- 3211 - SOLAR MYSTERIES - more discoveries needed? What Is New and Extreme in our Solar System? One of the most important discoveries was finding water around the Solar System. Space probes sent into the south pole of the Moon confirmed the existence of water on the Moon.
------------------ 3211 - SOLAR MYSTERIES - more discoveries needed?
- Water found on the Moon. Determining how much water, and how much is pure ice versus ice mixed with dirt is critical for planning future interplanetary exploration. Water on the Moon means less water and less fuel needs to be carried there. A moon camp could manufacture hydrogen fuel and send rockets from there to other planets.
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- A similar surprise was the unexpected discovery of large amounts of water in Mercury’s atmosphere. It is a very thin atmosphere and still a mystery how the water got there.
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- Mercury can reach almost the temperature of Venus, 840 degrees F, but, it has so little atmosphere it can not trap the heat or spread it around the planet. On the shadow, night, side of the planet the temperature plummets to -275 degrees F. That is a 1,100 degree swing.
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- Discoveries on Mars have suggested the existence of water ice under the surface, not just at the polar ice caps but also at the equator. Mars is unique in its terrain in other ways too. Mars has the highest mountains 17 miles high and the deepest canyons 6 miles deep running for 2,500 miles.
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- Dust storms on Mars can blanket the entire planet and last for months. The red dust on Mars absorbs sunlight, warming the atmosphere above it. These warm pockets flow toward colder regions. This creates winds that pick up more dust into the atmosphere. More dust collets more heat and the cycle repeats itself until the entire planet is blanketed in dust storms. When the temperatures eventually equalize and the winds settle, the dust settles and the cycle starts all over again.
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- You would think Mercury to be the hottest planet since it is so close to the Sun. Actually, our sister planet, Venus, our neighbor in the Solar System, is hotter. Up to 870 degrees F on its surface. These high temperatures are created by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere of Venus trapping the heat. The heat builds up to the point of the melting temperature of lead.
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- Mars has its dust storms but it can not match the velocity of the winds on Neptune. Neptune has winds reaching 1,500 miles per hour. It is still a mystery where the energy comes from that creates these extreme wind velocities.
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- At times Neptune’s orbit is farther from the Sun than Pluto’s orbit. However, Pluto has the outside loop most of the time. Pluto was recently discovered to have a seasonal surface that changes colors. Hubble pictures show the changes, but, astronomers have no idea what could be causing it since it is so far from the Sun’s rays.
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- Saturn was recently discovered to have a larger outside ring. The ring extends 200 times the diameter of the planet. That would be 12.5 times the distance to the Moon.
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- Another mystery with Saturn is its south pole. It contains a vortex which is not unusual but, the shape of the vortex is a perfect hexagon, not a circle. Astronomers speculate that some form of jet streams are creating this.
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- All the planets spin on their poles except one. Uranus does not spin, it rolls. The south pole of Uranus always points to toward the Sun and the planet rolls around its orbit of the Sun. Astronomers believe an early collision knocked it on its side.
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- Jupiter still has its Great Red Spot that is a giant storm that has lasted for at least 300 years. The diameter of the storm is over 3 times the diameter of the Earth.
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- The Dwarf Planets along with Pluto are Eris, Haumea, Makemake and Ceres. There could be more Dwarf Planets at the outskirts of the Solar System. Haumea is a Dwarf Planet 1/3 the size of Pluto. It has two moons and the planet is spinning so rapidly that it is elongated at the equator.
- Earth is the only planet so far that has an atmosphere with free oxygen. Take a breath of fresh air and remember that.
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- We do not have to reach to the stars to find some mysteries in astronomy that need solving. Here are some questions astronomers are asking about our Solar System close to home.
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- Does the Sun have an Artic and an Antarctic region? It appears that is does. The surface temperature of the Sun is 6,000 Kelvin. But, above the surface it is much hotter. The gases above the Sun’s surface, in the Corona, can be millions of degrees Kelvin.
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- A spacecraft that has had a polar orbit around the Sun for years is measuring the Solar Wind at 300 million kilometers above the surface. The South Pole is 80,000 Kelvin cooler than the North Pole. There is no explanation for this. We do know that the north and south poles switch magnetic polarity every 11 years. This magnetic switch also causes the sunspot cycle to occur every 11 years. ( See Review 1156 on “ Solar Flares”)
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- Why does the northern and southern hemispheres of Mars differ so much? The Mars northern hemisphere is a featureless lowland. The southern hemisphere is a vast highland of mountain ranges. The best explanation so far is that a large impact occurred in the north about 4 billion years ago.
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- This is about the same time that a large impact struck the Earth and created the Moon. However, there is no sigh of a crater or a rim on Mars. The northern lowlands are nowhere circular like an impact would make. Still, a big impact from an asteroid is the best guess astronomers have so far.
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- Speaking of no craters, a similar mystery occurred here on Earth in 1908. A bright flash over the Tunguska river in Russia decimated 80 million trees that fell over a 2,000 square kilometer area. There is no sign of a crater. There is no evidence of a meteorite. The best guess is still an airburst of a giant asteroid before it hit the ground.
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- Strange impacts are given for other Solar System oddities. Uranus is the only planet that has its rotating axis on its side. 97.7 degree tilt from the ecliptic plane.
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- All the planets except one rotate counter-clockwise when viewed from the north pole. Rotating west to east. Venus is the only planet that is rotating in the opposite direction, clockwise. Again, astronomers are using a large impact that reverse its spin in the early evolution of the Solar System.
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- Titan is a moon orbiting Saturn that has an atmosphere similar to Earth’s. It is the only moon with an atmosphere. Titan is 80% more massive than our Moon. Earth has an atmosphere that is 80% nitrogen. Titan’s is 95% nitrogen. Titan’s atmosphere is 1.5 times as dense as Earth’s.
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- Titan does not have oxygen or water in its atmosphere it has methane and ethane. Mars has an atmosphere 100 times thinner than Earth’s and Venus has an atmosphere 100 times thicker than Earth’s. (See Review 1144 to learn how Titan might support life as we know it.)
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- The Pioneer anomaly is spacecraft mystery. Two pioneer spacecraft have traveled to the edge of the Solar System. But, they are not where they are supposed to be. In the radial direction from the Sun they are slowing down. Other spacecraft are experiencing similar velocity miscalculations. More precise measurements on future missions hope to come up with an explanation. There is something we do not understand. Our best mathematics is giving us the wrong answers versus observation.
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- July 5, 2021 SOLAR MYSTERIES - more discoveries? 1150 1157 3211
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