Field Guide to the Stars and Other Space Wonders

Field Guide to the Stars and Other Space Wonders By Marianne Prax

Table of Contents Introduction and Acknowledgments 1 Uranus 18 Spilt Ink 2 Neptune 19 Constellations 3 Jovian Moons 20 Phoenix Constellation 4 Voyager 2 21 Andromeda Constellation 5 Pluto 22 Cassiopeia Constellation 6 New Horizons Mission 23 Sculptor Constellation 7 Hatley 2 24 The Sun 8 16 Psyche 25 The Moon 9 The Earth 10 Apollo 17 and Aqua 11 Mercury 12 Venus 13 Mars 14 Perseverance Rover 15 Jupiter 16 Saturn 17

Introduction 1 In this book, you will learn all about the Acknowledgments amazing objects in our solar system ranging from our moon to Pluto. With each One of the people who was always planet, learn about missions to learn more interested in learning about the solar system about them. This book provides a nice was my dad. Whenever I finished a page, basic understanding of our solar system. my dad would want me to talk about it and Information in this book also contains read it. It was awesome to have some mythology of many celestial objects. feedback, especially from someone so Information on such objects spans from the excited about the solar system. One of the sun to Trans Neptunian Objects, but there’s reasons I chose to take an astronomy class still more to learn! Hopefully after reading in the first place is because of my dad. He is this book you’ll be compelling to continue really into astronomy and has tried to get my research on our vast solar system and siblings and I into the subject. When I was maybe even universe too. There’s so much younger and we went on trips up to to learn for those willing to look and I hope Fairbanks or to Silver Lake, he would take this is only the start in your space studying out his phone or tablet and pull out his adventure. star-chart app and try to find different constellations in the sky.

SPILT INK MYTH 2 Translation: Effuderit Aftramentario In a time where many of today’s stars had yet to shine in the night sky, an author lay Common Name: One Night awake in her bed as words rattling inside of her head. Her thoughts ran rampant, filled CONSTELLATION with stories of great heroes and villains, adventure and tragedy, and all the magic she wished to capture on a page. She got out of her bed and hovered over her desk. With MORE her thoughts still banging against her skull, she took out a quill and dipped it in ink as dark as a cloudy night sky. Her hand trembled slightly as she moved it toward the top Discovery: A cartographer discovered Spilt Ink when left-hand corner of the paper. There were millions of words, but what one would start he got tired of mapping Earth and looked to the stars. her epic tale that would be told throughout the ages? Her thoughts swirled together Location: Above Orion and to the left of Auriga. like a hurricane of story, ripping through her brain without caution. Would they not Special Star: Auctor. The brightest star on the spilt simply fall in line and subdue her torture? What wondrous visions graced her mind, ink depiction of the constellation. It represents the but all translation seemed lost when trying to make daydreams a reality. With the story author, lost in her own untold stories. becoming murkier in her mind, the author tried to think of a new way to start. One Fact: The constellation spells out Una Nocte which word was all she needed to start… one. She carefully scribbled “one” onto her paper translates from latin to One Night in English. in gallant swooping letters. Now all she needed was another word, and a lot more to follow. The author looked out her window to find the stars greeting her in the night sky. Blank patches rested in the black blanket of the world above. All the constellations above were a story and all the empty spots were soon to be told. The author wrote down another word, “night,” and picked up her quill. “One night.” What was to happen that night? What adventure was about to unfold on the author’s page? What story would slip out of her mind and share itself with others? The author was baffled. What was she to do? How could she compose a narrative with so many ideas floating around? They crashed against each other and fought, giving her an aching headache. The author put her elbow on the desk, accidentally spilling her ink over her paper. It barely touched the last letter of her second word. The other groaned in frustration and grabbed her paper. She marched over to the window and flung it out towards the sky. The paper got caught in the darkness’s net and the words melted into the stars, a constellation for all the stories that wouldn’t be told. 2

3 There are 88 officially recognized constellations. These constellations have be defined as such by the International Astronomical Union or IAU. The IAU defined these constellations in the early 20th century. Constellations are often mistaken as asterisms, but they are not. Generally, constellations are grouped around asterisms, but they are not the same. Asterisms are the patterns formed by stars that have been seen as certain figures in the sky. An example of an asterism id the Big Dipper. Asterisms also typically consist of brighter stars and are smaller than constellations. I chose to further examine the four constellations; Phoenix, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, and Sculptor. I chose these constellations because I love fall and wanted to look more into the fall constellations. I chose Phoenix because it was the fictional name of MacGyver’s employer the “Phoenix Foundation” in the 1985 masterpiece, “MacGyver.” I chose Andromeda because the name is very beautiful. I chose Cassiopeia because I’m familiar with the constellation and would love to learn more about it. And I chose Sculptor because it sounded very interesting and I hadn’t heard of it before.

PHOENIX MYTH 4 Translation: Phoenicis The Phoenix had lived for 500 years. When it reached the end of its life span, the Abbreviation: Phe phoenix built a nest at the top of a palm tree using incense and cinnamon bark. He would then ignite the nest and die in the fire. A phoenix would be born of the old CONSTELLATION phoenix’s ashes and when strong enough, take the nest and carry it to the temple of Hyperion. MORE Discovery: It was originally introduced by the Dutch astronomer and cartographer Petrus Plancius from the observations of the Dutch navigators Frederick Houtman and Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser in the late 16th century. Location: It is located in the first quadrant of the southern hemisphere and can be seen at latitudes between +32° and -80°. The neighboring constellations are Eridanus, Grus, Formax, Hydrus, Sculptor, anc Tucana. Brightest Star: Brightest star in the constellation is Ankaa, Alpha Phoenicis with an apparent magnitude of 2.50. Alpha Phoenics is a spectroscopic binary star that is approximately 85 light years distant. Ankaa comes from the Arabic al-’anqa, which means “the phoenix.” Galaxies: Robert’s Quartet located in the Phoenix constellation is ne of the most massive galaxy clusters known. It is showing star forming activity at the highest rate ever recorded in a galaxy cluster with the recent creation of 740 solar masses per year. Black Hole: Black hole candidate HLX-1 is located in the Phoenix constellation. Citation:https://www.constellation-guide.com/what-is-a-constellation/#:~:text=A%20constellation%20is%20an%20area,other%20in%20the%20night%20 sky.;https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/phoenix-constellation/; https://star-name-registry.com/phoenix#

