are just the beginning. Discover more every day. Find your yodel.

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The atmosphere of venus made  up mainly of carbon dinxide.

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Mercuryis often called a ''morning star.

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Mercury means

In astronomy mythology, Mercury was the Roman version of the Greek god Hermes. He was the messenger for the other gods, and for this reason Mercury is often depicted in pictures with winged sandals. In addition to delivering messages, he was also the protector of travelers and merchants.

How much would you weigh on Mercury?

If you moved to Mercury you would not weigh as much as you do on Earth. Not because you would lose weight on the spaceship, but because Mercury is smaller, and so has less gravity. If you weigh 70 pounds (32 kg) on Earth, you would weigh only about 27 pounds (12 kg) on Mercury.

The Planet

The planet Mercury is the closest of the planets to the Sun. Because this planet lies so close to the Sun, and as a result somewhat near to Earth, it is visible to observers on Earth in the late evening or early morning sky. Because of this, Mercury has become a part of the mythology and legend of almost every culture throughout the history of the Earth.

This planet is often called a morning star. This is because Mercury shines brightly in the early morning just before the sun rises. It has also been called an evening star for the same reason. Mercury is often visible for a brief period of time just after the Sun sets.

Mercury is Heavy

Because of its proximity to the Sun, Mercury's evolution took a slightly different course than that of the other planets. As the Sun formed, it pushed much of the lighter gas and dust out of the inner Solar System, leaving behind only heavier elements. As a result, Mercury is made out of a large percentage of heavier elements, mainly iron. It is essentially a large metal ball of iron with a very thin silicate crust. Mercury's core makes up about 75% of the planet. Its thin mantle, or crust, is only about 300 to 400 miles thick (500 to 600 km). Next to Earth, Mercury is the second most dense planet in our Solar System.

Mercury Has Wrinkles

As Mercury's iron core cooled it contracted, or shrunk. This caused its rocky crust to become wrinkled. Scientists call these wrinkles Lobate Scarps. This scarps can be hundreds of miles long and even up to a mile high. Mercury's core has not cooled completely, however. Researcher recently found evidence that Mercury has a molten core.

Mercury is Scarred

The surface of the planet Mercury is covered with craters. These craters have been created by eons of accidental encounters with asteroids and comets. All celestial bodies within the Solar System are subject to these bombardments. However, many of the planets have the ability to heal themselves through natural geological processes.

Because Mercury's crust is so thick and hard, no volcanic activity can make its way through to the surface of the planet. Since this surface volcanic activity cannot happen, Mercury will forever retain its scars.

Mercury Has No Atmosphere

The planet Mercury is too small and has too little gravity to hold onto an atmosphere. Any gases released from the planet quickly escape into space. Also, Mercury is so close to the Sun that any atmosphere is quickly blown away by the Sun's solar winds. That means that there is almost no air on Mercury.

Temperature Extremes

Mercury is just a little bit larger than Earth's moon. The surface of Mercury that faces the Sun can reach about 800 degrees Fahrenheit. On the other hand, the temperature on the nighttime side can plummet to almost -300 degrees Fahrenheit. This is because Mercury has little to no atmosphere to help regulate temperature.

Time on Mercury

Because of its close location to the Sun, the planet Mercury has become tidally locked to the Sun, or nearly so. The tidal forces of the Sun have over eons of time slowed down the rotation of Mercury to match its revolution around the Sun. The result is that Mercury rotates very slowly. One day on Mercury is about 58-1/2 Earth days long. But while Mercury's days are very long, its revolution around the Sun is rather fast. Mercury can complete one orbit around the Sun in only 88 Earth days. That's just about 3 months here on Earth. This is why Mercury's name is so appropriate. In mythology, Mercury was a speedy messenger, just like the planet's speedy revolution around the Sun.

Moons

Mercury has no moons.

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Mercury means In astronomy mythology, Mercury was the Roman version of the Greek god Hermes. He was the messenger for the other gods, and for this reason Mercury is often depicted in pictures with winged sandals. In addition to delivering messages, he was also the protector of travelers and merchants.

