Planet Jupiter
Category : Solar System Tags : history planet
| Planet Name | Jupiter |
| Diameter | 142,984 km |
| Circumference | 449,378 km |
| Mass | 1.90 E+27 kg |
| Distance from Sun | 778 million km (5.2 AU) |
| Rotation period | 10 hours |
| Orbit period | 11.86 years |
| Satellite | 63 |
| Surface Temp | -161 C to -106 C |
| Composition | Hydrogen (89.8%), Helium (10.2%), Methane, Ammonia, Hydrogen Deuteride, Ethane, Water |
Jupiter is the fifth planet in the Solar System and the largest planet among all the planets. Jupiter is one of the four Jovian planets which is classified as gas giant along with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Jupiter is mainly composed of Hydrogen (89.8%) and Helium (10.2%) which made up most of the planet mass.
Jupiter posssess a faint planetary ring similar to planet Saturn but since is it mostly consists of dust and gases, it is hardly visible. There are 63 known moons orbiting Jupiter in which the largest one Ganymede is larger than of planet Mercury.
The massive planet has 2.5 times the mass of all other planet in the Solar System combined. Though Jupiter may have a rocky core but 78% of the planet mass composed of gas such as Hydrogen and Helium.
Jupiter has a rather fast rotation where it could complete one rotation slightly under 10 hours. It takes a total of 11.86 years for Jupiter to complete an orbit around the Sun. Due to the fast rotational speed of the planet, storms and turbulence with wind speed above 350 km/h is common.
The most noticeable marking on Jupiter is the Great Red Spot which is a giant storm ring which has been existed on the planet when it was discovered in 1831. The Great Red Spot of Jupiter is so massive that it could fill two or three planet Earth into it.
To-date, Jupiter has 63 known satellite or moon orbiting the planet. The four largest satellite are Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa.
| Name | Diameter |
| Ganymede | 5,262 km |
| Callisto | 4,821 km |
| Io | 3,643 km |
| Europa | 3,122 km |
| Amalthea | 189 km |
| Himalia | 186 km |
| Lysithea | 186 km |
| Thebe | 100 km |
| Elara | 76 km |
| Pasiphae | 50 km |
| Metis | 40 km |
| Carme | 40 km |
| Sinope | 35 km |
| Ananke | 30 km |
| Adastrea | 20 km |
| Leda | 16 km |
Others satellite of Jupiter include;
Callirrhoe, Themisto, Megaclite, Taygete, Chaldene, Harpalyke, Kalyke, Iocaste,
Erinome, Isonoe, Praxidike, Autonoe, Thyone, Hermippe, Aitne, Eurydome,
Euanthe, Euporie, Orthosie, Sponde, Kale, Pasithee
Planet Mars
Category : Solar System Tags : history planet
| Planet Name | Mars |
| Diameter | 6,794 km |
| Circumference | 21,352 km |
| Mass | 6.42 E+23 kg |
| Distance from Sun | 228 million km (1.5 AU) |
| Rotation period | 24 hours 39 mins |
| Orbit period | 687 days |
| Satellite | 2 |
| Surface Temp | -87 C to -5 C |
| Composition | Carbon Dioxide (95.7%), Nitrogen (2.7%), Argon (1.6%), Oxygen, Carbon Monoxide, Water vapor, Nitrite Oxide |
Mars is the outermost terrestrial planets orbiting the Sun. It is also known as the Red Planet due to its reddish appearance which is causes by the huge amount of iron oxide existence. Mars possess a thin atmosphere consisting mainly of Carbon Dioxide (95.7%) and the planet surface pressure is less than 1% compared with the atmospheric pressure on Earth surface. With its lower number of mass and density, Mars gravity is measured to about 38% of Earth gravity.
Mars Satellite
There are two natural satellites orbiting Mars. Unlike Earth satellite, Moon, Mars satellite is more likely just two pieces of asteroids captured by its gravitational force. The satellites Deimos and Phobos measured only 12.6km and 22.2km in diameter and does not appear in a spherical shape.
Mars Exporation
Numerous orbiting and landing exploration to the planet Mars has been done as early as in 1964 when NASA's Mariner 4 successfully launched a fly-by mission on the planet followed by Mariner 9 on 1971.
Soviet successfully land the first probe onto Mars surface in 1971 but the probe lost contact seconds after landed onto Mars.
In 1975 NASA's Viking Program successfully landed two landers onto Mars barren land. Viking 1 and Viking 2 have been on operational on Mars surface for six and three years respectively.
Life on Mars
Mars has a very thin atmosphere and does not have enough atmospheric pressure to retain water into liquid form. There is no solid evidence that life exist on Mars at this moment but there are clues that shows that life may have existed on Mars in the past.
Planet Venus
Category : Solar System Tags : history planet
| Planet Name | Venus |
| Diameter | 12,104 km |
| Circumference | 38,041 km |
| Mass | 4.87 E+24 kg |
| Distance from Sun | 108 million km (0.7 AU) |
| Orbit period | 224.6 days |
| Satellite | 0 |
| Surface Temp | 461 Celsius |
| Composition | Molecular Oxygen (42%), Sodium (29%), Hydrogen (22%), Helium (6%), Potassium (0.5%) |
Planet Mercury
Category : Solar System Tags : history planet
| Planet Name | Mercury |
| Diameter | 4,880 km |
| Circumference | 15,337 km |
| Mass | 3.30 E+23 kg |
| Distance from Sun | 69.8 million km (0.4 AU) |
| Rotation period | 59 days |
| Orbit period | 87.97 days |
| Satellite | 0 |
| Surface Temp | -183 C to 427 C |
| Composition | Molecular Oxygen (42%), Sodium (29%), Hydrogen (22%), Helium (6%), Potassium (0.5%) |
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and it is also the smallest planet in the Solar System. It is located 69.8 million km from the Sun and takes 87.97 days to complete an orbit around the Sun.
Mercury does not possess its own atmosphere and it doesn't have any natural satellite. The surface of Mercury is full of craters result from bombardments from asteroids from space and its surface temperature range from -183 C to 427 C. The planet has a large iron core which create magnetic field of about 1% of Earth's magnetic field.
Hubble Space Telescope
Category : Space Technology Tags : astrophotography technology
| Name | Hubble Space Telescope |
| Launch Date | 24 April 1990 |
| Mass | 11,110kg |
| Location | Low Earth Orbit |
| Altitude | 559km |
| Lense Dia | 2.4m |
| Cumm Cost | US$4.5 to 6 billion |
The Hubble Space Telescope is named after the famous American astronomer Edwin Hubble. It was launched into space on April 1990 by space shuttle Discovery. During the initial stage, the Hubble Space Telescope was unable to produce good image due to the main mirror which is incorrectly ground. Yet, the telescope were still on service until a servicing mission launched in December 1993. Eversince then, the HST proved to be the most versatile space telescope known to us. Thousands of captivating photo of the universe has been captured by the telescope.
The Ultra Deep Field image taken by the telescope is one of the most astonishing image ever taken. It captured image of thousands of galaxy within one small area in the vast universe.
The HST is the first serviceable space telescope. Several servicing mission has been accomplished during its entire life in space. The final servicing mission was launched on May 2009 and the HST will likely to end its service within the few following years. Its successor James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will take over its space mission as earliest as 2014.
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