Goldilocks Universe - 2
Goldilocks: In the first Goldilocks Universe episode, I completed my undergraduate degree and worked as a zoologist with a focus on bears. I was content with my position, until that one special night, when a group of high school students descendent upon the zoo armed with a variety of telescopes. The students, members of an Astronomy Club picked our zoo as an observation site because of its low outdoor light environment. The chatter and glee of kids setting up their optical instruments brought back memories of my childhood gazing with wonder into the night sky. The still of the night was shattered with excited cries, “I can see the Rings of Saturn”, and “Look at three moons crossing the face of Jupiter”.
At that moment, I decided to change Majors and enroll in Astronomy & Science courses beginning with an “Intro to the Solar System”.In the following Goldilocks articles, I plan to share my learning experience.
Let’s start in our own back yard. Our Solar System is made of eight planets and three regions of rocky and ice bodies. The Asteroid Belt, the Kuiper belt, and the Oort Cloud are the three regions. It used to be nine planets, but discoveries of rocky and ice planets, some the size of Pluto in the Asteroid and Kuiper belt regions of our Solar Systems demoted Pluto to a dwarf planet.
Our Solar System: The Inner Planets
Mercury:
Average distance from the Sun is 35 million miles. A rocky planet created by God to make Albert Einstein look good. Isaac “Newton’s Laws of Gravity” predicts accurately the orbits of 7 of our eight planets. Mercury is the exception. Albert Einstein
“General Relativity” predicts accurately the orbit of Mercury. While the earth rotates on its axis every 24 hours and orbits the Sun in 365.3 days, Mercury takes 179 earth days to rotate once on its axis and 88 days to orbit the Sun.
What may be a surprise to most people is that Mercury has an Oxygen (46%) atmosphere. Granted the atmosphere is very tin and also composed of Hydrogen and Sodium, you may not want to live there because of the temperatures: a high of 806 F degrees during the day and a low of -292 F during the night.
At this moment the Spacecraft “Messenger” is in orbit around Mercury mapping the surface and gathering data. There is some indication that water may be present at Mercury’s poles. Future articles will highlight Messenger’s accomplishments.
Venus:
Average distance from the Sun is 67 million miles. One of my professors referred to the planet Venus as Earth’s evil twin because the planet is very similar in size, structure and composition to Earth, but everything went wrong in Venus’s evolution. Venus is the prime example of greenhouse gases gone wild. Carbon dioxide is at 96% and day and night temperatures are 867 F (hotter than Mercury).
The rebellion does not stop here, for Venus rotates in the opposite direction of all the other planets. The only positive is that Venus along with Earth and Mars orbits the Sun in what is called the “habitable zone”, meaning distance from the Sun that allows for water and living things to exist.
Venus along with Mercury, Earth, Earth’s moon and Mars, got water delivered from the same source, the Kuiper belt and the Oort Cloud. But on Venus, the water evaporated.
The most current spacecraft orbiting and studying Venus is the “Venus Express”(2006). It detected volcanic eruptions in the southern regions of Venus.
Earth:
Average distance from the Sun is 93 million miles. Average temperature 60*F. Atmosphere 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1% trace gases. The Earth rotates around its axis at 1,000 miles per hour and orbits the Sun at 65,987 miles per hour.
Earth is a treasure throve of “Goldilocks events”, events that are “just right” for us to be here.
Let’s start with the importance of our moon. Besides inspiring romantics, werewolves, and things that go bump in the night, the moon provides stability (a controlled wobble) as the Earth rotates around its axis and it keeps the Earth at a constant distance from the Sun during its orbit. Without this stability the evolution on earth would have taken a different path that may have excluded
us.
The origins of our moon go back to the formations of our earth 4.5 billion years ago. At that time a planet about the size of Mars collided with Earth, resulting in two rocky bodies, our Earth and our moon. Moon rocks brought back by the Apollo Astronauts provide evidence for this event.
More amazing Earth events and developments will be explored in future Goldilocks articles.
Mars:
Average distance from the Sun is 141 million miles. Atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, and traces of oxygen, water vapor, and carbon monoxide. It takes Mars 687 days to orbit the Sun. Rotation period is 24 hours same as the Earth. A nice summer day temperature is 68*F and winter day temperature is -128*F.
Mars has been continuously explored by many Earth Spacecraft, both orbiting and roving on the ground and with good reason. When earth was bombarded with comets containing water, Mars was also on the receiving end of that water delivery. The current theory is that this water contained the ingredients for life. While on Earth those ingredients evolved into life, on Mars the environment halted that evolution. We know lots of water existed on Mars before and there is some on Mars right now.
Currently “Curiosity” a Science Laboratory on wheels (the size of small car) is roving, drilling, digging, and analyzing soil and rocks on Mars looking for bacterial and microbial evidence of life. More on Curiosity's discoveries in future articles.
Cannot resist this Goldilocks Moment: Venus is too hot for life, Mars is to cold, Earth is “just right”
The Asteroid Belt, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, the Kuiper belt, and the Oort Cloud will be explored in the next Goldilocks Universe article.