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Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and is very hot too.

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Introduction:

Each time you look up to the sky and see a star you are looking at a sun in another galaxy. If you were on another planet looking back at our solar system, you would see our sun as a star.It's believed that every sun has planets orbiting it.

Our Milky Way galaxy has more planets than it has stars. In our solar system we have eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are the inner rocky planets.

Jupiter and Saturn are the outer gas giants. Uranus and Neptune are the outer ice giants. In recent years, astronomers have designed a new class called the "dwarf planets."

These are smaller worlds, not quite big enough to be considered a standard planet, and include Pluto. Mercury is the first planet, and closest to the sun.

Mercury Statistics:

View on Maps: google.com/maps/space/mercury

Moons: None

Distance from Sun: 35.98 million mi

Radius: 1,516 mi

Diameter: 4,879 km

Orbital period: 88 days

Mass: 3.285 × 10^23 kg (0.055 M⊕)

Surface Temperature: -173 to 427°C

Number of Moons: None

First Record: 14th century BCE by Assyrian astronomers

How did Mercury get its name:

It's thought that many civilizations recognized the planet Mercury as far back as 5,000 years. It was named about the Roman messenger god that was known for moving fast, because the planet orbited the sun more quickly than other planets. For many years it was believed that Earth was the center of our solar system with both the sun and other planets orbiting Earth.

The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus was the first to indicate that the Sun was the center, with both Mercury and Venus orbiting it instead of Earth.

Formation:

Planets are created when gravity pulls dust and swirling gas together. Mercury was formed around 4.5 billion years ago and became the small planet that is closest to our sun. It's considered to be a "terrestrial planet" because Mercury has a central core, a rock mantle, and a solid crust.

Structure and Surface:

After Earth, Mercury is the second densest planet in our solar system. Mercury's core is metallic with a radius of around 1,289 mi/2,074 km, which is about 85% of the planet's entire radius.

Scientists believe that they have found evidence that shows that part of the metallic core is molten or liquid. The outer shell or mantle and crust is around 250 mi/400 km thick.

When you stare at the surface of Mercury, you can't help but realize that it resembles that of our moon. The surface is covered with a lot of craters that that were caused by collisions with comets and meteoroids.

We have named a lot of these craters for famous people, including authors, musicians, and artists. Two of the craters are named for Dr. Seuss, famous author of children's books and Alvin Ailey, a pioneer in dance.

The crater Caloris Basin is the result of an asteroid around 60 mi wide hitting Mercury; large enough to fit the state of Texas. It's almost 960 miles wide and scientists believe that the impact could be compared to 1 trillion 1-megeton bombs going off.

It's thought that an impact of this magnitude may have been the cause of Mercury's odd spin.

Mercury's surface is covered with what are called "lobe-shaped" cliffs. These can reach up to a mile high and run hundreds of miles throughout Mercury. The cliffs were created billions of years ago as Mercury went through a cooling process.

A majority of the surface of Mercury would look like a kind of greyish-brown color to the human eye. There are bright streaks that are called "crater rays," caused when a comet or asteroid hits the surface.

The intense energy that is released upon impact not only digs a huge hole in the ground while crushing a large amount of rock at the impact point.

When some of the crushed rock and material is thrown away from the impact crater it falls to the surface so that it creates a kind of "ray" effect.

The crushed rock particles are a lot more reflective than the bigger pieces, so that these rays appear to be brighter. Over time, solar-wind particles and dust in the environment will cause the rays to darken a bit.

The planet Mercury is the closest to the sun and zips around its orbit very quickly. It has a very thin atmosphere, but not enough to reflect the sun's intense heat.

The lack of a significant atmosphere also doesn't protect it from the impacts of the many space objects. The surface of Mercury shows evidence of impacts, with craters of all sizes.

Since there isn't any weather or seasons, scientists can observe the craters and try to learn about the history of Mercury.

Mercury isn't just extremely hot, it is also extremely cold. The high 840 degree temperatures are reached during the day but during the night, the surface temperature drops to -290 degrees F (- 180 degrees C).

