Exploration of the planets and their satellites. Solar System Exploration

New scientific research of the planet of the solar system - Mars

Scientists have discovered that the highest mountain in the solar system, Mount Olympus (lat. Olympus Mons), is located on Mars. Its height is 21.2 km from the base. Actually, it's a volcano. It is several times higher than Everest, and its area would cover the entire territory of France.

As a result of recent research by NASA scientists, it was found that the soil of Mars is surprisingly similar to the soil in your summer house or backyard of a country house. It contains all the nutrients necessary for life support. Martian soil is ideal for growing asparagus and turnips.

New scientific research of the planet of the solar system - Venus

Scientists have developed a theory that suggests that particles of life can move with solar pressure. But this can only happen away from the Sun. That is, from Earth, life could get to Mars, and to Earth - only from Venus. In other words, there is a possibility that life once existed on Venus, but as the Sun warmed, the biomass on Venus began to decompose, life gradually disappeared, which means that when the Sun heats up even more, the same can happen to the Earth.
It is very important to study Venus. On this inhospitable planet, the surface temperature reaches 480 degrees Celsius, and the pressure is 92 times greater than on Earth. The planet is shrouded in thick clouds of sulfuric acid. By studying Venus, scientists will be able to find out why it became so ugly and how the Earth can avoid a similar fate.

New scientific research of the planet of the solar system - Mercury

NASA recently launched a spacecraft specifically designed to study the planet Mercury. According to planetary scientists, the diameter of the first planet in the solar system has decreased by about seven kilometers. Measurements were made using the Messenger probe, which showed that Mercury began to cool and "deflate" at a much faster rate than expected.

Most of Mercury is a red-hot core, which is covered by a thin shell of the crust and mantle. It was formed about 4.5 billion years ago, and since then has cooled, decreasing in volume.

The Messenger probe regularly photographed the surface of Mercury. After analyzing the resulting images, experts at the Carnegie Institute of Science in Washington found that the rate of compression of the planet is about 8 times greater than previously thought.

New scientific research of the planet of the solar system - Jupiter

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) website has published a new image of Jupiter taken from the Juno spacecraft.
The photo clearly shows numerous storms in the atmosphere of the planet. Some formations resemble tangled threads of yarn. Wind speeds on Jupiter can exceed 600 km/h.
We add that now all scientific instruments of Juno are functioning normally. The device will operate until at least February 2018. After that, the station will be deorbited and sent into the atmosphere of the gas giant, where it will cease to exist.

This is a system of planets, in the center of which is a bright star, the source of energy, heat and light - the Sun.
According to one theory, the Sun was formed along with the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago as a result of the explosion of one or more supernovae. Initially, the solar system was a cloud of gas and dust particles, which, in motion and under the influence of their mass, formed a disk in which a new star, the Sun, and our entire solar system arose.

At the center of the solar system is the Sun, around which nine large planets revolve in orbits. Since the Sun is displaced from the center of the planetary orbits, then during the cycle of revolution around the Sun, the planets either approach or move away in their orbits.

Terrestrial planets: and . These planets are small in size with a rocky surface, they are closer than others to the Sun.

Giant planets: and . These are large planets, consisting mainly of gas, and they are characterized by the presence of rings consisting of ice dust and many rocky pieces.

And here does not fall into any group, because, despite its location in the solar system, it is located too far from the Sun and has a very small diameter, only 2320 km, which is half the diameter of Mercury.

Planets of the solar system

Let's start a fascinating acquaintance with the planets of the solar system in order of their location from the Sun, and also consider their main satellites and some other space objects (comets, asteroids, meteorites) in the gigantic expanses of our planetary system.

Rings and moons of Jupiter: Europa, Io, Ganymede, Callisto and others...
The planet Jupiter is surrounded by a whole family of 16 satellites, and each of them has its own, unlike other features ...

Rings and moons of Saturn: Titan, Enceladus and more...
Not only the planet Saturn has characteristic rings, but also on other giant planets. Around Saturn, the rings are especially clearly visible, because they consist of billions of small particles that revolve around the planet, in addition to several rings, Saturn has 18 satellites, one of which is Titan, its diameter is 5000 km, which makes it the largest satellite in the solar system ...