ANDROMEDA MYTH 5 Greek Translation: Ανδρομέδα Andromeda was the daughter of King Cepheus of Ethiopia and Queen Cassiopeia, Common Name: Chained Lady and Chained Woman who offended the Nereids (sea nymphs) by claiming she was more beautiful than they were. The nymphs complained to the sea god Poseidon and he sent a sea CONSTELLATION monster, Cetus, to flood and destroy Cepheus’ lands as punishment for his wife’s boastfulness. When the king sought advice from the Oracle of Ammon on how to prevent complete destruction of his lands, he was told that the only way to appease the gods and nymphs was to sacrifice his daughter to Cetus. Subsequently, Andromeda was chained to a rock and would have been left to the monster if Perseus had not come along and saved her. The two were later married and had six children, including Gorgophonte, who fathered Tyndareus, the famous Spartan king, and Perses, who was an ancestor of the Persians. In the story, it was the goddess Athena who commemorated the princess Andromeda by placing her image among the stars, next to the constellations representing her husband Perseus and mother Cassiopeia. MORE Discovery: Andromeda was first catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century. Location: It is located in the northern sky, between Cassiopeia’s W asterism and the Great Square of Pegasus. Brightest Star: The brightest star in Andromeda is Alpheratz, Aplha Andromedae. It is sometimes also known as Sirrah. It is located 97 light years from earth. It is also the brightest mercury-manganese star kown, with a luminosity 200 times that of the Sun. Galaxies: Messier 31, better known as the Andromeda Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million lights years distant. In the past it was referred to as the Great Andromeda Nebula. Citation: https://www.odysseymagazine.com/andromeda-constellation/; https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/andromeda-constellation/

CASSIOPEIA MYTH 6 Translation: κασόπεια Cassiopeia was the wife of King Cepheus of Ethiopia. She once boasted that she was Common Name: Cassiopeia’s Chair, Lazy M, more beautiful than the Nereids. They were enraged by Cassiopeia’s comments and appealed to Poseidon to punish Cassiopeia for her boastfulness. The sea god obliged Celestial M, The Lady of the Chair and sent Cetus, a sea monster, to ravage the coast of Cepheus’ kingdom. Cepheus turned to an oracle for help and the oracle told him that, in order to appease CONSTELLATION Poseidon, he and Cassiopeia had to sacrifice their daughter Andromeda to the sea monster. Reluctantly, they did so, leaving Andromeda chained to a rock for the Citation:https://www.constellation-guide.com/constell monster to find. However, she was saved in the last minute by the Greek hero ation-list/cassiopeia-constellation/; Perseus, who happened to be passing by, saw Andromeda and rescued her from the https://astrobackyard.com/cassiopeia-constellation/ monster. Perseus and Andromeda were later married. At the wedding, one of her former suitors, named Phineus, appeared and claimed that he was the only one who MORE had the right to marry Andromeda. There was a fight and Perseus, desperately outnumbered, used the head of Medusa, the monster he had recently slain, to defeat his opponents. One look at Medusa’s head turned them all into stone. In the process, however, the king and queen were also killed because they did not look away from the monster’s head in time. It was Poseidon who placed Cassiopeia and Cepheus in the sky. Cassiopeia, the myth goes, was condemned to circle the celestial pole forever, and spends half the year upside down in the sky as punishment for her vanity. She is usually depicted on her throne, still combing her hair. Discovery: The constellation was first catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century, along with other constellations in the Perseus family (except Lacerta). Location: It lies in the first quadrant of the northern hemisphere and can be seen at latitudes between +90° and -20°. The neighboring constellations are Andromeda, Camelopardalis, Cepheus, Lacerta, and Perseus. Special Stars: Cassiopeia is famous for its distinctive W shape, an asterism formed by five bright stars in the constellation. The stars, from left to right, are Segin (Epsilon Cassiopeiae), Ruchbah (Delta Cassiopeiae), Gamma Cassiopeiae, Schedar (Alpha Cassiopeiae), and Caph (Beta Cassiopeiae).

SCULPTOR MYTH 7 Translation: Apparatus Sculptoris There is no myth associated with Sculptor. The constellation was depicted as a Common Names: The Sculptor’s Studio, The carved head lying on a tripod table, next to a sculptor’s mallet and two chisels. Sculptor’s Workshop MORE CONSTELLATION Discovery: It was one of the southern constellations introduced by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century. Lacaille originally named it Apparatus Citation: Sculptoris, which means “the sculptor’s studio,” but the name was later shortened to https://starregistration.net/constellations/sculptor-const Sculptor in 1844, English astronomer John Herschel proposed shortening the name to ellation.html; Sculptor. His suggestion was adopted by Francis Baily in his British Association Catalogue https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/s of 1845, and the constellation has been known as Sculptor ever since. culptor-constellation/ Location: Location: Sculptor constellation lies in the southern sky, to the south of Aquarius and Cetus. Brightest Star: Alpha Sculptoris is the brightest star in Sculptor constellation. It has an apparent magnitude of 4.30 and is approximately 780 light years distant from Earth. It has the stellar classification of B7 IIIp, which means that it is a blue-white giant star. The star is classified as an SX Arietis type variable, a high-temperature star that exhibits a strong magnetic field and strong H2e I and Si III spectral lines. The star’s brightness varies by 0.01 magnitudes. Galaxies: The Sculptor Group is a group of galaxies located near the south galactic pole in Sculptor constellation. It is a relatively loose group, and one of the closest groups of galaxies to the Local Group. The centre of the Sculptor Group is approximately 12.7 million light years distant from the Milky Way.The Cartwheel Galaxy is a lenticular and ring galaxy in Sculptor. It has a visual magnitude of 15.2 and is approximately 500 million light years distant from the solar system. It is about 150,000 light years across, slightly larger than our own galaxy.

