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~ Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system.

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~ Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system.

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~is has a molten core.
~ is only the second hottest planet.

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~ is the second brightest natural  object in the sky...
~ is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty.
~ Venus is sometimes referred to as the “morning star” and “evening star”. ...

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~he Earth is the densest planet in the Solar System.
~The Earth's rotation is gradually slowing.
~Earth is the only planet not named after a god. ...

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Planning anything special for this year's Earth Day? Here's something pretty extraordinary to do: Adopt a piece of our planet. NASA wants to help you do it.

This is no joke. The space agency is putting Earth up for adoption ― 64,000 pieces of it. All you do is type your name into the site, click the ADOPT! button, and your certificate is instantly generated.

According to NASA's "Adopt The Planet" site, here's what you'll get in return:

Adopt a piece of Earth as seen from space. Your personalized adoption certificate will feature data from NASA's Earth-observing satellites for a randomly assigned location. Print it and share it, then explore other locations with our interactive map and get even more Earth science data from NASA's Worldview website.

Your little slice of Earth ― an average of 55 miles wide ― will show you the local air quality, vegetation and other relevant environmental information. You can print and share your NASA certificate on social media.

You don't even have to wait until April 22 ― Earth Day ― to adopt your piece of the planet. NASA is rolling out the adoption certificates right now.

Here's an example of one:

Keep in mind, especially if you have a hankering for acquiring interesting pieces of real estate, you won't actually own the 55-mile piece of Earth property, and there aren't any legal or ownership rights to this program, so don't get any ideas of putting up a "For Sale" sign.

This is all about making as many people as possible keenly aware of what's going on in their 55-mile-wide piece of acreage and sharing the information with whoever they wish, as reported by Detroit ABC News affiliate WXYZ-TV below.

Gizmodo speculates that NASA may quietly hope that extraterrestrials will want to get in on the act and adopt Earth all for themselves. So, HuffPost contacted NASA to see if they have any alien agenda for Earth Day.

"With this year's Adopt The Planet Earth Day activity, we're really focused on terrestrial adopters and sharing with our fellow inhabitants some of the wealth of NASA data we have freely available about our great Blue Marble," Stephen E. Cole, of NASA's Earth Science Communications, told HuffPost.

"We'll cross the bridge to opening this up to extraterrestrials (with good internet connections) down the road once some of our projects searching for life in the cosmos bear fruit," he said.

To further impress upon earthlings how incredible our world is, on April 26, NASA plans to present the first live-stream views in 4K Ultra HD of Earth from space, reports Variety.

The live feed, co-produced with Amazon Web Services, will originate 250 miles above Earth and offer viewers never-before-seen visual resolution of Earth.

ALSO ON HUFFPOST

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This Earth Day, You Can Adopt A Piece Of The Planet

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Planning anything special for this year's Earth Day? Here's something pretty extraordinary to do: Adopt a piece of our planet. NASA wants to help you do it. This is no joke. The space agency is putting Earth up for adoption ― 64,000 pieces of it.

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~is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere composed primarily of carbon dioxide.
~is often described as the “Red Planet” due to its reddish appearance.
~ Named after the Roman god of war

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Mars is a lousy place to try to live-what with the paralyzing cold, the blistering radiation and the thin carbon dioxide atmosphere. That hasn't stopped us from looking for life on Mars or from hoping to live there ourselves one day. The Red Planet was once a watery world like ours, after all, with oceans and seas and rushing river valleys. Microbial life that got started in those days could, scientists theorize, still be holding on in pockets today.

That theory may well be a good one, but the odds just got a lot slimmer. According to a new study in Scientific Reports, the Martian soil itself may be toxic to bacteria. Any microorganisms that could have emerged in the past would be poisoned to death today.

When the Viking 1 and 2 spacecraft landed on Mars in 1976, they detected what appeared to be perchlorates in the Martian soil, and three subsequent spacecraft, including the Curiosity rover, which is still hard at work on the Red Planet, confirmed that finding. A highly oxidized form of chlorine, perchlorates can serve as an energy source for bacteria-a simple food that helps them live off the land. What's more, like common salts, perchlorates lower the melting point of water, allowing it to exist in life-friendly liquid form. The problem is, perchlorates can also be toxic to bacteria, depending on the presence of ultraviolet radiation-which, unfortunately, bathes Mars continuously.

To determine whether the compound is a good thing or a bad thing for life, postgraduate student Jennifer Wadsworth and professor Charles Cockell, both of the University of Edinburgh's School of Physics and Astronomy, decided to create a little bit of Mars in the lab to see if a type of common Earthly bacterium- Bacillus subtilis -survived. Wadsworth and Cockell first steeped the bacteria in a watery solution of magnesium perchlorate, the type most commonly found on Mars, and in roughly the same concentrations. They then exposed it to ultraviolet radiation in the same general wavelength as that which bathes Mars. The standard they used to measure how the bacteria fared was as generous as it could possibly be: viability was considered anything more than zero surviving cells.