Rings and moons of Uranus: Titania, Oberon and others...
The planet Uranus has 17 satellites and, like other giant planets, thin rings encircling the planet, which practically do not have the ability to reflect light, therefore they were discovered not so long ago in 1977 quite by accident ...

Rings and moons of Neptune: Triton, Nereid and others...
Initially, before the exploration of Neptune by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, it was known about two satellites of the planet - Triton and Nerida. An interesting fact is that the Triton satellite has a reverse direction of orbital motion, and strange volcanoes were also discovered on the satellite that spewed nitrogen gas like geysers, spreading a dark mass (from liquid to vapor) for many kilometers into the atmosphere. During its mission, Voyager 2 discovered six more satellites of the planet Neptune...

The solar system is a group of planets revolving in certain orbits around a bright star - the Sun. This luminary is the main source of heat and light in the solar system.

It is believed that our system of planets was formed as a result of the explosion of one or more stars and this happened about 4.5 billion years ago. At first, the solar system was a collection of gas and dust particles, however, over time and under the influence of its own mass, the Sun and other planets arose.

Planets of the solar system

In the center of the solar system is the Sun, around which eight planets move in their orbits: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.

Until 2006, Pluto also belongs to this group of planets, it was considered the 9th planet from the Sun, however, due to its considerable distance from the Sun and its small size, it was excluded from this list and called a dwarf planet. Rather, it is one of several dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt.

All the above planets are usually divided into two large groups: the terrestrial group and the gas giants.

The terrestrial group includes such planets as: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars. They are distinguished by their small size and rocky surface, and in addition, they are located closer than the others to the Sun.

The gas giants include: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. They are characterized by large sizes and the presence of rings, which are ice dust and rocky pieces. These planets are made up mostly of gas.

The sun

The sun is the star around which all the planets and moons in the solar system revolve. It is made up of hydrogen and helium. The Sun is 4.5 billion years old, only in the middle of its life cycle, gradually increasing in size. Now the diameter of the Sun is 1,391,400 km. In the same number of years, this star will expand and reach the orbit of the Earth.

The sun is the source of heat and light for our planet. Its activity increases or becomes weaker every 11 years.

Due to the extremely high temperatures on its surface, a detailed study of the Sun is extremely difficult, but attempts to launch a special apparatus as close as possible to the star continue.

Terrestrial group of planets

Mercury

This planet is one of the smallest in the solar system, its diameter is 4,879 km. In addition, it is closest to the Sun. This neighborhood predetermined a significant temperature difference. The average temperature on Mercury during the day is +350 degrees Celsius, and at night it is -170 degrees.

If we focus on the earth's year, then Mercury makes a complete revolution around the sun in 88 days, and one day there lasts 59 earth days. It was noticed that this planet can periodically change the speed of its rotation around the Sun, its distance from it and its position.

There is no atmosphere on Mercury, in connection with this, asteroids often attack it and leave behind a lot of craters on its surface. Sodium, helium, argon, hydrogen, oxygen were discovered on this planet.

A detailed study of Mercury presents great difficulties due to its close proximity to the Sun. Mercury can sometimes be seen from Earth with the naked eye.

According to one theory, it is believed that Mercury was previously a satellite of Venus, however, this assumption has not yet been proven. Mercury has no satellite.

Venus

This planet is the second from the Sun. In size, it is close to the diameter of the Earth, the diameter is 12,104 km. In all other respects, Venus is significantly different from our planet. A day here lasts 243 Earth days, and a year - 255 days. The atmosphere of Venus is 95% carbon dioxide, which creates a greenhouse effect on its surface. This leads to the fact that the average temperature on the planet is 475 degrees Celsius. The atmosphere also includes 5% nitrogen and 0.1% oxygen.