THE SUN MYTH 8 Official Name: Sol In Norse Legend, Sol is the sun goddess. Sol is chased through the sky by Sköll, a wolf who intends to devour the goddess. According to legend, eclipses were caused by Sköll almost catching Sol. When Sköll catches and devours Sol, Ragnarök occurs. Ragnarök is a huge cataclysmic event. Major gods will die and the Earth will be ravaged by a monumental flood. Similar to many other disaster myths such as Noah’s ark, this event would “cleanse” the Earth and allow it to be repopulated by its two human survivors. Citation:https://earthsky.org/space/what-is-the-suns-name#:~:text=We%20English%20speakers%20always% 20just,name%20than%20an%20official%20one.;https://earthsky.org/space/what-is-the-suns-name#:~:text=W e%20English%20speakers%20always%20just,name%20than%20an%20official%20one.;https://www.livescie nce.com/20415-folklore-5-sun-myths.html;https://www.britannica.com/place/Sun/Internal-structure;https://scie d.ucar.edu/solar-atmosphere;https://www.space.com/22393-sun-magnetic-field-explained-infographic.html MORE ON THE SUN The sun’s radius is 109 times bigger than Earth’s radius. No solid or liquid can exist at the sun’s surface because of its incredible temperature. The sun’s constituent materials are mainly gaseous atoms with a very small number of molecules so there’s no fixed surface. What we see of the sun from Earth is the photosphere which is the layer which most of the radiation reaches us. This radiation is absorbed and reradiated and the emission from overlying layers drops sharply by approximately a factor of sic every 200 kilometers. The sun is a stable source of energy solar constant of 1.366 kilowatts per square meter at Earth. It varies no more than 0.1%. However there’s an 11-year cycle of magnetic activity that’s caused by sunspots. Two parts of the sun’s atmosphere are the chromosphere and corona. The chromosphere is the lower region of the atmosphere. During a solar eclipse, this layer looks red. The corona is a thin transition region that separates the chromosphere from the corona above. It is the uppermost portion of the sun’s atmosphere and is actually hotter than the sun’s surface. Temperatures rise sharply in the corona. Then there’s solar which is a flow of plasma that moves outward in our solar system. It is pretty much an extension of the sun’s atmosphere meaning that Earth orbits within the atmosphere of the sun. The sun’s magnetosphere spreads throughout the solar system and is caused by electric currents inside the sun. It causes activity at the surface of the sun that surges and ebbs in a predictable cycle. The magnetosphere has two poles that act as a sort of magnet and flip at the peak of every solar cycle which is 11-years. Solar wind which is composed of charged particles carries the magnetic field away from the sun’s surface and out through the solar system.

THE MOON MYTH 9 Latin Name: Luna According to Chinese legend, the moon rabbit (‘yue tu’) is a companion to the moon goddess Chang’e and pounds the elixir of life for her in its pestle. A deadly plague once visited Beijing and started killing people. So Chang’e sent the moon rabbit to earth to visit each family and cure them. The moon rabbit did so and only asked for some clothes in return. After curing the plague, the moon rabbit returned to the moon. Citation:windows2universe.org/mythology/planets/sun.html;space.com/18135-how-big-is-the-moon.html;owlcati on.com/social-sciences/moon-rabbit;sciencemag.org/news/2016/12/sun-s-surface-spins-more-slowly-rest-star- may-be-why;nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/moon-more-metallic-than-thought/;https://www.infoplease.com/enc yclopedia/science/space/astronomy/moon/physical-characteristics;courses.lumenlearning.com/astronomy/chapt er/the-lunar-surface/#:~:text=Most%20of%20the%20crust%20of,the%20top%20of%20a%20smelter.;ancient.eu/ Tonatiuh/. MORE The moon’s mean radius is 1,079.6 miles. The moon’s equatorial circumference is 6,783.5 miles. The moon’s surface area at 14.6 million square miles is less than the total surface area of the continent of Asia. The distance from the Earth to the moon is 238,900 miles or 384,400 kilometers. Physical Properties of the moon: The moon is 7.35 x10^22 kilograms. The density of the moon is 3340 kg/m^3. The average temperature on the surface of the moon during the day is 107° C and at night the average temperature is -153° C. The gravity of the moon is about ⅙ the gravity on Earth. 83% of the moon’s crust consists of silicate rocks called anorthosites. These regions are known as lunar highlands. The highlands are extremely cratered, bearing scars of billions of years of impacts from interplanetary debris. The highlands don’t have any sharp folds in their ranges. The highlands have low, rounded profiles that resemble the oldest, most eroded mountains on Earth. Maria is much less cratered than the highlands. They cover just 17% of the lunar surface, mostly on the side of the Moon that faces Earth. The surface of the moon is buried under a fine-grained soil of tiny, shattered rock fragments. The dark basaltic dust of the lunar maria was kicked up by every astronaut footstep, and thus eventually worked its way into all of the astronauts’ equipment. The upper layers of the surface are porous, consisting of loosely packed dust into which their boots sank several centimeters. Moon craters range in diameter from a few feet to many mules, and in some regions there are so many that they overlap or several smaller craters lie within a large crater. Craters are also found on the maria, although there are nowhere near as many as in the lunar highlands.

