The urge to explore the unknown is a fundamental part of
human nature. It enriches our spirit and reminds us of
humanity's great potential. There are commercial and
technological advantages to space exploration, too.
In physics, Planck's Law describes how a perfect radiator (a blackbody) radiates light at all colors of light as determined by its temperature. While Pluto, Neptune, and the distant planets (and stars) are not perfect blackbodies, they are close enough that we can make fairly accurate measurements of their temperatures by looking at the light emitted by them in the near infrared, beyond those wavelengths where reflected light from the Sun is significant.
The age of the planets, on the other hand, is something that is estimated on the basis of theory. We have measured the age of rocks from Earth, the Moon, and Mars, and the oldest rocks all show a maximum estimated age of several billion years. Our theories lead us to believe that all the planets formed at essentially the same time, and that the age of the Earth and the other solar system planets is about 4.5 to 4.6 billion years.
Our sister forum, the Sun-Earth Connection, is devoted to
research and education about our home planet's relationship with its star. NASA also has a division devoted entirely to the study
of Earth: the Earth Science Enterprise.
Life as we know it can only exist with the presence of liquid water, organic compounds and a source of energy (such as
sunlight). So far, scientists have found those elements in the right combinations only on Earth. But certain locations in our solar
system hold at least pieces of the puzzle of life - Mars, comets and, possibly, Jupiter's moon Europa. Mars is the most likely
location for life.
Learn more >>
Four NASA spacecraft are currently on a trajectory that will take them out of our solar system and into interstellar space.
Pioneer 11 ran out of
power and lost contact with Earth in 1995. NASA remains in contact with the other three spacecraft:
Pioneer 10,
Voyager 1 and
Voyager 2.
According to NASA's Cosmic and Heliospheric Learning Center: "If you are talking about an 'exact' line, it has probably never happened. Even having all 9 planets in a rough line is very infrequent (millions of years, depending upon how "rough" a line you're willing to take)."
It is possible, however, for several of the planets visible to the naked eye to appear in a relatively straight line. Though it is not an official NASA website, I recommend exploring astronomer Phil Plait's "Bad Astronomy" website. He addresses several misconceptions about planetary alignments: http://www.badastronomy.com.Hope this helps. Good luck with your research.
The difference between a solar system and a galaxy is scale. A solar system is a tiny part of a galaxy.
Galaxies are star systems made up of hundreds of thousands or even billions of stars in addition to gas and dust.
A solar system is a group of planets and other objects (comets, asteroids, etc.) in orbit around a star. We call our star the
Sun. Our solar system is located inside the Milky Way Galaxy. There are billions of galaxies and countless stars in the universe.
The Cosmic Distance Scale helps
put it all in perspective.
Yes. Most NASA material is not copyrighted. However, there are certain rules if you intend to use the image or the NASA
logo for commercial purposes. More information is available on our Copyright
page.
Well, the sky is blue because that's the color that the particles in the air break up the light waves, the rays of light coming at the Earth from the Sun. But in space, there is no air, and thus no particles, that can break up the light in the same way. That's why it's called space. So the light waves travel through space and once they hit a planet or anything made up of particles (which is anything but space), they're broken up into different colors.
Actually, there is gravity in space! Yeah, I know, that's not what you heard. If there was no gravity, astronauts and spaceships would shoot out into space the minute they left the Earth's atmostphere. Gravity is what holds all the planets, asteroids and moons in place.
We're glad to hear you're interested in the Solar System. Here's a start on what you're looking for and a couple of places to get information for your report: The nine planets, with the exception of Earth are named for the gods of ancient mythology: Mercury- The Winged Messenger; Venus- Goddess of Love and Beauty; Earth - The name is old English and Germanic.; Mars - God of War; Jupiter - King of the Gods; Saturn - God of Agriculture; Uranus - God of the Heavens; Neptune - God of the Sea; Pluto - God of the Underworld.