Goldilocks: In the first Goldilocks Universe episode, I completed my undergraduate degree and worked as a zoologist with a focus on bears. I was content with my position, until that one special night, when a group of high school students descendent upon the zoo armed with a variety of telescopes. The students, members of an Astronomy Club picked our zoo as an observation site because of its low outdoor light environment. The chatter and glee of kids setting up their optical instruments brought back memories of my childhood gazing with wonder into the night sky. The still of the night was shattered with excited cries, “I can see the Rings of Saturn”, and “Look at three moons crossing the face of Jupiter”.
At that moment, I decided to change Majors and enroll in Astronomy & Science courses beginning with an “Intro to the Solar System”.In the following Goldilocks articles, I plan to share my learning experience.
Let’s start in our own back yard. Our Solar System is made of eight planets and three regions of rocky and ice bodies. The Asteroid Belt, the Kuiper belt, and the Oort Cloud are the three regions. It used to be nine planets, but discoveries of rocky and ice planets, some the size of Pluto in the Asteroid and Kuiper belt regions of our Solar Systems demoted Pluto to a dwarf planet.
Our Solar System: The Inner Planets
Mercury:
Average distance from the Sun is 35 million miles. A rocky planet created by God to make Albert Einstein look good. Isaac “Newton’s Laws of Gravity” predicts accurately the orbits of 7 of our eight planets. Mercury is the exception. Albert Einstein
“General Relativity” predicts accurately the orbit of Mercury. While the earth rotates on its axis every 24 hours and orbits the Sun in 365.3 days, Mercury takes 179 earth days to rotate once on its axis and 88 days to orbit the Sun.
What may be a surprise to most people is that Mercury has an Oxygen (46%) atmosphere. Granted the atmosphere is very tin and also composed of Hydrogen and Sodium, you may not want to live there because of the temperatures: a high of 806 F degrees during the day and a low of -292 F during the night.
At this moment the Spacecraft “Messenger” is in orbit around Mercury mapping the surface and gathering data. There is some indication that water may be present at Mercury’s poles. Future articles will highlight Messenger’s accomplishments.
Venus:
Average distance from the Sun is 67 million miles. One of my professors referred to the planet Venus as Earth’s evil twin because the planet is very similar in size, structure and composition to Earth, but everything went wrong in Venus’s evolution. Venus is the prime example of greenhouse gases gone wild. Carbon dioxide is at 96% and day and night temperatures are 867 F (hotter than Mercury).
The rebellion does not stop here, for Venus rotates in the opposite direction of all the other planets. The only positive is that Venus along with Earth and Mars orbits the Sun in what is called the “habitable zone”, meaning distance from the Sun that allows for water and living things to exist.
Venus along with Mercury, Earth, Earth’s moon and Mars, got water delivered from the same source, the Kuiper belt and the Oort Cloud. But on Venus, the water evaporated.
The most current spacecraft orbiting and studying Venus is the “Venus Express”(2006). It detected volcanic eruptions in the southern regions of Venus.
Earth:
Average distance from the Sun is 93 million miles. Average temperature 60*F. Atmosphere 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1% trace gases. The Earth rotates around its axis at 1,000 miles per hour and orbits the Sun at 65,987 miles per hour.
Earth is a treasure throve of “Goldilocks events”, events that are “just right” for us to be here.
Let’s start with the importance of our moon. Besides inspiring romantics, werewolves, and things that go bump in the night, the moon provides stability (a controlled wobble) as the Earth rotates around its axis and it keeps the Earth at a constant distance from the Sun during its orbit. Without this stability the evolution on earth would have taken a different path that may have excluded
us.
The origins of our moon go back to the formations of our earth 4.5 billion years ago. At that time a planet about the size of Mars collided with Earth, resulting in two rocky bodies, our Earth and our moon. Moon rocks brought back by the Apollo Astronauts provide evidence for this event.
More amazing Earth events and developments will be explored in future Goldilocks articles.
Mars:
Average distance from the Sun is 141 million miles. Atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, and traces of oxygen, water vapor, and carbon monoxide. It takes Mars 687 days to orbit the Sun. Rotation period is 24 hours same as the Earth. A nice summer day temperature is 68*F and winter day temperature is -128*F.
Mars has been continuously explored by many Earth Spacecraft, both orbiting and roving on the ground and with good reason. When earth was bombarded with comets containing water, Mars was also on the receiving end of that water delivery. The current theory is that this water contained the ingredients for life. While on Earth those ingredients evolved into life, on Mars the environment halted that evolution. We know lots of water existed on Mars before and there is some on Mars right now.
Currently “Curiosity” a Science Laboratory on wheels (the size of small car) is roving, drilling, digging, and analyzing soil and rocks on Mars looking for bacterial and microbial evidence of life. More on Curiosity's discoveries in future articles.
Cannot resist this Goldilocks Moment: Venus is too hot for life, Mars is to cold, Earth is “just right”
The Asteroid Belt, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, the Kuiper belt, and the Oort Cloud will be explored in the next Goldilocks Universe article.