THE EARTH MYTH 10 Latin Name: Tellus In Egyptian mythology, Geb is the god of Earth and it was believed that Geb’s laughter caused earthquakes. He was portrayed as a man with a goose on his head. Geb married the goddess of the sky, Nut, and did so without asking the permission of Re, the sun god. A furious Re forced Shu, the god of air, to forever separate the couple. However, Thoth helped by conning the moon into playing a game of draughts with the moon’s light as the prize. Toth won enough light to add five more days to the calendar and allowing Geb and Nut to have children. Citation:whttps://www.windows2universe.org/mythology/geb_earth.html;www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/atmosphe re-RL/#:~:text=Earth's%20atmosphere%20is%20composed%20of,up%20the%20remaining%200.1%20percent.;regi.tankony vtar.hu/hu/tartalom/tamop425/0033_SCORM_MFFTT600120-EN/sco_02_04.scorm#:~:text=The%20layers%20of%20differen t%20physical%20properties%20outward%20from%20the%20centre,mesosphere%2C%20asthenosphere%2C%20and%20lit hosphere.&text=Layers%20of%20differing%20chemical%20composition%3A%20core%2C%20mantle%2C%20crust.;space. com/17638-how-big-is-earth.html MORE The radius of Earth is 3,963 miles (6,378 kilometers). Earth’s density is 5.513 grams per cubic centimeter. Earth is the densest planet in the solar system due to its metallic core and rocky mantle. Earth’s mass is 6.6 sextillion tons. It’s volume is about 260 billion cubic miles (1 trillion cubic kilometers). The total surface area of Earth is about 197 million square miles (510 million square km). About 71% is covered by water and the other 29% by land. Earth is 9.927 million miles (149,597,870 km) from the sun. The inside of Earth is made up of the core, the mantle, and the crust. The core is the densest of the three layers. It is mostly metallic iron with small amounts of nickel and other elements. The outer boundary of the core is at a depth of 2,900 kilometers. The mantle is a thick shell of dense, rocky matter that surrounds the core. It consists of iron-magnesium-silicates and is less dense than the core but denser than the outermost compositional layer. The outer boundary of the mantle is at a depth from 8-70 km. The crust is the outermost compositional layer with thickness being different in different places. The crust beneath the ocean is called oceanic crust and has an average thickness of about 8 km and the continental crust has a thickness from 30 to 70 km. The oceanic crust is basalt and the continental crust has a granitic composition. A part of what makes Earth so different is is variatable geography which can have a large change from place to place. Earth’s atmosphere is composed of about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon, 0.1% other gases. Trace amounts of carbon dioxide, methan, water vapor, and neon are some of the other gases that make up the eamining 0.1% of Earth’s atmosphere. ,

APOLLO 17 AQUA 11 Launched December 7th, 1972. Launched May 4th, 2002 Lunar Landing December 11th, 1972. Originally had a six-year life design but has Return to Earth: December 19th, 1972. exceeded that original goal. MORE MORE Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt (the first geologist to land on the moon) landed in the Taurus-Littrow region on the moon. They drove 20 Aqua’s primary mission is to improve understanding of Earth’s water kilometers in the lunar rover and collected 110 kg of samples and spent cycle by collecting information on ocean evaporation, atmospheric 75 hours on the lunar surface. This was the last human exploration on water vapor, clouds, precipitation, soild moisture, sea and land ice, and the moon to date. In addition to their studies on the lunar surface, the snow cover. Additional variables also being measure by Aqua are Apollo 17 crew performed intensive studies of the moon from lunar orbit. radiative energy fluxes, aerosols, vegetation cover on the land, The mission used Metric and Panoramic cameras to photograph the phytoplankton, and dissolved organic matter in the oceans, and air, lunar surface, the laser altimeter to measure the heights of lunar surface land, and water temperatures. It was the first of the “A-Train” satellites features, the S-Band Transponder Experiment measured regional and part of the NASA-centered international Earth Observing System. variations in the Moon’s gravitational acceleration, the Lunar Sound Aqua has brought back imagery of Earth as recent as September 5th, Experiment used radar to study the structure of the upper kilometer of 2020 and continues to serve science and probably will for while.The the lunar crust, the Ultraviolet Spectrometer Experiment studied the only part of Aqua that is out of commission is the Aqua instrument, composition of the lunar atmosphere, and the Infrared Radiometer HSB, which worked for five months with high quality then failed in measured the cooling of the Moon’s surfae at night as a way to February 2003. Aqua is a part of a group of satellites termed the determine the physical properties of the lunar soil. Afternoon Constellation (A-Train). Aqua has a series of five video podcasts that document part of its mission. Citation:https://aqua.nasa.gov/;https://climate.nasa.gov/nasa_science/missions/?page=0&per_page=40&ord er=title+asc&search=;https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/missions/apollo/apollo_17/experiments/;https://www.plan etary.org/space-missions/every-moon-mission

