Europa

Europa is one of 63 Jupiter moons located approximately 550 million Km’s from Earth. It is a ball of rock layered with water-ice and was discovered by Galileo in 1610. It is slightly smaller than our own moon but 5 times as bright. NASA’s Galileo space probe orbited the moon in 2003 revealing close-up images of scratch-like ridges and dark spots. The probe was low on fuel during its journey and was about to die so it was purposely put on a collision course towards Jupiter as not to contaminate the icy moon.

It is believed that beneath the surface of the ice which is 80-170 Km’s deep, that their could be: a) More ice but warmer or b) An ocean of liquid water with the potential of containing more water than that found in Earth’s oceans. However, the radiation from Jupiter is problematic and may cause the hindrance of life existing. Also, the pressures may be to extreme for harbouring life.

This moon is probably the most exciting moon of all. The unlimited possibilities that are offered in regards to a life-sustaining body in our solar system are endless. The fact that microbial life similar to that found in deep oceans of Earth would blow all theories of ‘there’s no life out there’ proverbially out of the water. NASA and ESA have proposed sending a probe to Europa to continue further tests of the moon by the year 2020.

FAR OUT FACT #04

Planetary Rotation: Every planet in the Solar system rotates anti-clockwise except for Venus, which rotates clockwise. It takes the Earth 24 hours to rotate on its axis but it takes Venus 243 Earth days to rotate on its axis.

Star Forming Nebulae

Some of the most beautiful visions in the night’s sky are stars and star forming nebulae. The formation of stars (suns) can be seen throughout our Galaxy, the Milky Way, and it is at the spiral arms and the Galactic centre that we can see an abundance of the ingredients, such as gas (mainly Hydrogen) and dust, required to make the nebulae. Molecular clouds form from the ingredients, or interstellar matter, and collapse due to cooling and gravitational pressure. Through nuclear fusion, a star is born and the beautiful shape and colours are created.

There are many beautiful nebulae in the sky such as, the Great Orion Nebula, the Elephant’s Trunk, the Eagle Nebula and the Crab Nebula (pictured at bottom of the page) are all stunning images.

I find the Horsehead Nebula (pictured above), which resembles a knight on a cheesboard, to be the most stunning of them all. It is located in the Orion constellation and it was discovered in 1888. It unique shape was probably caused by magnetic fields within the dark and cold nebula, and radiation from a nearby hot young star called Sigma Orionis.

FAR OUT FACT #03

Image via Wikipedia

Earth-like Atmosphere on Mars: The Phoenix robotic space explorer detected snow falling from the clouds on the planet Mars. The explorer also took photographs of whirlwinds from storms on the surface of the red planet.

Planetary Orbits of the Solar System

In order to measure the orbits of the Solar System, the easiest way is to use Earth days and years as units. The distance of each planet from the Sun determines the time for a planet to fully orbit the sun. For example, a year (the time it takes for a planet to orbit the Sun) on Mars takes 687 Earth days to complete. The inner planets, such as Mercury and Venus, orbit a lot faster than the outer planets, such as Uranus and Neptune, and therefore cause a difference in the speed of the orbits of each planet. The planets vary in solar orbit and distance from the sun as follows:

Mercury- 88 Earth days to orbit, at an average of 5.9 million km’s from the Sun.
Venus- 224.7 Earth days to orbit, at an average of 108.2 million km’s from the Sun.
Earth- 365.26 Earth days to orbit, at an average of 149.6 million km’s from the Sun.
Mars- 687 Earth days to orbit, at an average of 227.9 million km’s from the Sun.
Jupiter- 11.86 Earth years to orbit, at an average of 778.4 million km’s from the Sun.
Saturn- 29.46 Earth years to orbit, at an average of 1.4 billion km’s from the Sun.
Uranus- 84.01 Earth years to orbit, at an average of 2.9 billion km’s from the Sun.
Neptune- 164.8 Earth years to orbit, at an average of 4.5 billon km’s from the Sun.

FAR OUT FACT #02

Image via Wikipedia

Time Travel Theory: It takes 8 minutes for the Sun’s light to reach the Earth. So, if an explosion occured on the Sun we would see it 8 minutes after it happened. If a method is developed so that we could travel/observe faster than the speed of light, or the light that leaves the Sun in the above case, we would then be able to travel/observe back in time or be able to see the explosion before it actually happens.

Dwarf Planets

There are three known dwarf planets in our Solar System: Pluto, Eris and Ceres. Up until the year 2006 Pluto was considered to be a regular planet as it has the similar traits of a planet. It has sufficient mass, Gravity, is not a satellite (moon), and it orbits the Sun. However, the International Astronomical Union officially defines a planet as 'a body that has cleared the neighbourhood round its orbit'. These three dwarf planets do not satisfy the latter and are therefore considered to be dwarves.

Pluto is small and cold with a diameter of 2,304 km’s and a temperature of -230 degrees Celsius. It is composed of rock and ice (methane and water) and has a Nitrogen rich atmosphere (99.97%). Pluto has 3 moons; Charon, Hydra and Nix. Eris, which has a diameter of 2,400 km’s (slightly larger than Pluto), also has a moon named Dysnomia and is found in the regions of the Kuiper Belt. Ceres is a spherical Asteroid with a diameter of 960 km’s. Very little is known about these dwarf planets and the first spacecraft to visit Pluto has been launched but will only arrive there in the year 2015.