PV Gap

Peter Said:

Why is Venus the best planet in the solar system?

We Answered:

It is?

Anita Said:

Space, Moon, and solar system?

We Answered:

Not to be rude, but you're sitting in front of the best machine in the world for finding those things out! Try wikipedia for starters. There's tons of books at the library too.

Solar System: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, asteroid belt, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and the no-longer-called-a-planet Pluto. There are also two more Pluto-ish planetoids, one around the asteroid belt and another beyond Pluto.

Mercury is the hottest planet but I don't think has any atmosphere. Venus has a thick atmosphere and it's always cloudy (with what?) and super hot too. Mars is colder than Earth but could support life at those temperatures. The remaining planets are just gas and cannot be landed on. The coldest planet (ok not) is Pluto where it's like 200 below zero all the time. It's just too far away for sunlight to make any effect. In fact, from Pluto, the sun appears about as bright as the moon does in our night sky.

The earth rotates on its axis every day. The moon does not rotate and the same side always faces the earth. The "dark side" of the moon isn't always dark, it's just the side we never see from Earth. It wasn't until the 1960's that the Lunar missions actually got to fly past the dark side of the moon to take a look. To our relief there were no alien armadas or space bases there.

Lois Said:

Need Facts about planets?

We Answered:

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/starwar…
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/o…
http://www.open2.net/home/view?entityid=…

Salvador Said:

Facts about the solar system?

We Answered:

Well Pluto is not considered as a planet anymore but I will include it because you said nine planets.

The names of the planets in order, (starting with the one closest to the Sun are:

Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto

The names of the planets from largest to smallest are:

Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Earth
Venus
Mars
Mercury
Pluto

Mercury and Venus have no Moons

The Earth has one Moon
Mars has two Moons
Jupiter has 4 major moons
Saturn has the most Moons in the Solar System:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moons_of_Sa…
Uranus has 5 major moons
Neptune has 13 moons.
Pluto has 1 moon, (Charon).

Venus is hotter then Mercury because of the greenhouse effect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_…

Mercury: 430 Degrees Celsius
Venus: 470 Degrees Celsius
Earth: 15 Degrees Celsius
Mars: -50 Degrees Celsius
Jupiter: -150 Degrees Celsius
Saturn: -180 Degrees Celsius
Uranus: -210 Degrees Celsius
Neptune: -220 Degrees Celsius
Pluto: -230 Degrees Celsius


Diameter:

Mercury: 5,000 km
Venus: 12,000 km
Earth: 12,800 km
Mars: 7,000 km
Jupiter: 140,000 km
Saturn: 120,000 km
Uranus: 52,000 km
Neptune: 50,000 km
Pluto: 3,000 km


Sun - Planet Distance:

Mercury: 60,000,000 km
Venus: 110,000,000 km
Earth: 150,000,000 km, 93,000,000 miles, 1 AU, (Astronomical Unit)
Mars: 230,000,000 km
Jupiter: 780,000,000 km
Saturn: 1,400,000,000 km
Uranus: 2,900,000,000 km
Neptune: 4,500,000,000 km
Pluto: 6,000,000,000 km


Orbital period:

Mercury: 88 days
Venus: 220 days
Earth: 365.25 days
Mars: 2 years
Jupiter: 12 years
Saturn: 30 years
Uranus: 84 years
Neptune: 160 years
Pluto: 250 years


Planet's day, (1 spin):

Mercury: 1,400 hours
Venus: 5,800 hours
Earth: 24 hours
Mars: 25 hours
Jupiter: 10 hours
Saturn: 10 hours
Uranus: 17 hours
Neptune: 16 hours
Pluto: 150 hours

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, (the four largest planets) have all got rings. Saturn's rings being the largest.

Mercury is a small planet, about the same size as our Moon. It has a rocky surface which is covered in craters.

Venus is almost the same size as Earth. It has a rocky surface which is covered in thick clouds of sulphuric acid. The atmosphere is mainly carbon dioxide.

Earth is a blue planet with swirls of cloud from Space and is the only planet with life. It is the right distance from the Sun, with the right chemicals to support life.