Unlike the Earth, most of whose surface is covered with water, there is no liquid on Venus, and almost the entire surface is occupied by solidified basaltic lava. According to one theory, there used to be oceans on this planet, however, as a result of internal heating, they evaporated, and the vapors were carried away by the solar wind into outer space. Near the surface of Venus, weak winds blow, however, at an altitude of 50 km, their speed increases significantly and amounts to 300 meters per second.

There are many craters and hills on Venus, reminiscent of terrestrial continents. The formation of craters is associated with the fact that earlier the planet had a less dense atmosphere.

A distinctive feature of Venus is that, unlike the other planets, its movement does not occur from west to east, but from east to west. It can be seen from Earth even without the help of a telescope after sunset or before sunrise. This is due to the ability of its atmosphere to reflect light well.

Venus has no satellite.

Earth

Our planet is located at a distance of 150 million km from the Sun, and this allows us to create on its surface a temperature suitable for the existence of water in liquid form, and, therefore, for the emergence of life.

Its surface is 70% covered with water, and it is the only one of the planets that has such an amount of liquid. It is believed that many thousands of years ago, the steam contained in the atmosphere created the temperature on the Earth's surface necessary for the formation of water in liquid form, and solar radiation contributed to photosynthesis and the birth of life on the planet.

A feature of our planet is that under the earth's crust there are huge tectonic plates that, moving, collide with each other and lead to a change in the landscape.

The diameter of the Earth is 12,742 km. An Earth day lasts 23 hours 56 minutes 4 seconds, and a year - 365 days 6 hours 9 minutes 10 seconds. Its atmosphere is 77% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and a small percentage of other gases. None of the atmospheres of other planets in the solar system has such an amount of oxygen.

According to scientists, the age of the Earth is 4.5 billion years, about the same time its only satellite, the Moon, exists. It is always turned to our planet with only one side. There are many craters, mountains and plains on the surface of the Moon. It reflects sunlight very weakly, so it can be seen from Earth in a pale moonshine.

Mars

This planet is the fourth in a row from the Sun and is 1.5 times more distant from it than the Earth. The diameter of Mars is smaller than Earth's and is 6,779 km. The average air temperature on the planet ranges from -155 degrees to +20 degrees at the equator. The magnetic field on Mars is much weaker than that of the Earth, and the atmosphere is quite rarefied, which allows solar radiation to freely affect the surface. In this regard, if there is life on Mars, it is not on the surface.

When surveyed with the help of rovers, it was found that there are many mountains on Mars, as well as dried riverbeds and glaciers. The surface of the planet is covered with red sand. Iron oxide gives Mars its color.

One of the most frequent events on the planet are dust storms, which are voluminous and destructive. Geological activity on Mars could not be detected, however, it is reliably known that significant geological events took place on the planet earlier.

The atmosphere of Mars is 96% carbon dioxide, 2.7% nitrogen and 1.6% argon. Oxygen and water vapor are present in minimal quantities.

A day on Mars is similar in duration to that on Earth and is 24 hours 37 minutes 23 seconds. A year on the planet lasts twice as long as the earth - 687 days.

The planet has two moons Phobos and Deimos. They are small and uneven in shape, reminiscent of asteroids.

Sometimes Mars is also visible from Earth with the naked eye.

gas giants

Jupiter

This planet is the largest in the solar system and has a diameter of 139,822 km, which is 19 times larger than the earth. A day on Jupiter lasts 10 hours, and a year is approximately 12 Earth years. Jupiter is mainly composed of xenon, argon, and krypton. If it were 60 times larger, it could become a star due to a spontaneous thermonuclear reaction.

The average temperature on the planet is -150 degrees Celsius. The atmosphere is made up of hydrogen and helium. There is no oxygen or water on its surface. There is an assumption that there is ice in the atmosphere of Jupiter.

Jupiter has a huge number of satellites - 67. The largest of them are Io, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. Ganymede is one of the largest moons in the solar system. Its diameter is 2634 km, which is approximately the size of Mercury. In addition, a thick layer of ice is visible on its surface, under which there may be water. Callisto is considered the oldest of the satellites, since it is its surface that has the largest number of craters.