It's thought that Mercury may have water ice deep inside the craters at its south and north poles, but only within those areas that are in a constant shadow.

The permanent shadow would be cold enough to keep water ice, even when the rest of the planet is intensely hot.

Atmosphere. Magnetosphere, and Moon Status:

While some planets do have an atmosphere, Mercury doesn't have one. Instead it has a thin "exosphere" which consists of atoms that are created with meteoroids hit the surface and the solar wind catches them and blasts them upwards.

The exosphere of Mercury is made up of mostly oxygen, sodium, hydrogen, helium, and potassium.

Mercury's magnetic field is relative to the equator of the planet. While it has just 1% of the strength of our Earth's magnetosphere, it does interact with the solar wind magnetic field so that it can create really intense magnetic tornadoes.

These storms funnel the hot solar wind plasma down to the planet's surface. Once the ions hit the surface, they imbalance the atoms that are neutrally charged and quickly send them back into the sky.

Mercury doesn't have a moon or rings.

Could Life Exist on Mercury?

The solar radiation and temperatures on Mercury are not conducive to life as we know it. The planet has too many extremes for organisms to be able to adapt to.

Interesting Information:

Mercury is not only the planet that is the smallest in our solar system, it's also the planet that is closest to the sun. When you look at Mercury's size you will see that it's only a little bit larger than the Earth's moon.

If you were standing on Mercury's surface, the sun would look three times as large as it does when you see it from Earth, and the sunlight would be seven times brighter.

You would think that being the closest to the sun, Mercury would be the hottest planet in our solar system, however, that's not the case. Due to the dense atmosphere, Venus holds the title of being the hottest planet in our solar system.

Due to Mercury's odd elliptical orbit and slow speed of rotation, both sunrise and sunset would appear strange to us. If we watched the sunrise, it would appear to rise, set and then rise up again.

The same thing happens during sunset. It's difficult to look directly at Mercury from Earth because it's so close to the sun. However, 13 times every century, an event called a "transit" occurs where we can watch as Mercury passes across the face of the sun.

Space Missions to Mercury:

1974-1975 Mariner 10: The spacecraft orbited Mercury three times and mapped around half of the surface of Mercury. During the Mariner 10 mission it discovered evidence that Mercury has a magnetic field.

Comparisons have shown that the magnetic field is only around 1% of Earth's, but it's highly active, being responsible for the solar wind tornados on the surface of Mercury.

The images that Mariner took covered around 45% of the surface of Mercury and prompted interest to launch later missions.

2004 Messenger Probe: The probe orbited Mercury for four years, sending an incredible amount of data back to Earth before it crashed into the surface.

2018 BepiColombo: The ESA (European Space Agency) launched BepiColombo as part of their first mission for the exploration of Mercury.

Even with the intense heat and temperature fluctuations, there are still locations on Mercury that are permanently shaded from the Sun's heat. In 2012, NASA's spacecraft MESSENGER found water ice in the craters around the north pole of Mercury.

There may be other areas that have water ice, however, the orbit of MESSENGER didn't include probing the southern pole. It's believed that meteorites or comets may be responsible for delivering ice to these locations or water vapor may have been outgassed from the interior of the planet and then out to the poles.

Important Events:

1631: Galileo Galilei and Thomas Harriot had invented a new telescope that gave them the ability to observe Mercury.

1965: Astronomers use radar to discover that the previous theory of the same side of Mercury constantly facing the sun was incorrect. The radar proved that Mercury rotates three times for every two orbits.

1974-1975: The Mariner 10 mission sent images back to Earth of around 43% of the surface of Mercury as it accomplished three flybys.

1991: Scientist made use of Earth-based radar to discover that Mecury's shadow areas in their craters within the polar-regions showed signs of permanently locked ice.

2008-2009: The MESSENGER probe accomplishes three flybys of Mercury.

2011: The MESSENGER probe orbits around Mercury, sending an incredible array of images and compositional data about the planet.

2015: The MESSENGER probe was sent to Mercury to crash into the surface. Scientists made sure that all of the propellant was expended prior to the crash as the mission was ended.

