The most interesting facts about the planets of the solar system

Today, astronomy interests not only schoolchildren. Discoveries that expand our knowledge of the cosmos, attract the attention of adults. Interesting facts about the planets are placed in popular magazines. And this is not surprising, since the availability of the results of the study of space objects increases the number of curious people who want to learn a little more about the vast space of the universe. Below are examples of amazing facts related to the solar system.

Classification

All the planets circling in orbits around our star are divided into two types: those belonging to the terrestrial group and the gas giants. They differ in composition, size and some other characteristics. The earthly group includes our house, as well as Mercury, Venus and Mars. For the most part, these planets are composed of silicates and metals. The size of these cosmic bodies is much inferior to the dimensions of gas giants, as can be seen from the name. The latter include Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The basic substances in their composition are hydrogen and helium. Pluto is now deprived of the status of the planet and is among the objects of the Kuiper belt - ice witnesses to the formation of the solar system, located in the space behind Neptune.

Conditional surface

Interesting facts await at every step in the study of information on gas giants. A lot is known about giant planets, and every detail is amazing in the first place because it always emphasizes the great difference between them and the Earth.

You can start with the fact that on these planets there is no surface in the usual sense for us. The density here is so low that there is no clear distinction between the atmosphere, the mantle and the core. The surface boundary of scientists is determined by the magnitude of the pressure: it is where the level of one bar is set. In fact, in this area, and below, there is a mixture of gases.

Lord of the Seas

Interesting facts about the planet Neptune explain why she was given such a name. The color of the cosmic body is a saturated blue. A beautiful shade is formed due to the properties of methane clouds in the atmosphere of the giant: they absorb red-orange light. Before the final choice of the name several more variants were put forward, but the name of the Roman sea god was fixed behind it by the efforts of one of the discoverers of the planet Urbena Laverie and director of the Pulkovo laboratory N. Ya. Struve.

Neptune, like all gas giants, has satellites. The largest of them, Triton, is impressive no less than the gas giant himself, although he is inferior in size. The satellite rotates in the direction opposite to the motion of Neptune around the axis, has an atmosphere. On the surface, presumably there are operating gas geysers. On Triton a significant part of the landscape is formed by ice: methane, ammonia and water. The latter, at a low temperature characteristic of the satellite, becomes hard as a stone and forms whole mountain massifs.

The frozen planet

Uranus, together with Neptune, is among the ice giants, as they, like Triton, contain a large number of frozen inclusions. He makes a considerable contribution to interesting facts about the planets. Uranus was the first major discovery after the invention of the telescope. As a result of his discovery, the idea of the structure of the solar system that had existed since antiquity was changed. So, interesting facts about the planet Uranus:

• The gas giant rotates around the axis in a non-standard direction: from east to west. This feature except for it in the solar system has only Venus.

• The plane of the planet's equator is strongly inclined relative to the axis of rotation. The angle between them is more than 90º, so Uranus is spinning like a ball rolling on the floor. The remaining planets are more similar in this sense to the top.

• Like all gas giants, Uranus rotates very fast. On one turn it needs a little more than 17 hours.

• The planet has 27 satellites, all named after the characters of Shakespeare and Pope.

The first among equals

Interesting facts about the giant planets Saturn and Jupiter are also known in considerable numbers, as they are best studied among cosmic giants. Jupiter by mass exceeds the Earth by 318 times. Its most famous feature is a large red spot, seen from the middle of the 17th century. According to scientists, this is a huge hurricane-anticyclone. For the entire time, when it is observed, the spot then pales, then it recovers again. This is due to the constant clashes of hurricanes in the atmosphere of Jupiter.

Saturn is famous for its system of rings. By the way, they have every giant, but it is Saturn that has the brightest. He also has one more feature - a hexagon formed by clouds in the atmosphere. Presumably, this is a vortex that appears as a result of the difference in the speed of motion of the planet and its rings. To the end, however, the nature of education is incomprehensible.

Miracles in the earth group

Interesting facts about planets closer to ours are somewhat different from the reports of gas giants due to their different characteristics. At the same time, there are similar moments. For example, Venus, like Uranus, rotates counter-clockwise. The sun rises here in the west. But on the circulation around the axis of a foggy planet spends more time: the duration of the day exceeds the duration of the year. But interesting facts about the planet Venus are not exhausted by this:

• It can be seen with the naked eye twice, in the morning and in the evening, after the Moon and the Sun it is the brightest point in the sky;
• The surface of the planet is hidden from observation by dense clouds that do not allow visible light, therefore, mainly data on Venus are obtained using radar methods;
• The temperature on the planet reaches 480ºC and remains practically unchanged throughout the year;
• The high content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere creates a greenhouse effect on Venus.

Red neighbor

Studies of the closest to the Earth of the cosmos constantly supplement interesting facts about the planet Mars. To study it in a sense started even earlier than the opportunity to send the first spacecraft: on Earth several meteorites arrived from Mars were discovered. The planet justifies its name not only by color, but also by constant strong dust storms. They last for several months and cover, like a world war, the entire planet.

Mars is also famous for the highest mountain in the solar system. It was called Olympus. It rises above the surface for more than 20 km.

Native home

It will be wrong, listing interesting facts about the planets, to skip the Earth. Its features include not only life and huge water surfaces on the area. This is the only planet whose name does not correspond to any Roman or Greek deity. Her moon - the moon - is the largest of all companions of the terrestrial planets.

Many interesting facts about the planet Earth are sometimes unknown even to its inhabitants. For example, the weight of a person depends on its location: it increases in the South Pacific and decreases in the south of India. Such a difference is one of the mysteries of the planet.

The atmosphere of the Earth protects life on it from the effects of ultraviolet and solar wind. The gas shell saves us and from the fall of most meteorites: they burn in the upper layers, without causing harm. In this case, about 100 tons of cosmic dust, formed as a result of collisions of asteroids and meteorites, falls on the surface of the Blue Planet daily.

However, the most surprising phenomenon of the Earth is life after all. The study of many facts that scientists have collected about the Universe helps to understand how incredible that we exist. The vast spaces of the explored cosmos are lifeless, the hope that somewhere far away, perhaps beyond the galaxy, there is another civilization, very small. The desire to find life on other planets and a deep sense of loneliness (of humanity in the universe) are some of the driving forces motivating astronomers to collect new facts, send spacecraft, and design alien conditions in the laboratory.