SPACE
by Sienna Zongas
1. The terrestrial planets in our solar system orbit relatively close to the Sun, this gives them their other name; the “Inner Planets”
2. Comet Naming
3. The width of the path of totality is usually about 160 km across and can sweep across an area of Earth’s surface about 10,000 miles long.
4. Some asteroids in the Belt are quite large, but most range in size down to pebbles.
5. THEORYS
5.1. The Lucifer project.
5.2. the velikovsky theory
5.3. HAARP
5.4. The eye of Saturn
5.5. the moon landing
5.6. Hubble telescope
5.7. comet landing
5.8. climate change
5.9. Obama has been to marz
5.10. marz/nuclear explosion
5.11. colony on marz
5.12. nasa cut off
6. DWARF PLANETS
6.1. Ceres
6.2. pluto
6.3. haumea
6.4. makemake
6.5. eris
7. MOON TYPES
7.1. waxing crecesnt moon
7.2. new moon
7.3. luna moon
7.4. first quater moon
7.5. waxing gibbon moon
7.6. full moon
7.7. waning gibbus moon
8. Life on Other Planets?
8.1. Extra terrestrial life
9. UFO's
9.1. http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/ufo-sighting-bizarre-sight-shooting-across-the-north-queensland-sky-captured-by-photographer/news-story/7de415c1cbee737e810c9eccfcdcb97e
9.1.1. UFO sightings
10. terrestrial planets
10.1. what are terrestrial planets?
11. STARS
11.1. white dwarf
11.2. compact star
11.3. wolf rayet star
11.4. pulsar
11.5. double star
12. ASTEROID BELT
12.1. What is the asteroid belt?
12.2. The vast majority of asteroids in the solar system are found in a region of the solar system out beyond Mars. They form the Asteroid Belt. Others orbit in near-Earth space and a few migrate or are thrown out to the outer solar system by gravitational interactions. The four largest asteroids in the belt are Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea. They contain half the mass of the entire belt. The rest of the mass is contained in countless smaller bodies. There was a theory once that if you combined all the asteroids they would make up the missing “Fifth” rocky planet. Planetary scientists estimate that if you could put all that material together that exists there today, it would make a tiny world smaller than Earth’s moon.
12.3. Where is the asteroid belt located?
12.4. The Asteroid Belt is located in an area of space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. That places it between 2.2 and 3.2 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun. The belt is about 1 AU thick. The average distance between objects in the Asteroid Belt is quite large. If you could stand on an asteroid and look around, the next one would be too far away to see very well.
12.5. Asteroid Mining
12.6. The solar system contains many different types of asteroids, grouped by the minerals they contain. The abundances of precious metals such as nickel, iron, and titanium (to name a few), and water make asteroids an attractive target for mining operations when humans decide to expand their presence through interplanetary space. For example, water from asteroids could serve colonies in space, while the minerals and metals would be used to build habitats and grow food for future space colony inhabitants. Beginning 2013, companies interested in asteroid mining began announcing their plans for future operations on distant planetoids. In addition, NASA is looking into similar missions. The biggest obstacles to asteroid mining are the need to develop affordable spaceflight technology that would allow humans to get to the asteroids of interest.
12.7. Facts about the Asteroid Belt
12.8. What other fascinating things do we know about the Asteroid Belt?
12.9. Asteroid Belt objects are made of rock and stone. Some are solid objects, while others are orbiting “rubble piles”.
12.9.1. The Asteroid Belt contains billions and billions of asteroids.
12.10. The asteroid 1/Ceres is also designated as a dwarf planet, the largest one in the inner solar system.
12.11. We know of at least 7,000 asteroids.
12.12. The Asteroid Belt may contain many objects, but they are spread out over a huge area of space. This has allowed spacecraft to move through this region without hitting anything.
12.13. Asteroids get their names from suggestions by their discoverers and are also given a number.
12.13.1. The formation of Jupiter disrupted the formation of any worlds in the Asteroid Belt region by scattering asteroids away. This caused them to collide and break into smaller pieces.
12.14. Gravitational influences can move asteroids out of the Belt.
12.15. The Asteroid Belt is often referred to as the “Main Belt” to distinguish it from other groups of asteroids such as the Lagrangians and Centaurs.