2018: The BepiColombo mission was launched by the European Space Agency.

Facts about Mercury:

Mercury may be the closest planet to the sun but it experiences temperature changes that are the most extreme of any planet in the solar system, including dropping to -275 F/-170 C.

Mercury is only slightly larger than the Earth's moon.

Mercury travels around the sun more quickly than any of the other planets in the solar system.

One Mercury year is equal to only 88 Earth days.

The core at Mercury's center is mostly made up of iron and takes up about 75% of the planet's radius.

Mercury does have a very thin atmosphere called an exosphere.

Mercury seems to have a stream of particles that appear to expand out from the surface giving it a look like it has "tails."

Pop Culture:

While many of our planets have played a part in legend and stories, Mercury seems to have been a focus of our collective imaginations.

There are a lot of science fiction writers that have used the smallest planet in our solar system for inspiration for their novels.

The list of authors include: Isaac Asimov, C.S. Lewis, Ray Bradbury, H.P. Lovecraft, and Arthur C. Clarke. TV and movie writers also seemed to be enthralled with the little planet as part of their scripts.

The animated television show "Invader Zim," has Mercury being changed into a giant ship prototype spaceship by an extinct group of Martians.

In film called "Sunshine", released in 2007, a spacecraft called the "Icarus II" orbits around Mercury to meet up with the Icarus I.

Even the comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes" has mention of Mercury. In one of the series Calvin and his friend Susie give a class presentation about Mercury, and Calvin fills the presentation with very questionable information such as: "The planet Mercury was named after a Roman god with winged feet," says Calvin.

"Mercury was the god of flowers and bouquets, which is why today he is a registered trademark of FTD florists. Why they named a planet after this guy, I can't imagine."
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/overview/ https://www.space.com/27013-strange-mercury-facts-photos.html
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Mercury Facts for Kids - Interesting Facts about Planet Mercury

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Each time you look up to the sky and see a star you are looking at a sun in another galaxy. If you were on another planet looking back at our solar system, you would see our sun as a star.It's believed that every sun has planets orbiting it.

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aturn is the second largest planet in our solar system.It also is a gas giant.

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Check out our cool range of planet facts for kids. Enjoy some amazing trivia and have fun learning about the planets found in our Solar System.

Saturn Facts for Kids

Perhaps the most beautiful planet in our solar system (other than earth of course) due to its spectacular ring system, Saturn is a gas giant that features many extreme physical features and atmospheric conditions.

Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system and is another gas giant.

Saturn has a small rocky core covered with liquid gas.

It is surrounded by a system of rings that stretch out into space for thousands of kilometres.

The rings are made up of millions of ice crystals, some as big as houses and others as small as specks of dust.

Saturn is very light as it is made up of more hydrogen than helium so it is less dense. If we could fit Saturn into a bathtub it would float (but that would have to be one big bathtub!)

Like Jupiter, Saturn has many moons which surround it.

Saturn is not a peaceful planet. Storm winds race around the atmosphere at 800kmp/h.

Saturn has a very strong magnetic field which traps energy particles resulting in high levels of radiation.

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Fun Saturn Facts for Kids - Amazing Information About This Planets Cool Rings

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Check out our cool range of planet facts for kids. Enjoy some amazing trivia and have fun learning about the planets found in our Solar System. Saturn Facts for Kids Perhaps the most beautiful planet in our solar system (other than earth of course) due to its spectacular ring system, Saturn is a gas giant that features many extreme physical features and atmospheric conditions.

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Mars was the Roman god of war.

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uranus was the first planet discovered by telescope.

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Fun Uranus Facts for Kids - Cool Information About This Amazing Planet

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Check out our cool range of planet facts for kids. Enjoy some amazing trivia and have fun learning about the planets found in our Solar System.

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Uranus has 27 m

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Uranus Facts - The Planet Uranus - Uranus For Kids

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In 1977 Uranus passed in front of a star and astronomers observing the planet through giant telescopes saw nine rings around the planet. These are very faint and not easily seen, unlike the rings around Saturn.

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Saturns rings 240,000 miles wide.

