Unveiling the Mysteries. Fascinating Facts About Our Solar System

Unveiling the Mysteries. Fascinating Facts About Our Solar System

Neptune, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. These are the names of the planets in our solar system, and this is not the only thing we will know about these planets, as the solar system contains a group of amazing facts and curiosities. In this article, we will talk about amazing facts about the solar system.

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun; its year is only 88 Earth days. Because of its high rotation speed around the sun, ancient civilizations considered it two planets, one appearing in the morning and the other at night.

• Although the year on it is short compared to Earth, its cycle around itself, which is a day, is considered very large compared to a day on the ground.

• One day on Mercury is equivalent to 58.6 Earth days, and because of its small size and low gravity, it is weak because it has an atmosphere that protects it from solar rays, which makes the temperature on its surface reach 430 degrees Celsius and drop to 170 degrees Celsius below zero.

• The surface of the planet Mercury resembles the surface of the Moon because it has many craters, and the largest crater on its surface is the crater known as the Caloris Basin, with an estimated diameter of 1,550 kilometers.

The second closest planet to the sun is Venus, and despite that, it is the hottest planet, as the temperature on the surface of Venus is greater than the temperature on the surface of Mercury. This is contrary to popular belief, and the reason that makes it hotter is that it has a very strong atmosphere.

• By the way, this temperature is enough to melt lead, and there is also sulfur rain falling on the surface of the planet all the time.

• The first landing on its surface occurred in 1970 by a Soviet spacecraft, but it failed and the spacecraft melted due to the temperature.

• Despite this, the spacecraft was able to send pictures before it melted, and it was learned that the planet is geologically active and has about 1,600 volcanoes.

In the year 1900 AD, a competition was held in which valuable prizes would be offered to the first person who could determine the existence of life on other planets, but the organizers of the competition removed Mars from among the planets because they believed at the time that Mars already had life, so they wanted the contestants to search for life on planets other than Mars.

What is even more surprising is that in 1938, when director Orson Welles made a radio episode inspired by the famous story War of the Worlds, the program at that time caused a huge uproar because people thought that the topic was real and that there were creatures that would land from Mars and take over the Earth.

• Mars, or the red planet, although it is much smaller than Earth, has the highest volcanic peak in the entire solar system, which reaches about 27 kilometers, and this peak is Mount Olympus Mons.

• Mars has seasons very similar to those of Earth because its axis is tilted at an angle close to the Earth's angle.

• What is surprising is that satellite imaging showed that the planet Mars has empty streams and channels dug on the surface, and this suggests that there was water flowing on the Martian surface in the distant past.

• But because of its weak atmosphere, the water bodies were likely destroyed by violent solar winds that led to the evaporation of all the water.

• What increases the possibility of this belief is that there is indeed water on the surface of Mars at the poles, but it is frozen water with a large percentage of carbon dioxide.

Exploring the Cosmos. Amazing Secrets of Our Solar System

• The largest hurricane in the entire solar system is the Great Red Spot located on the surface of Jupiter. This spot is so gigantic that it can swallow two planets the size of the Earth.

• The storm in the spot rises above the clouds by a distance of 8 kilometers, the wind speed is estimated at 800 kilometers per hour, and it emits a sound sufficient to deafen people as soon as you hear it.

• The strange thing is that no one has any idea when and how this hurricane appeared. Because when Jupiter was first observed, the hurricane was already there.

• This spot is not just a giant hurricane on Jupiter's surface, but this spot may be what supplies Jupiter with all its heat.

For this reason, scientists are very confused in understanding the temperature of Jupiter, as it has the same temperatures as those on the surface of the Earth, even though it is five times farther from the sun than us, and this is one of the strangest things surrounding the gas giant.

The most distinctive thing about the planet Saturn is the rings. Although the planet was most likely formed with the birth of the sun about 4.5 billion years ago, the researchers behind the Cassini project discovered that the rings themselves were formed recently.

• They may even have been formed while dinosaurs were roaming on the surface of the Earth.

• They suggested that the reason for these rings could be due to a giant icy comet that was present in the Kuiper Belt region and was linked to Saturn’s gravitational field, but it disintegrated with time due to Saturn’s enormous gravity.

• One of the interesting things is that if the Earth approached an icy comet and was able to close on it with its gravity, it could disintegrate and form rings around the Earth similar to the rings of Saturn.

• Although the view will be beautiful, the sky will then rain destructive meteors all the time.

• Titan's moon is the largest of Saturn's moons and the second largest in the solar system, and when the Howings probe landed on it in 2005, they found that the landscape on this moon is very similar to that on Earth.

• This moon contains river cavities, oceans, plains, and terrain very similar to what is found on the surface of the Earth, and the moon also contains an excellent atmosphere.

• Although these are things that might make us think about colonizing this moon, it is not rich in oxygen at all, but it is very rich in methane gas that falls on it like rain.

• Located third in size within the solar system, Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun was discovered in 1781 AD by the scientist William Herschel.

• The planet is similar in composition to Neptune, Jupiter, and Saturn, and is classified as an ice giant composed of hydrogen and helium and contains higher percentages of water ice, and methane.

The atmosphere of Uranus is considered the coldest in the entire solar system, with a temperature of 224 degrees Celsius below zero. One of the strange things about Uranus is that it also has rings similar to the rings of the planet Saturn.

But the strangest thing about it is that its axial tilt is very strange, as its tilt is equal to its rotation around the sun, and this makes its south and north poles located in the place of the equator on Earth, and this makes the summer or winter season continue on the surface of the planet for 42 consecutive years.

Beyond Earth. Incredible Wonders of Our Solar System

In 1846 AD, scientists noticed that there were disturbances in the path of the planet Uranus, and at that time they hypothesized that there was another huge planet behind it, and indeed the planet Neptune was discovered.

Neptune is a gas planet similar to Uranus, Jupiter, and Saturn. It completes its orbit around the sun every 165 years. One day on its surface is equivalent to 16 Earth hours, and the distance between it and the sun is 30 times greater than the distance between Earth and the sun.

The temperature of the planet, due to the cold clouds present on it, reaches minus 220 degrees Celsius, and the planet Neptune is known for its blue color, and the reason it acquired this color in particular is that it possesses methane gas in large quantities.

The planet's largest moon is Triton. Unfortunately, this moon has strong explosions of gases that rise hundreds of kilometers due to Neptune's strong gravity. Therefore, it is expected that in the future, Neptune will destroy its moon Triton.

• The sun itself is a wondrous world. It alone represents 99.98% of the mass of the entire solar system, and this is what makes it include all the planets, moons, and billions of comets in its gravitational pull.

• Amazingly, the sun loses its huge mass every second, about 500 million kilograms, which are transformed into energy that provides us with warmth and light. The sun completes a cycle around the center of the galaxy every 225 to 250 million years.

• The sun is in a constant state of activity. On its surface, there are atomic explosions the size of which can reach 30 Earths.

• These atomic explosions throw electrified particles into space known as solar wind, which may eventually reach the surface of the Earth, and if they arrive, they cause the phenomenon of Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights.

• If these winds are stronger than necessary, in this case, they may cause the satellites’ orbits to be disturbed or destroyed. It is also possible, in some rare cases, to cause electricity to be cut off in many places on the surface of the Earth.