Even that low bar, however, was impossible to clear on the simulated Mars. The irradiated cells in the perchlorate solution were completely sterilized within 30 seconds. Radiated cells without the perchlorate did better, but not meaningfully so: it took just 60 seconds for the colony to be wiped out.

Actual cells on the actual Mars, however, might have an edge, because liquid water does not pool on the surface. To approximate Mars more closely, the researchers next deposited the cells within simulated rocks-actually silicate disks-in a dry perchlorate environment. Those cells fared better when they were hit with radiation, with the number of surviving bacteria falling 9.1 fold-bad, but better than the 100% wipeout. Cells bathed in radiation without the perchlorate experienced just a two-fold fall-off. There is nothing chemically protective about the silica, the researchers believe; it's simply that it's harder for the radiation to penetrate the solid disks.

Overall however, Wadsworth and Cockell wrote, "the surface of Mars is lethal to vegetative cells and renders much of the surface and near-surface regions uninhabitable."

But "much" of the surface isn't all of the surface, and there are a few things that work in the bacteria's favor. For starters, there's the cold. The investigators initially conducted their experiment at a comfortable 77° F (25° C), a temperature at which the bacteria succumbed fast. But when they dropped it to just over 39° F (4° C), the bacterial loss was reduced tenfold. Peak surface temperatures on Mars can reach nearly 76° F (22° C), but average temperature across the planet is a vastly colder -67° F (-55° C).

Somewhere between the too-warm temperature at which the perchlorate would be deadly and the too-cold point where bacteria would freeze to death anyway, there should be a comfort zone. Other variables, such as the concentration of perchlorate-which is not consistent everywhere on Mars-and protection that subsurface bacteria would have from ultraviolet radiation might also allow for pockets of life.

If there was any upside to the findings, it was in the type of cells Wadsworth and Cockell used in their study. Bacillus subtilis are among the commonest Earthly bacteria that can contaminate spacecraft before they leave the ground. The fear has always been that if they survived the interplanetary trip, the cells could contaminate Mars too, perhaps outcompeting native organisms. The fact that Mars is so unfriendly to at least this one type of life is very good news. The fact that it could be similarly hostile to all life is decidedly less so.

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Mars is a lousy place to try to live-what with the paralyzing cold, the blistering radiation and the thin carbon dioxide atmosphere. That hasn't stopped us from looking for life on Mars or from hoping to live there ourselves one day.

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~The planet Jupiter is the fifth planet out from the Sun.
~It is made primarily of gases and is therefore known as a “gas giant”.

~is two and a half times more massive than all the other planets in the solar system combined.

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Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a giant planet with a mass one-thousandth that of the Sun, but two-and-a-half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined.

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~is the second largest planet.
~is best known for its fabulous ring system that was first observed in 1610 by the astronomer Galileo Galilei.
~ is a gas giant and is composed of similar gasses including hydrogen, helium and methane.

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~Uranus turns on its axis once every 17 hours, 14 minutes.  ~Uranus was officially discovered by Sir William Herschel in 1781.
~Uranus is often referred to as an “ice giant” planet

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Dr Jon Eggert, of the Laser Shock Equation of State (EOS) group in the Department of Physical and Life Sciences Directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, said: "The idea of significant quantities of pure carbon existing in giant planets such as Uranus and Neptune has gained both experimental and theoretical support.

"It is now accepted that the high-pressure, high-temperature behaviour of carbon is essential to predicting the evolution and structure of such planets.

"An ocean of diamond could help explain the orientation of Uranus' and Neptune's magnetic field."

The researchers took a half-millimetre wide diamond a tenth of a carat in weight and blasted it with lasers at high pressure, similar to that which found on Uranus and Neptune.

The diamond was liquified at pressures 40 million-times greater than at sea-level on Earth, and from there the scientists slowly reduced the temperature and pressure.

When the pressure fell to only 11 million-times Earth sea level and temperatures dipped to 50,000 degress Celsius, solid chunks of diamond began to appear in the liquid.

As the pressure continued to drop more and more chunks formed in the liquid diamond, and did not sink.

With most materials the solid state is more dense than the liquid state - with water one of the few exceptions.

Dr Eggert went on: "Diamond is relatively common material on Earth, but its melting point has never been measured.

"You can't just raise the temperature and have it melt, you also have to go to very high pressures, which makes it very difficult to measure the temperatures."

The new article is published in the journal Nature Physics.

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'Oceans of diamonds' on Uranus and Neptune

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Dr Jon Eggert, of the Laser Shock Equation of State (EOS) group in the Department of Physical and Life Sciences Directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, said: "The idea of significant quantities of pure carbon existing in giant planets such as Uranus and Neptune has gained both experimental and theoretical support.

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~Neptune is the Roman God of the Sea.
~it takes Neptune 164.8 Earth years to orbit the Sun.
~Neptune has the second largest gravity of any planet in the solar system – second only to Jupiter.

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Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun in the Solar System. In the Solar System, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times the mass of Earth and slightly larger than Neptune.