MERCURY MYTH 12 Babylonian Name: Nabu Mercury in Roman mythology was the messenger god of games, business, and story-telling. Greek Name: Hermes Jupiter, the king of the gods, kept visiting a woman named Semele in disguise and eventually got her pregnant. Juno, Jupiter’s wife, disguised herself as Semele’s nurse and made her curious about the actual identity of her new boyfriend. Semele made Jupiter promise to show her who he really was the next time they met. He did and she turned to ashes from his brilliance. Jupiter took Semele’s baby until he was ready to be born. Once he was born, he gave him to Mercury to protect from Juno. Mercury gave the baby over to Io, Semele’s sister. MORE Distance from sun: 32.915 million miles. 0.4 astronomical units. Mass:3.285 x10^23 kg. Physical properties: The interior structure of Mercury includes a metallic core, an intermediate rocky layer, and a thin brittle crust. The composition of Mercury is probably high in iron, although surface features indicate that volcanic activity once existed at the surface. Mercury has a thick iron core and a thinner outer crust of rocky material. The surface of Mercury has enormous escarpments as much as three kilometers high and hundreds of kilometers in length. Mercury is the second densest planet after Earth. Instead of an atmosphere, Mercury has a thin exosphere made up of atoms blasted off the surface by solar wind and striking meteoroids. It’s exosphere is mostly oxygen, sodium, hydrogen, helium, and potassium. Citation:nineplanets.org/mercury/#:~:text=They%20called%20the%20planet%20Nabu,as%20such%20to%20this%20day.;windows2universe.org/mythol ogy/gods_n_goddesses/Mercury/Mercury_Bacchus.html nasa.gov/mediacast/gravity-assist-podcast-mercury-with-faith-vilas/;solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mercury/in-depth/ space.com/14743-planet-mercury;appearance.html#:~:text=Mercury%20is%20the%20closest%20planet,outer%20crust%20of%20rocky%20material.;wi ndows2universe.org/mercury/Interior_Surface/Overview.html#:~:text=Scientists%20believe%20that%20the%20interior,once%20existed%20at%20the% 20surface.

VENUS MYTH 13 Greek Names: Phosphorus & In Norse mythology, Sif is the wife of Thor. Loki once cut off her blonde hair. Thor found out, grabbed Hesperus Loki, and threatened to break all of his bones. Loki cried for mercy and promised Thor that he would convince dwarves to craft Sif hair of pure gold that would grow like natural hair from the head of Sif. And he did. Sif is the name of a volcano on Venus. Most of the planetary features on Venus are named after women. Venus is the only one of the planets to be named after a goddess. Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. Citation:https://www.windows2universe.org/mythology/sif.html;https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/venus/in- depth/;https://earthsky.org/space/study-venus-cloudtops-super-rotation-variety;https://www.universetoday.co m/36690/characteristics-of-venus/#:~:text=It%20has%20a%20similar%20size,crushing%20pressure%2C%20 and%20poisonous%20atmosphere.&text=As%20I%20said%20at%20the,second%20planet%20from%20the %20Sun.;https://www.windows2universe.org/venus/interior.html#:~:text=The%20interior%20of%20Venus%2 0is,rocky%20mantle%2C%20and%20a%20crust. MORE Distance from the sun: 66.805 million miles. Mass of Venus: 4.867 x10^24 kg. Physical Properties: Venus has a similar size, mass, density, gravity, and chemical composition to Earth. Venus is different from Earth in that it has a high surface temperature, crushing pressure, and poisonous atmosphere. Venus’s interior is probably similar to Earth’s interior. Venus is one of the terrestrial planets and is made of rock and metal. It probably has a partly molten metallic core, a rocky mantle, and a crust. Venus has a varied terrain including volcanoes, mountains, craters, and lava flows. This suggests that the planet was once, and perhaps still is, geologically active. The atmosphere of Venus is very different from Earth. The surface temperature of Venus is 462°C, It’s atmospheric pressure is 92 times Earth pressure. Venus’ atmosphere is composed almost entirely of carbon dioxide (97%), and it’s this thick atmosphere that acts like a blanket, keeping Venus hot. Venus has no water and very little water vapor in its atmosphere. Scientists think that the runaway greenhouse effect that makes Venus so hot today boiled away its ocean long ago. Since Venus lacks a planetary magnetic field, the Sun’s solar wind was abe to blast the hydrogen atoms out of Venus’s atmosphere and into space.

MARS MYTH 14 Nickname; Red Planet Mars is the god of war in Roman mythology. He is a strong warrior with a strong desire for violence. Mars was the father of Roman heroes, Romulus and Remus who founded the city of Rome. For that reason, he was believed to come to the aid of Romans in times of crisis. Mars also was the father of Deimos (the god of panic) and Deimos (god of terror and dread). The two moons of Mars are named after them. MORE Distance from the sun: 142 million miles from the sun. Mass: 6.39 a10^23 kg. Physical properties: The interior of Mars has a how liquid core that is about one-half the radius of the planet. The core is mostly made of iron with some possible lighter elements such as sulfur. The mantle is the darker material between the core and the thin crust. Mars is rocky with canyons, volcanoes, and craters all over it. Red dust covers almost all of Mars. It has clouds and wind, just as Earth does. Sometimes the wind blows the red dust into a dust storm. Tiny dust storms can look like tornadoes, and large ones can cover the whole planet. Mars has about one-third the gravity of Earth. Things weigh less on Mars than they weigh on Earth.The atmosphere of Mars is about 100 times thinner than Earth’s, and it is 95.32% carbon dioxide, 2.7% nitrogen, 1.6% argon, 0.13% oxygen, 0.08% carbon monoxide, and there are also minor amounts of water, nitrogen oxide, neon, hydrogen-deuterium-oxygen, kyrpton, and xenon. Citation:vaisala.com/en/blog/2020-07/international-collaboration-takes-vaisala-and-fmi-mars-again;space.com/16903-mars-atmosphere-climate-weather.html#:~:text=Th e%20atmosphere%20of%20Mars%20is,Nitrogen%3A%202.7%20percent;nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-mars-k4.html;mars.nasa.gov/re sources/21409/mars-interior/?site=insight#:~:text=Artist's%20concept%20of%20the%20interior,core%20and%20the%20thin%20crust.;theoi.com/Daimon/Deimos.html#: ~:text=DEIMOS%20and%20PHOBOS%20were%20the,spreading%20fear%20in%20his%20wake.;theoi.com/Daimon/Deimos.html#:~:text=DEIMOS%20and%20PHOB OS%20were%20the,spreading%20fear%20in%20his%20wake.;windows2universe.org/mythology/Definitions_gods/Mars_def.html