Mars, (the red planet) is a dry cold desert of red rocks, with huge mountains and canyons. It has a thin atmosphere of carbon dioxide and 2 small moons, (Phobos and Deimos). Mars was the first other planet to be visited by a space-craft.

Jupiter is the largest planet. It has no solid surface. It is mainly liquid hydrogen and helium. The Giant Red Spot is a storm three times the size of Earth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Red_S…

Saturn is another 'gas giant' very like Jupiter. Her beautiful rings are not solid. They are made of billions of chunks of ice and rock that held together by the pull of Saturn's gravity.

Uranus is another 'gas giant' made of hydrogen and helium. Unlike the other planets it is on its side as it orbits the Sun.

Neptune is very like Uranus, it has a dark spot that is a storm the size of Earth.

Pluto is the smallest planet. It has a rocky surface. It has a very thin atmosphere of Methane.


Pluto is the only planet that has not been visited by a space-craft. New Horizons will go past Pluto in 2015.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Horizon…

Lightning Bolts are the same temperature as the surface of the Sun.

Our Moon was landed on on July 20th 1969 by Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.

All of the planets orbit the Sun as an ellipse, (an oval) Pluto being the most elliptical sometimes overtakes Neptune.

The Sun looks 2.5 times larger from Mercury.

Saturn would float if emerged in an ocean as it is less dense than water.

The Asteroid Belt separates the four inner planets from the five outer planets.

Liquid in space will form into a sphere because of the surface tension.

Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the Solar System.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_Mon…

We know more about Space then the deep oceans.

The odds of being killed by Space Debris is 1 in 5 Billion.

One couple got married in Space.

Sound doesn't exist in space because there is no medium for the sound to travel.

The Sun:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun

Titan's, (Saturn's Moon) Surface:
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl…

Space:

Julia Said:

What's the best proof that other planets exist?

We Answered:

Astronomers have now detected nearly 350 extra-solar planets. At least one of them has been photographed, and at least one other has been imaged using infrared light (third link). There are several other ways in which planets are detected. The first link gives the numbers for the various ways planets have been found, and the second gives a slightly outdated list of them all.

Just because a person hasn't 'seen' something does not mean that it doesn't exist. People can't see atoms, gravity, genes, bacteria, negative numbers, radio waves, infrared light, or the back of their head, but these things are all there. Your girlfriend can either believe the experts or not, but her opinion is pretty irrelevant to the situation.

Jeffery Said:

do all other planets in our solar system have day and night cycle like earth??

We Answered:

I suggest you start reading Science magazine, which has many
topics and categories in astro-physics, planetary science, and many other sub-divisions of the entire world of physics, focusing
on astronomy.
There are other publications to consider as well.
NASA(National Aeronautics and Space Administration) also has
some vital data concerning the entire universe we live in, and
you might be lucky enough to google in their web site, I don't
know what their current URL is, I'm sure it must be listed under
a nasa.gov.org (a guess) or something close to that.
They may have a contact (email address) that you may ask this
question direct, and get your answer that way.

I can only give you my opinion, and it may not be the most accurate, as I have no hard proof or evidence to back up my assertions.
I would think each planet in our solar system has its own orbit,
just like earth does, so it would follow that the rest of the planets have their own day and night cycles, again just like earth, I see no reason to defer from that opinion, unless some of the planets
do not revolve around the sun on a 360 degree curvature.

I wish I could give you a more definitive answer, but at present, I'm not entirely skilled in the astro-sciences, and I do not wish to
make erroneous statements about someting that I don't know too much about.

Thats my message, good luck.



Donald H. Sites
sueanddon350@sbcglobal.net

PS: Try some of these big think tanks Cato Institute, Washington D.C., Stanford Research Institute (SRI) Palo Alto, California
California Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California,
California Polytechnic Institute, San Luis Obispo, Ca. are a
few resources to tap. If I was doing a college paper, thats what I would do, is to arrange interviews (if possible) and talk to the actual people who do the analysis and evaluations of all the space shots and satellites.
NASA/Ames Laboratories here in Mountain View, Ca is another
source to tap.