13. COMETS
13.1. What is a Comet?
13.2. A comet is a very small solar system body made mostly of ices mixed with smaller amounts of dust and rock. Most comets are no larger than a few kilometres across. The main body of the comet is called the nucleus, and it can contain water, methane, nitrogen and other ices.
13.3. When a comet is heated by the Sun, its ices begin to sublimate (similar to the way dry ice “fizzes” when you leave it in sunlight). The mixture of ice crystals and dust blows away from the comet nucleus in the solar wind, creating a pair of tails. The dust tail is what we normally see when we view comets from Earth.
13.4. A plasma tail also forms when molecules of gas are “excited” by interaction with the solar wind. The plasma tail is not normally seen with the naked eye, but can be imaged. Comets normally orbit the Sun, and have their origins in the Oort Cloud and Kuiper Belt regions of the outer solar system.
13.5. Facts about Comets
13.6. There are many misconceptions about comets, which are simply pieces of solar system ices travelling in orbit around the Sun. Here are some fascinating and true facts about comets.
13.7. The nucleus of a comet is made of ice and can be as small as a few meters across to giant boulders a few kilometres across.
13.8. The closest point in a comet’s orbit to the Sun is called “perihelion”. The most distant point is called “aphelion”.
13.9. As a comet gets closer to the Sun, it begins to experience heat. That causes some of its ices to sublimate (similar to dry ice sizzling in sunlight). If the ice is close to the comet’s surface, it may form a small “jet” of material spewing out from the comet like a mini-geyser.
13.10. Material streams from comets and populates the comet’s orbit. If Earth (or another planet) happens to move through that stream, those particles fall to Earth as meteor showers.
13.11. As a comet gets close to the Sun, it loses some of its mass due to the sublimation. If a comet goes around enough times, it will eventually break up. Comets also break up if they come TOO close to the Sun or another planet in their orbits.
13.12. Comets are usually made of frozen water and supercold methane, ammonia and carbon dioxide ices. Those are mixed with rock, dust, and other metallic bits of solar system debris.
13.13. Comets have two tails: a dust tail (which you can see with the naked eye) and a plasma tail, which is easily photographed but difficult to see with your eyes.
13.14. Comet orbits are usually elliptical.
13.15. Many comets formed in the Oort Cloud and Kuiper Belts, two of the outermost regions of the solar system.
13.16. Comets are not spaceships or alien bases. They are fascinating bits of solar system material that date back to the formation of the Sun and planets.
14. COMET FACTS
14.1. Comets come in several categories. The most common are periodic and non-periodic.
14.2. Here’s how it works. Once a comet has been confirmed, the following naming rules are followed. First, if the comet is a periodic comet, then it is indicated with a P/ followed by the year of its discovery, a letter indicating the half-month in which it was discovered, followed by a number indicating its order of discovery. So, for example, the second periodic comet found in the first half of January, 2015 would be called P/2015 A2.
14.3. A non-periodic comet would be indicated with a C/ followed by the year of its discovery, a letter indicating the half-month in which it was discovered, followed by a number indicating its order of discovery.
14.4. If a comet is independently discovered by three people named Smith, Jones, and Petersen, it could also be called Comet Smith-Jones-Petersen, in addition to its formal designation. Today, many comets are found through automated instrument searches, and so the formal designations are more commonly used.
14.5. Famous Comets
14.6. Well-known comets include the non-periodic comets Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1), Hyakutake (C/1996 B2), McNaught (C2006 P1), and Lovejoy (C/2011 W3). These flared brightly in our skies and then faded into obscurity.
14.7. In addition, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (D/1993 F2) was spotted after it had broken up after a close call with Jupiter. (The D in its proper designation means it has disappeared or is determined to no longer exist). More than a year later, the pieces of the comet crashed into Jupiter.
14.8. The periodic Comet Halley (1P/Halley) is the most famous in history. It returns to the inner solar system once every 76 years. Other well-known periodic comets include 2P/Encke, which appears ever 3.3 years and 9P/Tempel (Tempel 2), which was visited by the Deep Impact and Stardust probes, and makes perihelion around the Sun every 5.5 years.
14.9. The Moon (or Luna) is the Earth’s only natural satellite and was formed 4.6 billion years ago around some 30–50 million years after the formation of the solar system. The Moon is in synchronous rotation with Earth meaning the same side is always facing the Earth. The first unmanned mission to the Moon was in 1959 by the Soviet Lunar Program with the first manned landing being Apollo 11 in 1969.
