Current Events

  • Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm
    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm rep...Read more

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    Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm

    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm repeatedly. Daily levels of CO2 can vary due to weather, and there are seasonal trends as well. The level of atmospheric greenhouse gases continues to increase, now over 120 ppm since the Industrial Revolution began. For more on the Keeling Curve, see http://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/. Find out more about greenhouse gases and warming.
  • Massive Tornado Outbreak on Tornado Alley
    The week of May 19 brings dozens of tornadoes to Tornado Alley in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Io...Read more

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    Massive Tornado Outbreak on Tornado Alley

    The week of May 19 brings dozens of tornadoes to Tornado Alley in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. On May 20th, a massive tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, devastating communities - destroying over 100 homes and hitting two elementary schools and a hospital - with many casualties and deaths. Our thoughts are with our friends and colleagues suffering from these storms. For more on the May 20th storms, see the NOAA Storm Prediction Center Storm Report.
  • Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education
    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of ...Read more

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    Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education

    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of sustainability. Here is a link to the one-page bill: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2013_14/measures/documents/hb2366_00_0000.pdf. See report on Bloomberg News.

Planets

By the current count of astronomers, our solar system includes 8 planets and 5 dwarf planets. The planets were formed during the process of solar system formation, when clumps began to form in the disk of gas and dusk rotating about our young Sun. Eventually, only the planets and other small bodies in the solar system remained. The four rocky planets at the center of the solar system Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, are known as the inner planets. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are all composed primarily of gas and are known as the outer planets. Find out more about the planets through the links below.

A view of the Earth as seen by the <a href="/space_missions/apollo17.html&edu=elem&dev=1">Apollo 17</a> crew while traveling to the <a href="/earth/moons_and_rings.html&edu=elem&dev=1">Moon</a> on December 7, 1972. Africa, Madagascar, and the Arabian Peninsula are visible, and you can barely make out the <a href="/earth/polar/antarctica.html&edu=elem&dev=1">Antarctic</a>, shrouded in the heavy <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/cloud.html&edu=elem&dev=1">cloud</a> cover in the southern hemisphere. Arching cloud patterns show the presence of <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/front.html&edu=elem&dev=1">weather fronts</a>.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA/Apollo 17.</em></small></p>Have you ever seen the <a href="/earth/Magnetosphere/aurora.html&edu=elem&dev=1">Southern or Northern Lights</a>? Earth isn't the only planet that puts on these beautiful light shows, which are also called the "<a href="/earth/Magnetosphere/aurora.html&edu=elem&dev=1">aurora</a>". Aurora have been seen at both <a href="/saturn/saturn_polar_regions.html&edu=elem&dev=1">poles of Saturn</a>, too, as well as at the poles of <a href="/jupiter/magnetosphere/jupiter_aurora.html&edu=elem&dev=1">Jupiter</a>. These "<a href="/earth/Magnetosphere/tour/tour_earth_magnetosphere_09.html&edu=elem&dev=1">curtains of light</a>" sometimes rise 1,200 miles (2,000 km) above the <a href="/saturn/atmosphere/S_clouds_overview.html&edu=elem&dev=1">cloud tops</a> near Saturn's poles. The <a href="/space_missions/HST.html&edu=elem&dev=1">Hubble Space Telescope</a> took this picture in 2004.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA, ESA, J. Clarke (Boston University), and Z. Levay (STScI)</em></small></p>Neptune's <a href="/neptune/lower_atmosphere.html&edu=elem&dev=1">atmosphere</a> shows a striped pattern of <a href="/neptune/atmosphere/N_clouds_overview.html&edu=elem&dev=1">clouds</a>. This cloud pattern is very similar to that of <a href="/jupiter/jupiter.html&edu=elem&dev=1">Jupiter</a> and <a href="/saturn/saturn.html&edu=elem&dev=1">Saturn</a>. Neptune even has a <a href="/neptune/atmosphere/N_clouds_GDS.html&edu=elem&dev=1">Great Dark Spot</a> similar to Jupiter's <a href="/jupiter/atmosphere/J_clouds_GRS.html&edu=elem&dev=1">Great Red Spot</a>. The Great Dark Spot of Neptune is thought to be a hole, similar to the hole in the <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/ozone_layer.html&edu=elem&dev=1">ozone layer on Earth</a>, in the <a href="/physical_science/chemistry/methane.html&edu=elem&dev=1">methane</a> cloud deck of Neptune.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA</em></small></p><a href="/mercury/mercury.html&edu=elem&dev=1">Mercury</a>, the innermost planet of the solar system, is a little bigger than the Earth's Moon. The <a href="/mercury/Interior_Surface/Surface/surface_overview.html&edu=elem&dev=1">surface</a> of the planet is covered with craters, like the Moon, but temperatures there can reach over 800&deg;F because Mercury is so close to the Sun and rotates so slowly. This picture was taken by the <a href="/space_missions/robotic/messenger/messenger.html&edu=elem&dev=1">MESSENGER spacecraft</a> in October 2008.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington.</em></small></p>This historic image is the first ever taken from a spacecraft in orbit about <a href="/mercury/mercury.html&edu=elem&dev=1">Mercury</a>, the innermost planet of the solar system. Taken on 3/29/2011 by <a href="/space_missions/robotic/messenger/messenger.html&edu=elem&dev=1">MESSENGER</a>, it shows numerous craters across the <a href="/mercury/Interior_Surface/Surface/surface_overview.html&edu=elem&dev=1">surface</a> of the planet. Temperatures there can reach over 800°F because Mercury is so close to the Sun and rotates so slowly. MESSENGER entered orbit around Mercury earlier in March 2011.<p><small><em>NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington</em></small></p>New observations by the MESSENGER spacecraft provide support for the hypothesis that Mercury harbors abundant water ice and other frozen volatile materials in its permanently shadowed (shown in red) polar craters. Areas where polar deposits of ice imaged by Earth-based radar are shown in yellow.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington/National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, Arecibo Observatory</em></small></p>