OVERVIEW 15 PERSEVERANCE ROVER NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover is heading to Mars to search for signs of ancient life, collect samples for future return to Earth and help pave the way for Launched: July 30th, 2020 at 4:50 am PDT. human exploration. The rover will carry with it several technology demonstrations Landing: February 18th, 2021 including a helicopter, which will attempt humanity’s first powered flight on another Mission duration: At least one Mars year (about 687 planet. Perseverance has a new set of science instruments and the ability to Earth days). “self-drive” on the Martian surface. It launched from the Space Launch Complex 41 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on July 19th. It is set to land on Mars’ Jezero Crater on February 18th, 2021. It will bring 3-D printing to Mars, will peer beneath Mars’ surface, use x-rays to hunt fossils, an use space lasers.Perseverance is currently traveling at 62,449 miles per hour (relative to the sun). SCIENCE The rover has a drill to collect core samples of Martian rock and soil, then store them in sealed tubes for pick-up by a future mission that would ferry them back to Earth for detailed analysis. There are several ways that the mission helps pave the way for future human expeditions to Mars and demonstrates technologies that may be used in those endeavors. These include testing a method for producing oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, identifying other resources (such as subsurface water), improving landing techniques, and characterizing weather, dust, and other potential environmental conditions that could affect future astronauts living and working on Mars. Citation:/www.nasa.gov/perseverance]https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/25147/mission-overview-nasas-perseverance-mars-rover/#:~:text=NASA's%20M ars%202020%20Perseverance%20Rover,the%20way%20for%20human%20exploration.&text=It%20is%20set%20to%20land,18%2C%202021.;https:// mars.nasa.gov/mars-exploration/missions/mars2020/; ;https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/overview/;mars.nasa.gov/resources/25147/mission-overview-nasas-perseverance-mars-rover/#:~:text=NASA's %20Mars%202020%20Perseverance%20Rover,the%20way%20for%20human%20exploration.&text=It%20is%20set%20to%20land,18%2C%202021.

JUPITER MYTH 16 Jupiter is god of the sky and In exchange for the worship of the Roman people, Jupiter taught Numa, the second king of Rome, how thunder and king of the gods in to avoid lightning bolts. Jupiter sealed the pact with Numa and the Romans by sending down from the heavens a perfectly round shield, called an ancile, a symbol of protection. They became a symbol of Roman mythology. the city and an enduring reminder of the compact between Jupiter and Rome. Citation:https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/jupiter/in-depth/;https://mythopedia.com/roman-mythology/gods /jupiter/;https://www.universetoday.com/38059/how-many-rings-does-jupiter-have/ RINGS MORE Jupiter’s rings were discovered in Distance from the sun: 475.89 miles 1979 by NASA’s Voyager 1 Mass of planet: 1.898 x10^27 kg. spacecraft. They’re composed of Physical Properties: The composition of Jupiter is mostly hydrogen and helium. Deep in the atmosphere, small, dark particles and are difficult pressure and temperature increase, compressing the hydrogen gas into a liquid. This give Jupiter the largest to see except when backlit by the ocean in the solar system—an ocean made of hydrogen instead of water. Scientists think that, at depths Sun. Data from the Galileo spacecraft perhaps halfway to the planet’s center, the pressure becomes so great that electrons are squeezed off the indicate that Jupiter’s ring system hydrogen atoms, making the liquid electrically conducting like metal. Jupiter’s fast rotation is thought to drive may be formed by dust kicked up as electrical currents in this region, generating the planet’s powerful magnetic field. It is still unclear if, deeper interplanetary meteoroids smash into down, Jupiter has a central core of solid material or if it may be a thick, super-hot and dense soup. It could be the giant planet’s innermost moons. up to 90,032 degrees F (50,000 degrees C) down there, made mostly of iron and silicate minerals. Jupiter Jupiter has four sets of rings; the halo likely has three distinct layers in its “skies” that, taken together, span about 44 mies (71 kilometers). The top ring, the main ring, the Amalthea cloud is probably made out of ammonia ice, while the middle layer is likely made of ammonium hydrosulfide gossamer ring, and the Thebe crystals. The innermost layer may be made of water ice and vapor. The vivid colors that appear in dark bands gossamer ring. across Jupiter may be plumes of sulfur and phosphorus-containing gases rising from the planet’s warmer interior. Jupiter’s fast rotation creates strong jet streams, separating its clouds into dark belts and bright zones across long stretches. Jupiter is swept by over a dozen prevailing winds, some reaching up to 335 mph at the equator.

SATURN MYTH 17 Saturn is the Roman god of The Roman god, Saturn, settled down in Latium on the future site of Rome. His arrival was welcomed sowing. His Greek equivalent is by Janus, the god of beginnings and ends. Saturn then founded the nearby city of Saturnia. Saturn ruled Latium wisely during a golden age of prosperity and peace. Saturn instructed the people on the Cronus. basic principles of farming and viticulture. Citation:https://www.ancient.eu/Sat RINGS urn/;https://www.windows2universe .org/saturn/interior/S_int_compo_o Saturn is famous for its rings. Saturn’s rings are mostly made of ice and rock pieces. It looks like one big band, verview.html;https://www.windows2 but is actually many smaller bands combined. The particles range in size from a couple centimeters to over a universe.org/saturn/lower_atmosph kilometer in size. The rings are very thin. Although they reach diameters in the hundred thousands kilometers, ere.html;https://www.thejakartapost they are no more than 1.5 km thick. The ice in the rings creates a rainbow effect by the Sun’s rays being .com/life/2019/10/10/saturn-is-the-s refracted by the frozen water. The Phoebe Ring was discovered in 2009 and is about 100 times bigger than olar-systems-moon-king-with-20-m the main ring system. Scientists think the ice and dust in the ring comes from the moon, Phoebe. Particles ore-spotted.html;https://www.windo from this ring might cause teh strange coloration of the surface of Iapetus. ws2universe.org/saturn/saturn_ring s.html MORE Distance from the Sun: 927.47 million miles. Mass of Saturn: 5.683 x10^26 kg. Saturn’s composition is primarily hydrogen and helium, but there is also ice of ammonia, ice of methane, and water ice. Under the clouds layers, when the pressure of the interior becomes high enough, the hydrogen of which Saturn is made changes to liquid hydrogen, which gradually changes further to liquid metallic hydrogen. The clouds of Saturn are much less colorful than Jupiter’s. This is because the composition of Saturn’s atmosphere includes more sulfur. This adds to Saturn’s overall yellow appearance. When you look closely, however, Saturn’s atmosphere is just as fierce as Jupiter’s. The atmosphere of Saturn, like Jupiter, is only a narrow region, compared to the vast interior of Saturn. The three clouddecks of Saturn are to be found mostly low in the atmosphere, while haaes of smog can be found higher up. Motions in the cloud patterns indicate that, like Jupiter, the basic weather of Saturn can be described as a striped pattern of winds.