15. 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.
16. In the past, comets were named for their discoverers, such as Comet Halley for Sir Edmond Halley. In modern times, comet names are governed by rules set forth by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). A comet is given an official designation, and can also be identified by the last names of up to three independent discoverers.
17. Once You Read These 12 Freaky Theories About Space, You Won't Sleep At Night
18. ATEROIDS
18.1. What is an Asteroid?
18.2. Asteroids are small, rocky solar system bodies that populate interplanetary space out to the orbit of Jupiter. There are millions of them, and they are often grouped by their composition. The planetary science community refers to them as minor planets, a general term applied to solar system bodies smaller than moons. Asteroids are mainly made of materials left over from the formation of the inner solar system words. Most of them orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, although there are groups of them that orbit closer. Asteroids come in three composition classes. C-types (chondrites) are made of clay and silicate rocks. S-types are the so-called “stony” asteroids and are made mostly of silicate rocks and nickel-iron mixtures. M-types are metallic nickel-iron. These categories indicate how far from the Sun they formed in the early solar system.
18.3. Facts about Asteroids
18.4. Asteroids are clues to the formation of the rocky planets of our solar system. The objects we see today are leftover from a time when the solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago. There are a LOT of these leftovers out there. Let’s learn some cool facts about them.
18.5. Asteroids aren’t the only things that hit Earth. Each day, more than 100 tons of material from asteroids and comets falls toward Earth. Most of it is destroyed by friction as it passes through our atmosphere. If something DOES hit the ground, it is known as a meteorite.
18.6. While asteroid impacts were more common in the past, they aren’t as frequent today.
18.7. An asteroid impact some 65 million years ago contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs. (It was one of several factors that affected all life on Earth at that time.)
18.8. Earth suffers an impact from an object the size of a football field about once every 2,000 years.
18.9. A car-sized meteoroid (a piece of asteroid) falls into Earth’s atmosphere about once a year. The result is a beautiful fireball, but the meteoroid usually burns up before reaching the ground.
18.10. Asteroids are rich in precious metals and other metals, as well as water.
18.11. Some asteroids are actually blown-out comets. The ices are gone, and all that’s left is the rocky material.
18.12. Some asteroids have moons of their own!
18.13. Most asteroids orbit the Sun in the Asteroid Belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter.
18.14. Asteroids are also referred to as minor planets or planetoids.
19. ATEROID FACTS
19.1. Near Earth Asteroids & Impacts
19.2. Earth and the other planets formed as objects in the early system smacked together and made larger worlds. The process of collision and impact continues to this day, although with smaller objects (since all the larger ones became the planets we know).
19.3. Asteroids continue to come close to Earth in their orbits. They are called near-Earth objects (NEOs) or Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs). If orbital conditions are right, it’s possible that a NEO could crash to Earth’s surface. Depending on the size of the impactor, the damage to our planet (and us) could range from very little to catastrophic. A small incoming object would likely break up in our atmosphere. A larger one could rain very large pieces down on the surface or into the oceans. There are groups of astronomers searching out and mapping the positions of these NEOs in order to predict possible impacts weeks, months, or years in advance. Several organizations are making plans in case something should hit and cause damage. The chances of something hitting Earth are very small, but also depend on the size and orbit of the object.
19.4. Famous Asteroids
19.5. The best-known asteroids are 1 Ceres, which is 952 kilometres across, 2 Pallas (with a diameter of 544 kilometres), and 4 Vesta (roughly 580 km across). These are rocky minor planets, and astronomers have observed them since the 1800s. Ceres is a differentiated asteroid. That means it has a rocky core and a icy outer crust. It might have an internal ocean. Pallas has a very irregular shape, and may be what’s left of an early protoplanet. Vesta is very bright and is likely the leftover of a rocky protoplanet.
20. METEORITES
20.1. What is a Meteorite?
20.2. 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.
20.3. 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.
20.4. 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.
20.5. Facts about Meteorites
20.6. Millions of meteoroids travel through Earth’s atmosphere each day.
20.7. When a meteor encounters our atmosphere and is vaporized, it leaves behind a trail. That “burning” meteoroid is called a meteor.
20.8. The appearance of a number of meteors occurring in the same part of the sky over a period of time is called “meteor shower”.