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Why does Saturn have rings? :: NASA Space Place

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Jupiter is the largest  planet in our Solar system. It is  so big that more than 1300 Earths could fit inside it.

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Fun Jupiter Facts for Kids - Amazing Information About This Big Planet

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Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. Its famous 'Red Spot' and raging gas storms give it an impressive if not intimidating appearance. As well as having many moons, Jupiter also has a number of rings similar to that of Saturn but much less noticeable.

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Venus is covered by water vapour (steam)

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Introduction:

Each time you look up to the sky and see a star you are looking at a sun in another galaxy. If you were on another planet looking back at our solar system, you would see our sun as a star.

It's believed that every sun has planets orbiting it. Our Milky Way galaxy has more planets than it has stars. In our solar system we have eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are the inner rocky planets.

Jupiter and Saturn are the outer gas giants. Uranus and Neptune are the outer ice giants. In recent years, astronomers have designed a new class called the "dwarf planets."

These are smaller worlds, not quite big enough to be considered a standard planet, and include Pluto. Venus is the second planet from the sun.

Venus Statistics:

View on Maps: google.com/maps/space/venus

Distance from Sun: 67.24 million mi

Radius: 3,760 mi

Diameter: 7,520.8 mi

Orbital period: 225 days

Mass: 4.867 × 10^24 kg 0.815 M⊕

Surface Temperature: 462 °C

Number of Moons: None

First Recorded: 17th century BCE by Babylon astronomers

How did Venus get its name:

Throughout history, Venus was one of the planets that many civilizations recognized. Named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, it was also known by the Greeks as Aphrodite. All of the planets in our solar system are named after male gods or mythological creatures, with the exception of Venus.

It is the only planet named after a female and it's thought that it was because it is the brightest planet.

At one time, some of the astronomers in the ancient past thought that Venus was actually two stars.

This was due to the fact that it appeared as both the morning and the evening star. Because it was so bright, astronomers assumed that the planet itself must be beautiful.

However, once space exploration began, scientists realized that the planet had a horrible environment.

Many missions have been sent to Venus but it's almost impossible to get to the surface of the planet due to its extremely hot temperatures.

Formation and Rotation:

Around 4.5 billion years ago our solar system finally settled into its current configuration. What this means is that there were quite a few planets that were relocating from one place to another.

Scientists have a theory that we may have had other planets that were either thrown out into the universe or that collided and merged to create the current planets.

Venus formed when swirling gas and dust was pulled by gravity. Venus is a "terrestrial planet" and therefore has a central core, a rocky mantle and a solid crust.

Because they share similar gravity, composition, density, mass, and size, Earth and Venus have often been referred to as "twins." However, those are the only similarities between the two planets.

Venus' heat, combined with the inner pressures have given the planet over 1,600 volcanoes. While scientists think that most are dormant, there are some that may still be active.

Venus has the honor of being the only single planet in our solar system, other than our Earth, to have volcanic activity and the Venus has the most volcanoes. This makes it the single planet with the most volcanoes in the solar system.

Due to its slow rotation on its axis, one day on Venus takes 243 Earth-days to complete one rotation.

It is thought that billions of years ago, Venus might have had a similar climate as the one on Earth. Scientists think that there may have been large amounts of water, even big enough to create oceans on Venus.

However, the high temperatures on Venus that produce the extreme greenhouse effect, allowed the water to boil off. This left a planet that is too hostile and hot to sustain life as we know it.

Structure and Surface:

There are a lot of similarities between Venice and Earth, and one of the most notable is its structure. Venus has a 2,000 mi/3,200 km radius iron core.

Above the core is a mantle that consists of hot rock similar to lava that churns slowly due to the interior heat of the planet.

The surface is a bulging thin rock crust that moves as the mantle shifts. This movement creates the volcanoes.

Looking at Venus from out in space it appears as a very bright white color. This tone is due to the fact that Venus is covered in a thick layer of clouds that reflect the sunlight.

Peering through the clouds shows that the surface is covered in rocks and volcanoes. The rocks are various shades of grey and appear to be similar to those on Earth.