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~Millions of meteoroids travel through Earth's atmosphere each day

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~Millions of meteoroids travel through Earth's atmosphere each day

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~The appearance of a number of meteors occurring in the same part of the sky over a period of time is called “meteor shower”.
~The appearance of a number of meteors occurring in the same part of the sky over a period of time is called “meteor shower”.
~Meteroids are Rocky or iron.

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Find GIFs with the latest and newest hashtags! Search, discover and share your favorite Meteoroide GIFs. The best GIFs are on GIPHY.

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~Asteroids are small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun.

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~Asteroids are small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun.

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~There are currently over 600,000 known asteroids in our solar system.
~The first asteroid was Ceres, discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi in 1801.
~Some reflect light well , others are black as coal.
~Can be any size from tens of meters across to nearly 1/4 the diameter of our moon.

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~There are eight planets in the Solar System.                ~The inner planets (also known as terrestrial planets) are smaller and made mostly of rock and metal.

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~There are eight planets in the Solar System.                ~The inner planets (also known as terrestrial planets) are smaller and made mostly of rock and metal.

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~The solar system includes the Sun and all the objects that orbit around it due to its gravity.
~The Solar System formed around 4.6 billion years ago.

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~As a meteoroid travels through our atmosphere, it is heated by friction.
~when a meteor encounters our atmosphere and is vaporized, it leaves behind a trail. That “burning” meteoroid is called a meteor.
~Showers occur when Earth’s orbit crosses the path of a comet’s orbit.

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Earth is bombarded with millions of tons of space material each day. Most of the objects vaporize in our atmosphere, but some of the larger pieces (from pebbles to boulder-sized rocks) actually fall to the ground. Most of the objects come from asteroids, which are objects made of various types of rock and have existed since the origin of the solar system. A small rocky or metallic chunk of material that travels through space is called a meteoroid. Very small meteoroids (the size of dust) are often referred to as micrometeoroids or space dust. These fragments may also be leftover comet debris, or were ejected in collisions between other solar system bodies such as the Moon or Mars.

As a meteoroid travels through our atmosphere, it is heated by friction. That causes it to glow, and if this happens at night, we see a long streak of light known as a meteor.

If the object survives the trip and falls to Earth's surface, it is known as a meteorite. Many of these fall into the ocean (since about 71% of Earth's surface is covered by water). The rest fall on land, where they await discovery by meteorite hunters.

Facts about Meteorites

Millions of meteoroids travel through Earth's atmosphere each day.

When a meteor encounters our atmosphere and is vaporized, it leaves behind a trail. That "burning" meteoroid is called a meteor.

The appearance of a number of meteors occurring in the same part of the sky over a period of time is called "meteor shower".

Many meteor showers are associated with comets, which leave behind debris as they orbit through the solar system. Showers occur when Earth's orbit crosses the path of a comet's orbit.

Most meteorites are one of three types: stony, stony-iron, or iron. These compositions tell us where the meteoroid existed in its parent body. An iron or stony iron was close to the core of an asteroid, while a stony object was closer to the surface.

Types of Meteorites

Meteorites are fragments of asteroids that fall to ground on Earth. Scientists classify these objects according to their chemical makeup (what chemicals exist in them), their isotopic compositions (the types of each chemical element they contain), and their mineralogy (the minerals they contain).

Beyond those classifications, meteorites are also sorted as stony (made of rocky material), metallic (whether they contain iron), and mixtures (stony-irons). Those three classes can be divided even further. For example, pallasite meteorites are a class of stony-iron meteorites that are made mostly of nickel and iron, but also contain olivine crystals (a commonly found crystal on Earth).

Famous Meteorites

Over the course of Earth's history, many meteorites (large and small) have fallen to our planet's surface. The most famous are the Allende, the Fukang, Hoba, and the Willamette Meteorite.

The Allende Meteorite fell to Earth in a fireball on February 8, 1969. It was originally about the size of a car, and pieces were strewn across the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It has become one of the most-studied meteorites of all time, and is an excellent example of a carbonaceous chondrite. These types of meteorites date back to the formation of the Sun and Planets, and are among the most primitive solar system materials around. They are made mostly of silicates, oxides, sulfides, water, organic compounds and various minerals.

The Fukang Meteorite is one of the best examples of a pallasite, a type of stony-iron meteorite. Because of its large gem-like olivine crystals, pieces of this meteorite are much in demand by collectors.

The Hoba Meteorite was found in Namibia (in Africa). It is a very large, 60-tone rock, which makes it nearly impossible to move. It has been declared a National Monument in Namibia, and is one of the rare meteorites that is also part of a tourist site. Meteorite experts think Hoban fell about 80,000 years ago. It is mostly iron, with some nickel and traces of other elements.

The Willamette Meteorite weighs 15.5 tons and is the largest ever found in the United States.

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Meteorite Facts 🌠 - Interesting Facts about Meteorites - Space Facts

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What is a Meteorite? Earth is bombarded with millions of tons of space material each day. Most of the objects vaporize in our atmosphere, but some of the larger pieces (from pebbles to boulder-sized rocks) actually fall to the ground. Most of the objects come from asteroids, which are objects made of various types of ...