20.9. 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.
20.10. 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.
20.11. Types of Meteorites
20.12. 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).
20.13. 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).
20.14. Famous Meteorites
20.15. 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.
20.16. 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.
20.17. 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.
20.18. The Willamette Meteorite weighs 15.5 tons and is the largest ever found in the United States.
21. METEOR SHOWER
21.1. What is a meteor shower?
21.2. A meteor shower occurs when a number of meteors flash seem to radiate (or shoot out from) the same point in the sky. They are usually named for the constellation in which their radiant appears. The meteoroids in a shower usually come from the trail of debris left behind by a comet. In the case of the Geminids and Quadrantids, those meteor showers come from the debris scatted by orbiting asteroids. When Earth’s orbit intersects the dust trail, we see more meteors flaring as the cometary debris encounters our planet’s atmosphere.
21.3. Facts about Meteor Showers
21.4. Most meteor showers are caused by debris from comets. When Earth moves through those debris trails, we see increased numbers of comets.
21.5. Two meteor showers are caused by debris shed by asteroids. The Quadrantids are very likely caused by debris from the minor planet 2003 EH1. The Geminid meteor shower comes from debris shed by asteroid 3200 Phaethon.
21.6. The Orionid Meteor shower (which occurs in late October each year) is created by dust and debris left behind by the passage of Comet 1P/Halley.
21.7. Meteors fall to Earth during the day, although we can’t see them.
21.8. It is very rare that a meteorite will strike a human being. It’s more likely that it will fall into the ocean.
21.9. The best time to view a meteor shower is in the early morning hours, preferably on a dark, moonless night.
21.10. The earliest record of the Perseids meteor shower is found in Chinese annals from 36 AD.
21.11. Famous Meteor Showers
21.12. There are several famous and easy-to-observe meteor showers. The Perseids occur in mid-August when Earth encounters the debris trail from Comet Swift-Tuttle. They appear to radiate from a point in the constellation Perseus. The shower lasts from mid-July to late August, with a peak around August 12th each year.
21.13. The Leonid meteor shower can be a very busy one. It occurs each year in mid-November, and rains debris from Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. In 1833, observers estimated that hundreds of thousands of meteors flared through the sky. Observers wait for it each year, hoping for another spectacular show, emanating from the direction of the constellation Leo.
21.14. The Geminid meteor shower occurs in December, when Earth crosses the path of the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. The meteors appear to come from the direction of the constellation Gemini, and observers have noted that they move more slowly than other meteors.
21.15. In late April, the Lyrids bring pieces of comet C/1861 G1/Thatcher back to Earth, which seem to radiate from the constellation Lyra. The peak of this storm is around April 22. Every 60 years or so this shower becomes more intense.
22. MOONS
22.1. PHOBOS
22.1.1. facts
22.2. DEIMOS
23. IO
23.1. Io is the innermost and the second smallest of the four Galilean moons. It was discovered, along with Europa, Ganymede and Callisto by Galileo Galilei in 1610.
23.1.1. Facts about Io
23.1.2. Io has more than 400 active volcanoes on its surface. They make this little moon the most actively volcanic world in the solar system.
23.1.3. The volcanism on Io is due to tidal heating, as the moon is stretched by Jupiter’s strong gravitational pull and by the lesser gravitational effects of the other satellites.
23.1.4. The volcanoes of Io are constantly erupting, creating plumes that rise above the surface and lakes that cover vast areas of the landscape.
23.1.5. Io has a very thin atmosphere that contains mostly sulfur dioxide (emitted from its volcanoes). Gases from the atmosphere escape to space at the rate of about a ton per second. Some of the material becomes part of a ring of charged particles around Jupiter called the Io plasma torus.
23.1.6. The volcanic plumes of Io rise up as high as 200 km, showering the terrain with sulfur, sulfur dioxide particles, and rocky ash.
23.1.7. Io has a number of mountains, some of which rise up as high as Mount Everest on Earth. The average height of Io’s peaks are around 6 km.
23.1.8. Io is made mostly of silicate rocks, and its surface is painted with sulfur particles from the volcanoes and frosts that are created as the atmospheric gases freeze out and fall to the ground.
23.1.9. Robotic missions to Io could study its volcanism in closer detail. No human missions are planned as yet, due to the extreme radiation environment and highly toxic atmosphere and surface.