Saturn

This planet is the second largest in the solar system. Its diameter is 116,464 km. It is most similar in composition to the Sun. A year on this planet lasts quite a long time, almost 30 Earth years, and a day is 10.5 hours. The average surface temperature is -180 degrees.

Its atmosphere consists mainly of hydrogen and a small amount of helium. Thunderstorms and auroras often occur in its upper layers.

Saturn is unique in that it has 65 moons and several rings. The rings are made up of small ice particles and rock formations. Ice dust perfectly reflects light, so the rings of Saturn are very clearly visible in a telescope. However, he is not the only planet to have a diadem, it is just less noticeable on other planets.

Uranus

Uranus is the third largest planet in the solar system and the seventh from the Sun. It has a diameter of 50,724 km. It is also called the "ice planet", as the temperature on its surface is -224 degrees. A day on Uranus lasts 17 hours, and a year is 84 Earth years. At the same time, summer lasts as long as winter - 42 years. Such a natural phenomenon is due to the fact that the axis of that planet is located at an angle of 90 degrees to the orbit, and it turns out that Uranus, as it were, "lies on its side."

Uranus has 27 moons. The most famous of them are: Oberon, Titania, Ariel, Miranda, Umbriel.

Neptune

Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun. In its composition and size, it is similar to its neighbor Uranus. The diameter of this planet is 49,244 km. A day on Neptune lasts 16 hours, and a year is equal to 164 Earth years. Neptune belongs to the ice giants and for a long time it was believed that no weather events occur on its icy surface. However, it has recently been found that Neptune has raging eddies and wind speeds the highest of the planets in the solar system. It reaches 700 km / h.

Neptune has 14 moons, the most famous of which is Triton. It is known that it has its own atmosphere.

Neptune also has rings. This planet has 6.

Interesting facts about the planets of the solar system

Compared to Jupiter, Mercury appears to be a dot in the sky. These are actually the proportions in the solar system:

Venus is often called the Morning and Evening Star, since it is the first of the stars visible in the sky at sunset and the last to disappear from visibility at dawn.

An interesting fact about Mars is the fact that methane was found on it. Due to the rarefied atmosphere, it is constantly evaporating, which means that the planet has a constant source of this gas. Such a source can be living organisms inside the planet.

Jupiter has no seasons. The biggest mystery is the so-called "Great Red Spot". Its origin on the surface of the planet is still not fully understood. Scientists suggest that it is formed by a huge hurricane that has been rotating at a very high speed for several centuries.

An interesting fact is that Uranus, like many planets in the solar system, has its own system of rings. Due to the fact that the particles that make up them reflect light poorly, the rings could not be detected immediately after the discovery of the planet.

Neptune has a rich blue color, so it was named after the ancient Roman god - the master of the seas. Due to its remote location, this planet was one of the last to be discovered. At the same time, its location was calculated mathematically, and over time it could be seen, and it was in the calculated place.

Light from the Sun reaches the surface of our planet in 8 minutes.

The solar system, despite its long and thorough study, is still fraught with many mysteries and mysteries that have yet to be revealed. One of the most fascinating hypotheses is the assumption of the presence of life on other planets, the search for which is actively continuing.

History and structure

The solar system is our planetary system, which includes the Sun and all natural objects revolving around it. It appeared 4.57 billion years ago, when the temperature and pressure created by gravity inside the primary gas and dust cloud led to the onset of a thermonuclear reaction.

The bulk of the mass of the solar system is contained in the Sun, while the rest is contained in the planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, comets, dust and gas. Eight relatively solitary planets have relatively circular orbits and are located within the boundaries of an almost flat disk - the plane of the ecliptic. The Earth is part of the so-called terrestrial group, which includes the first four planets from the Sun - Mercury, Venus, and Earth, consisting mainly of silicates and metals. They are followed by a group of four planets more distant from the Sun - Uranus and Neptune (also called gas giants), compared to terrestrial-type planets, their sizes are huge. Especially large are Jupiter and Saturn, the largest in the solar system, consisting mainly of helium and hydrogen; in the composition of Uranus and Neptune, in addition to hydrogen and helium, carbon monoxide and methane are also determined. These planets are also called "ice giants". All gas giants are surrounded by rings of dust and other particles.