URANUS MYTH 18 Uranus is the godly personification Uranus was the first god of the sky. Hee was so horrified by his eldest children, he locked them inside of the sky. He is associated with the Earth, causing their mother, the goddess Gaea, a lot of pain. Gaea convinced her children, the the Roman god Caelus. Titans to fight their father Uranus. The Titans overthrew their father and Chronos became the new leader of the world. RINGS MORE Uranus has two sets of rings. The Distance from the sun: 1.8385 billion miles. inner system of nine rings consists Mass of Uranus: 8.681 x10^25 kg. mostly of narrow, dark grey rings. Physical Properties: The composition of Uranus’ interior is methane, in the form of ice. Ice begins forming in There are two outer rings; the the atmosphere of Uranus, during the methane cloud deck. The amount of ice in the air keeps increasing until innermost one is reddish like dusty there is slush, and then solid ice. This ice is warn (for Uranus) and can flow like the rocky underground mantle rings elsewhere in the solar system layers of Earth. Compared to Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus has very little metallic hydrogen, and there is much and the outer ring is blue like Saturn’s more ice. Because the magnetosphere comes from the metallic layer, this means that Uranus should have a E ring. much smaller magnetosphere than does Jupiter. The core of Jupiter is made out of heavier, rocky, and metal elements. The plain aquamarine face of Uranus confirms the fact that Uranus is covered clouds. The sameness of the planet’s appearance shows that the planet’s atmosphere is mostly composed of one thing, methane. The planet appears to be blue-green because the methane as of the atmosphere traps red light and does not allow that color to escape. Beside clouds of methane crystals low in the atmosphere, smog, composed of ethane, is also present high in the atmosphere. The cloud particles constantly recycle themselves, first creating then destroying the heaviest crystals. This is an indication that Uranus’ atmosphere is still evolving from its formation out of the solar nebula. Because Uranus lies on its side, Uranus has very strange seasons. Motions in the cloud patterns indicate that, like Jupiter and Saturn, the basic weather of Uranus can be described as a striped pattern of winds. Citation:https://www.windows2universe.org/mythology/planets/Uranus/uranus.html;https://www.windows2univ erse.org/uranus/lower_atmosphere.html;https://www.windows2universe.org/uranus/planet_structure.html;http s://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/uranus/in-depth/#:~:text=Uranus%20has%20two%20sets%20of,blue%20lik e%20Saturn's%20E%20ring.;https://happymag.tv/6-mind-blowing-facts-about-our-gassy-neighbour-uranus/

NEPTUNE MYTH 19 Neptune is the god of freshwater Neptune asked the nymph Amphitrite to marry him. When she refused, Neptune send a dolphin to look and the sea in Roman mythology. for her. The dolphin found her and pleaded Neptune’s case to Amphitrite. Amphitrite changed her mind His Greek equivalent is Poseidon. and married Neptune. Neptune rewarded the dolphin by placing him amongst the heavens in the constellation Dolphinus. Citation:https://www.windows2univ RINGS erse.org/mythology/Definitions_god s/Neptune_def.html;https://www.wi Neptune has five rings: Galle, Le Verrier, Lassell, Arago, and Adams. Its rings were named after the ndows2universe.org/neptune/lower astronomers who made an important discovery regarding the planet. The rings are composed of at least 20% _atmosphere.html;https://www.win dust with some of the rings containing as much as 70% dust; the rest of the material comprising the rings is dows2universe.org/neptune/planet small rocks. The planet’s rings are difficult to see because they are dark and vary in density and size. _structure.html;https://www.univers Astronomers think Neptune’s rings are young compared to the age of the planet, and that they were probably etoday.com/21635/rings-of-neptun formed when one of Neptune’s moons was destroyed. The rings of Neptune are very dark, and probably made e/#:~:text=Neptune%20has%20five of organic compounds that have been baked in the radiation of space. %20rings%3A%20Galle,important %20discovery%20regarding%20th MORE e%20planet.;https://parenting.firstcr y.com/articles/interesting-neptune- Distance from the Sun: 92.7814 billion miles. planet-facts-for-kids/ Mass of Saturn: 1.024 x10^26 kg. Physical Properties: The Giant planets do not have the same kind of layers inside that the Earth-like planets do. Their evolution was quite different than that of the Earth-like planets, and they have much more gas and ice inside. Neptune’s interior make-up is primarily methane ice. Motions in the interior of Neptune help form the magnetosphere of Neptune. Heat generated within Neptune helps form the unusual winds of the atmosphere. Neptune’s atmosphere shows a striped pattern of clouds. This cloud pattern is similar to that of Jupiter and Saturn. Neptune even has a Great Dark Spot similar to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. The history of Neptune’s atmosphere is similar to that of other Giant planets. The composition of Neptune’s clouds is thought to be methane molecules. Motions in the cloud patterns give clues about Neptune’s weather, which is similar to that of Jupiter and Saturn.