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Explore Planets

What is a Planet?

Do you know what a planet is? Guess what... astronomers are not quite sure what a planet is! ...Read more

Mercury

Mercury, the planet nearest the Sun, is the second smallest planet in the solar system. Only ...Read more

Venus

Fair but inhospitable Venus, a "Sister" planet to the Earth that is very different from our ...Read more

Earth

Earth, our home planet, is a beautiful blue and white ball when seen from space. ...Read more

Mars

Mars, Earth's outer neighbor, is the fourth planet from the Sun. Mars' bright appearance and ...Read more

Jupiter

   Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. When approached from afar, its fantastic ...Read more

Saturn

Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun, has the most spectacular set of rings in the solar system. ...Read more

Uranus

   Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, has its spin axis almost in the plane of its orbit ...Read more

Neptune

Neptune, the eighth and furthest planet from the Sun, is a very cold place. Its bluish color ...Read more

Dwarf Planets

In 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) approved a new classification scheme for ...Read more

More about Planets

Historical Events

5/24 Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, died on this date in 1543 Details
5/30 7.5 magnitude quake hits Quetta, Pakistan in 1935
5/31 7.9 magnitude earthquake hits Peru in 1970

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Did you know?

Did you know that Saturn has a strange hexagon shaped cloud structure at its north pole?

Did you know that Pluto is not always outside the orbit of Neptune?

 

Earth and Space Science Concept of the Day

Do you know what this word or phrase means?

Plasmoid
xPlasmoid : A structure of plasma and magnetic fields proposed to explain several natural phenomena including magnetic bubbles in magentospheres and ball lightning

Click on the word to find out!

Research Highlights

Geologists Uncover Major Ancient Human Ancestor in South Africa

Scientists in South Africa have discovered two fossil skeletons that are about two million years old. These skeletons are of a young male and adult female of a species that had never been found before....Read more

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