For more details, I suggest you visit Bill Arnett's excellent website, The Nine Planets: http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/nineplanets.html. If you haven't explored them already, our website has an extensive information on each Planet. And don't forget the local library.
The DSN has three sites located approximately 120 degrees of longitude apart around the world in California (in the Mojave Desert), in Spain (near Madrid) and in Australia (near Canberra). For more information, visit http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/antennas/index.html.
Yes, that's exactly it. We were also looking for dry climate, desert-like environments, and isolated locations with plenty of room. It isn't perfect. Spain, I think, is slightly closer to Goldstone than Canberra, but it's good as we get. Because there was a third consideration, and that was a friendly nation with long-term political stability. So all those things had to be taken into account.
If we only had one antenna site, as the Earth rotated, any spacecraft we were communicating with could only be in 'line of sight' with that one location for a maximum of 10 - 12 hours a day. The rest of the time the one site would be turned away from the spacecraft because the Earth rotated. By having three sites, as the Earth rotates, the first antenna site 'hands off' the tracking to the next site, thereby maintaining constant communications. So California hands off to Canberra, and Canberra to Madrid, then back to California.
Images, as well as other instrument data, is transmitted by a low power transmitter on board the spacecraft using microwave radio frequencies. The data is converted by an on board computer to binary code (0's and 1's) and sent as a digital 'bitstream'. (See the web site http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/tutor/index.html.)
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) decides on names for things in the Solar System, such as planets, asteroids, and moons. Dr. Aksnes is the chairman of the group that decides on names for planetary systems and what's in them. I asked Dr. Aksnes your question, and was told that in English, the Solar System (centered on the Sun) is also referred to as the Planetary System. Corresponding terms are used in other languages. Dr. Aksnes was not aware of any other names for the Solar System. Without capitalization, the terms solar system and planetary system may refer to any other systems around a star.
It depends on whether you are asking what is the temperature "of" space, or the temperature of things that are "in" space. Strictly speaking, space really doesnt have any temperature since it is mostly empty. Only things that can be found in space such as atoms and ions, have any temperature. Near Earth and the Moon, if you are in direct sunlight, you could heat up to 250 degrees F (121 degrees C). This is hotter than boiling water at 212 degrees F (100 degrees C). In the shade, it can cool to around -250 degrees F (-156 degrees C). This is why astronauts must wear thermal space suits.
Unfortunately, no. Spacecraft signals are very weak by the time they reach Earth which is why we need the huge reflector dishes of the Deep Space Network antennas as well as the sophisticated amplifiers and other signal enhancing electronics to hear them. Amateur radio equipment and antennas cannot receive such weak signals.
We are actually oversubscribed in that we have more tracking hours required than we are able to provide. What we do in this case is to work very closely with the flight projects and get them to work together to try to meet the bulk of their requirements. In addition, we are currently building a new antenna in Madrid to help with the load.
Here are a couple of books that another NASA site recommended.
Melton, Melanie. Will Black Holes Devour the Universe? and 100 Other Questions and Answers about Astronomy. 1994, Kalmbach Books.
Mitton, Simon and Jacqueline. The Young Oxford Book of Astronomy. 1995, Oxford University Press.
Dr. Terry Martin, a research scientist in the Earth and Planetary Atmospheres division at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, recommends:
Beatty, J. Kelley and Andrew Chaikin, Eds. The New Solar System. 1990, Sky Publishing Corporation & Cambridge University Press.
Ive always liked the Reader's Digest Children's Atlas of the Universe. It has photos and experiments and sky charts, and youre probably sure to find it at your local library.
Galaxies are star systems made up of hundreds of thousands or even billions of stars in addition to gas and dust. A solar system is a group of planets and other objects (comets, asteroids, etc.) in orbit around a star. We call our star the Sun. Our solar system is located inside the Milky Way Galaxy. There are billions of galaxies and countless stars in the universe. This link helps put it all in perspective: http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/cosmic/cosmic.html Hope this settles the debate.
More Questions 