However, the thick atmosphere causes the sunlight and if you were standing on Venus, the rocks would look orange.

Venus is covered in valleys, mountains and tens of thousands of volcanoes. The tallest mountain on Venus is Maxwell Montes, standing over 20,000 ft/8.8 km high.

It is similar to Earth's highest mountain, Mount Everest. The landscape is rather dusty and the temperatures on the surface can reach as high as 880 degrees F/471 degrees C.

Scientists believe that the surface of Venus was completely changed as volcanic activity occurred 300-500 million years ago. Venus has two highland areas:

Ishtar Terra in the northern polar region, about the size of Australia; and Aphrodite Terra near the equator, about the size of South America. Aphrodite Terra is around 6,000 mi/10,000 km.

There are an enormous number of craters on Venus, however, none seem to be smaller than 0.9-1.2 mi (1.5-2 km) across.

The craters are caused by meteoroids striking the surface and since the smaller ones burn up in the dense atmosphere, only the biggest ones make it through to hit the surface.

Atmosphere. Magnetosphere, and Moon Status:

There are two broad layers of atmosphere on Venus including one layer that is a cloud bank covering the entire plant, and another that includes everything that is below the cloud bank.

The consistency of the clouds is very dense and they are made up of sulfuric acid and Sulphur dioxide. Between the mixtures and density, the clouds reflect around 60% of the sunlight that hits Venus back out into space.

Even though it's the second planet closest to the sun, it is the single hottest planet within our solar system.

The atmosphere of Venus is mostly made up of carbon dioxide and has clouds of sulfuric acid droplets. This thick atmosphere is responsible for trapping the heat of the sun and creates the intensely hot surface temperature of up to 880 degrees F/470 degrees C.

The atmosphere itself consists of many layers and the temperatures vary within each layer. Around 30 mi from the surface, the clouds have about the same temperature as we find on Earth's surface.

If you could stand on the ground on Venus, you would look around and it would appear like a very overcast and hazy day on Earth, however, due to the heavy atmosphere, you would feel like you were 1 mi/1.6 km under water.

One of the astounding things about Venus is that as it moves forward in its orbit around the sun combined with a backwards axis rotation, the clouds in the top level whip around the planet every 4 Earth days at hurricane-force winds of 224 mi/360 km per hour.

The lightning bursts in the atmosphere light up the clouds. The closer you get to the surface, the slower the cloud speed becomes so that those closest to the surface are only moving at a few mph.

The slow rotation of Venus makes the magnetic field a lot weaker than on Earth. Even though Earth and Venus share similar size and seem to have similarly-sized iron cores, Earth's faster rotation allows us a stronger magnetosphere.

Venus doesn't have any moons or rings.

Could Life Exist on Venus?

There have been no humans that have visited Venus, but there have been a few spacecraft that have been sent to the surface. Due to the extreme heat, the spacecraft have not survived very long as they overheat all of the electronics on the crafts.

These high temperatures are the reason that we don't believe that life could exist on the surface, however there are some scientists that speculate that there may be a possibility of life in the top cloud layers of the atmosphere of Venus. These upper cloud layers have less extreme temperatures.

Interesting Information:

As the second planet from the Sun, Venus is our closest neighbor in our solar system. Although very similar in size and structure to our Earth, Venus spins more slowly and in the opposite direction than most of the planets in our solar system.

Venus has a thick atmosphere that traps the heat from the sun giving it a "runaway greenhouse effect." It is the hottest planet in the solar system with surface temperatures hot in enough to melt lead and other metals.

The few glimpses that we have had of Venus below its dense clouds have shown badly deformed mountains and volcanoes.

Scientists have noted a rather odd thing about the rotation of Venus. It's rotation is in the opposite directions of most of the other planets, with only Uranus and Venus rotating clockwise.

This is called a "retrograde rotation," and is thought to have occurred when collisions happened back in its history of formation.

A collision with a major object could have been strong enough to change the rotations of the planets.

Venus is the only planet in our solar system named for a female, and to do this honor justice, almost all of the surface features on Venus carry the name for both real and mythological women of Earth.