Our system has two regions with small bodies. Asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter includes many objects consisting of silicates and metals, which indicates similarities with terrestrial planets. The largest objects in it are the dwarf planet and the asteroids Vesta, Hygiea and Pallas. Beyond the orbit of Neptune is the so-called Kuiper belt, its objects are composed of water ice, ammonia and methane. Largest Kuiper Belt Objects discovered on this day are considered to be Sedna, Haumea, Makemake, Quaoar, Orc and Eridu.

There are other populations of small bodies in the solar system, such as planetary quasi-satellites and Trojans, near-Earth asteroids, centaurs, damocloids, as well as comets, meteoroids and cosmic dust moving through the system.

The solar wind (a stream of plasma from the Sun) creates a bubble in the interstellar medium called heliosphere, which extends to the edge of the scattered disk. The hypothetical Oort cloud, which is the source of long-period comets, can extend to a distance of about a thousand times beyond the heliosphere.

The solar system is part of the Milky Way galaxy.

The central object of the system, the Sun, is a so-called yellow dwarf and belongs to the G2V main-sequence stars. Despite this name, the Sun is not a small star at all. Its mass is approximately 99.866% of the mass of the entire system. Approximately 99% of the remaining mass falls on the gas giants (most of this went to Jupiter and Saturn - about 90%).

The movement of most large objects of the solar system occurs in almost one plane, called plane of the ecliptic, but the movement of comets and many Kuiper belt objects often characterizes a large angle of inclination to this plane.

The direction of rotation of all planets and most other objects repeats direction of rotation of the sun, there are exceptions to this rule, for example, Halley's comet.

Mercury has the highest angular velocity - it spends 88 Earth days for a complete revolution around the Sun, and for the most distant planet, Neptune, one revolution around the Sun occurs in 165 Earth years.

For most planets, the direction of rotation around its axis and the direction of rotation around the Sun are the same, the exceptions to this rule are Venus and Uranus. Venus rotates in the opposite direction, and very slowly, one revolution occurs in 243 Earth days, and the axis of rotation of Uranus is inclined to the axis of the ecliptic by almost 90 °, practically it “lies on its side”.

Many planets in the solar system have moons, some of which are larger than Mercury. Often large satellites rotate synchronously, which means that the satellite is always turned to the planet on one side.

Close encounters with robotic spacecraft have turned planets, moons, and countless small worlds from intriguing painted disks or distant points of light into full-fledged complex objects with a unique history for us.

NEAR THE SUN

Closest to the Sun is the rapidly rotating Mercury, and it was he who gave scientists the most difficult task, since the devices face difficulties in entering its orbit. Thanks to the Mariner 10 station, launched in 1973, we learned about the surface of Mercury.

Astronomers were glad of any opportunity to see at least some details of the surface of this planet. Now that the MESSENGER space station has finally orbited Mercury, it must map its invisible side.

EARTH TWIN

Venus, the second planet from the Sun and the closest neighbor of the Earth, has hosted a whole squadron of orbiters and landers since the early 1960s. At the same time, its hostile surface quickly destroyed all devices that tried to enter its dense atmosphere.

Soviet devices for studying Venus achieved unique successes: hard and soft landing on the surface, studying the atmosphere, detecting the hydrogen corona, the first radio communication session from another planet, etc. In the early 1990s, the American Magellan station mapped the surface of the planet using radar , opening up a whole world of volcanoes.

Start windows. It is very difficult to send a space station to another planet, it is not a simple flight in a straight line from one orbit to another. Therefore, the spacecraft must go beyond the shortest distance between the two objects. The devices use the Hohmann trajectory (Gohmann-Vetchinkin orbit). Essentially, it is a segment of an elliptical orbit around the Sun that causes the craft to spiral around the center of the solar system. Such orbits help to minimize fuel consumption, however, due to such conditions, the device can only leave the Earth in a narrow time window (about a couple of weeks), when it can definitely meet the desired object. If the space station's route passes by more than one planet, then planning the flight causes significant difficulties.

OUR SATELLITE

The moon is on our cosmic porch, which is why it is so easy to observe it in any detail in any telescope. This is probably why the Moon has been and remains a popular target for spacecraft since the very first Soviet Luna missions in the late 1950s.

Many American stations of the 1960s were designed primarily in support of the manned Apollo program. For example, the Ranger series of vehicles took detailed photographs of the surface of our satellite. The resulting photos showed that the lunar craters do not have a lower size limit, therefore, they are probably the result of meteorite impacts, and not volcanic activity.

Shortly thereafter, American soft-landing Surveyors surveyed conditions on the lunar surface, and a series of Lunar Orbiters compiled a detailed photographic atlas.

Since the 1990s, space stations have been sent to the Moon again, notably the Lunar Prospector (it was the first to map the elemental composition of the Moon's surface) and the Japanese KAGUYA orbiter, equipped with high-resolution cameras.

CHANGING MARS

The Red Planet has served as a constant source of imagination for many specialists long before the start of the space age. The first Mariner stations flew over the cratered southern highlands. Those first glimpses revealed something like a rusty version of our lifeless Moon, debunking any illusion that Mars could be quite hospitable to us. The arrival of the Mariner 9 orbiter in 1971 changed ideas about the planet. It turned out that this is a much more interesting world with huge volcanoes and ancient riverbeds.

GEOLOGICAL SECRETS

In 1996, the Mars Global Surveyor was launched, which, along with other vehicles that followed it, found disturbing signs that water could still flow on or under the surface of Mars today.

Thanks to the landers, we learned the history of Mars. The Viking spacecraft gave us our first glimpse of the planet's barren surface in 1976 as they searched in vain for signs of life. The Mars Pathfinder and the Mars Exploration Rover have surveyed the planet's landscape in 1997 and since 2004. They helped uncover a number of important geological secrets, and found compelling evidence that once stagnant water was widespread throughout the planet.

The Phoenix lander, launched in 2007, arrived at the North Pole of Mars in May 2008 to confirm the existence of water on the planet. In September 2008, the module saw snow falling from the clouds of Mars.

SMALL WORLDS

Spacecraft were also visited by asteroids and comets. Halley's Comet, the first such object visited by earth stations in 1986, proved to be very spectacular. Subsequent missions examined comets in a variety of ways: sampling material from their tails, falling on them, and photographing their surfaces.

Galileo first showed us a close-up of the asteroid when it was on its way to Jupiter in 1991. But the first detailed images were taken by NEAR, a near-Earth asteroid tracking project, when the space station orbited the asteroid (433) Eros for a full year starting in 2000.

AMONG THE GIANTS

Out of the asteroid belt, flying on rendezvous with Jupiter and Saturn in the 1970s. They paved the way for the Voyager spacecraft, which discovered the complexity of the structure of the giant planets.

Although the meeting with the celestial body was limited to only an extended flight past it, the magnificent cameras on board and carefully calculated trajectories allowed the stations to pass as close as possible to the largest satellites. That's why they were able to discover volcanic activity on Io, signs of an ocean under Europa's icy crust, a dense atmosphere harboring Titan, and the astonishing complexity of Saturn's ring system.

These discoveries were more than enough to confirm the feasibility of sending the Galileo and Cassini orbital stations to explore Jupiter and Saturn. Galileo not only confirmed the theory of the existence of a water ocean on Jupiter's moon Europa, but also found evidence of something similar under the surface of Ganymede and Callisto. Cassini discovered hydrocarbon lakes on Titan, and also detected activity on the small moon Enceladus.

TO THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

If Voyager 1 flew from Saturn into outer space, then Voyager 2 circled Uranus and Neptune with the help of gravitational maneuvers, throwing only a cursory glance at these cold worlds and their satellite systems.

None of these vehicles, en route to the edge of the solar system, have been able to fly past Kuiper belt objects, but the recently launched New Horizons station will fill the gap, and our first reconnaissance exploration of the solar system, which lasted more than half a century, will be completed.