There is a volcanic crater named for Sacajawea, the Native American woman who played a key role in guiding the Lewis and Clark exploration in America, and a deep canyon is called "Diana," after the Roman goddess of the hunt.

Space Missions to Venus:

Akatsuki 2010: The Venus Climate Orbiter mission (PLANET-C), or "AKATSUKI", is studying Venus' atmospheric circulation.

Venus Express 2005: The (ESA) European Space Agency's Venus Express is studying the Venus atmosphere including the surface to the ionosphere.

Galileo 1989: The orbiter included ten science instruments as well as an atmospheric probe to study Jupiter, its moons, and the magnetosphere as it orbited.

Magellan 1989: Accomplished its mission as the first to ever arrive and map Venus' entire surface.

Vega 2 1984: The sister spacecraft to Vega 1, with an almost identical mission as Vega 1.

Vega 1 1984: The most ambitious deep space mission by the Soviets with twin spacecraft designed with redundant mission goals.

Venera 16 1983: Soviet twins Venera 15 and 16 orbiters, the mission was to use radar to create a detailed map of the surface of Venus with a resolution of 1-2 km or around 1 mile.

Venera 15 1983: Soviet twins Venera 15 and 16 orbiters, the mission was to use radar to create a detailed map of the surface of Venus with a resolution of 1-2 km or around 1 mile.

Venera 14 1981: Identical to its twin, Venera 13, the Soviet mission of the spacecraft was carried out as it had three corrections midcourse on its way to Venus.

Venera 13 1981: Designed similarly to the previous Soviet twin missions, Venera 13 and 14 were spacecraft to accomplish Venus flybys.

Venera 12 1978: Soviet mission with a twin Venera 11, to accomplish a flyby and then a lander to explore the ionosphere, atmosphere, and surface of Venus.

Important Events:

On January 31, 2019, a research group from Japan identified a huge streak structure amidst the Venus clouds.

Using the observations from the Japanese spacecraft, Akatuski, the team used large-scale climate simulations to discover the origins of the structure.

Facts about Venus for Kids:

Venus has over 1,600 volcanoes, the most of any planet within the solar system.

It takes Venus 243 Earth days to make one complete rotation.

Compared to Earth's 365 days, it takes Venus only 224.7 Earth days to make one rotation around the sun.

The surface of Venus is so hot that it would melt lead and scientists call it a "runaway greenhouse effect."

If you could stand on the surface of Venus, the air pressure would be so extreme, that it would be like being under Earth's ocean half a mile down.

The only planets that we can visibly see cross in front of the sun called "transits" are Mercury and Venus.

Venus has wind storms that can get up to 450 mph/724 kph, which is faster than the largest Earth tornado.

Pop Culture:

Venus was named after the goddess of love and beauty, and the name has become synonymous in our society with "women."

An example of this was the book was written in 1992 by author John Gray, entitled "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus," where Gray referenced the two planets as a relationship guide for men and women.

Early 20th century science fiction writers also loved using Venus as a popular destination in their books.

This was, of course, before science had discovered how horrible the surface and atmosphere was.

In today's video games, Venus has been used as a backdrop for such games as Transhuman Space, Battlezone, and Destiny.

Even Disney fans will remember the animated film "The Princess and the Frog," where the firefly, Ray falls in love with Venus, "the evening star", whom he mistakes as another firefly.
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/venus/overview/ https://www.space.com/15988-venus-planet-weird-facts.html
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Venus Facts for Kids - Interesting Facts about Planet Venus

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Each time you look up to the sky and see a star you are looking at a sun in another galaxy. If you were on another planet looking back at our solar system, you would see our sun as a star. It's believed that every sun has planets orbiting it.

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Good morning Room 16   sorry I m not at school today but I ve got a sick boy who needs to go to the doctor this am    Have lots of fun creating on your padlet    how exciting   I ll check on you during the day   watch that 'space'   I m  zooming in from Earth

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You are going to add your main ideas, questions and most useful websites to this space.  Everyone in your class will be able to use this wall for thier research