Jupiter has 79 moons. Io is one of those moons. It was first discovered by Galileo in 1610. Io is the 5th closest moon to Jupiter. 20 Io is the only moon known to have active volcanism, which is visible on the surface. Io is mostly made of sulfur, iron, and rocky material, which means Io is nothing at all like the other icy satellites of Jupiter, and has had a very different evolution. The particles comprising Io’s atmosphere readily find their way into the magnetosphere, and create a donut-shaped cloud called the rous. This cloud has a very profound effect on Jupiter’s magnetosphere. Saturn has 82 moons. One of those moons is Mimas. Mimas was first discovered by W. Herschel in 1789. Mimas is the 6th closest moon to Saturn, with a standoff distance of 185,520 km. It is one of the icy moons, similar to the Galilean satellites. Mimas is about as long as the distance from Los Angeles to San Francisco, a length of 390 km (260 miles). The main characteristic of Mimas is its resemblance to the “Death Star” from the Star Wars” trilogy. This is due to Mima’s crater which makes it look like the Death Star’s firing system. Uranus has 27 moons. Ophelia is one of those moons. Ophelia was discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986. It has a standoff distance of 53,760 km. Ophelia is one of the small moons, and is about as wide as the city of Los Angeles, just about 30 km (20 miles). As a small moon, the composition and surface features are unknown. Ophelia and Cordelia are believed to herd the ring material into shape and keep it from drifting into space. Ophelia was originally designated S/1986 U8, but was later renamed for the character Ophelia in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” Neptune has 14 moons. Triton is one of those moons. Triton was discovered by W. Lassell in 1846. Of the 8 moons, it is the 2nd farthest from Neptune. Triton may be one of the largest of the icy moons with a diameter of 2700 km. Triton is very interesting, it has a unique and fascinating surface, and is one of the few moons with the possibility for a weak atmosphere and an environment suitable for life Triton is also unusual for its retrograde orbit. Because Voyager 2 did not pass very close to Triton, it was not determined whether Triton is composed completely of ice, or is a rocky moon with an icy surface. Citation:http://www.seasky.org/solar-system/jupiter-io.html;https://www.windows2universe.org/jupiter/moons/io.html;https://www.windows2universe.org/s aturn/moons/mimas.html;https://www.wsj.com/video/cassini-photos-saturn-moon-mimas/B82F1A06-ADB2-43C5-9616-4100EBFD1ECE.html;https://www .windows2universe.org/uranus/moons/ophelia.html;https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/uranus-moons/ophelia/in-depth/;http://thesolarsystem.pbworks.c om/w/page/22154227/Ophelia;https://www.windows2universe.org/neptune/moons/triton.html;https://medium.com/swlh/why-triton-has-the-possibility-of-lif e-720140949a23

VOYAGER 2 OVERVIEW 21 Launched: August 20th, 1977 The rare arrangement of planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune in the 1980s Landing: Likely, never. made it possible for the Voyager spacecrafts to visit them over a 12 year span instead Mission duration: As long as its power will permit it to of the normal 30. They used gravity assists to swing from one planet to the next, go. conserving fuel. Voyager two was followed by Voyager 1 on September 5th, 1977. Both encountered Jupiter in 1979, returning photographs and information on its many moons. Voyager 1 and 2 studied Jupiter then continued to Saturn, with Voyager 1 arriving in November 1980 and Voyager 2 in August 1981, where they studied the true composition of Titan’s atmosphere, believed to be similar to Earth’s ancient environment. Voyager 2 then headed to Uranus and Neptune. The two spacecrafts have almost reached the boundary of our solar system called the heliopause. The Voyager Missions alone would have provided enough material to rewrite astronomy textbooks. They will continue transmitting for another 20 years until their nuclear generators no longer supply adequate energy. Both spacecraft will continue to study ultraviolet sources among the stars. The voyagers are expected to return valuable data for at least another decade. Citation:https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/science/pl SCIENCE anetary-voyage/;https://www.windows2universe.org/sp ace_missions/voyager.html;https://www.scientificmyste Thanks to Voyage 1 and 2, scientists learned that Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is really a ry.com/voyager-mission-challenges/ complex storm, and that Io, one of Jupiter’s moons, has active volcanism. These volcanoes are caused by extreme tidal bulges, due to the gravitational pull of Jupiter and its other moons on Io. With their data on Saturn, scientists learned that Saturn’s rings formed from particles broken off its moons by comets and meteors. Voyager 2 gave us our first close-range look at Uranus and Neptune, finding an unusually shaped magnetic field around Uranus, caused by the tilt of that planet’s axis. Voyager 2 later learned that the strongest winds in our solar system exist on Neptune, and that Neptune’s Great Dark Spot is really a hole in its atmosphere. The Voyager missions discovered a total of 21 new moons and returned information that has changed the field of space science.

PLUTO MYTH 22 Pluto is the Roman god of the One day when Venus was riding through the fields of battle with her companion Cupid, Cupid playfully underworld. His Greek equivalent shot an arrow into the heart of Pluto that would make Pluto fall in love with the first woman he saw. Hades saw Persephone and instantly fell in love. Pluto then carried her off into the underworld to be his is Hades. bride. Citation:https://www.windows2uni MORE verse.org/mythology/Definitions_ gods/Pluto_def.html&dev=;https:/ Distance from the sun: 39.5 astronomical units. /www.windows2universe.org/plut Mass: 1.30900 x10^22 kilograms. o/pluto.html;https://www.scientifi Pluto has a thin atmosphere of nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide. Pluto’s surface is cold at -228 to camerican.com/article/pluto-s-ge -238 C. Pluto has a heart shaped glacier the size of Texas and Oklahoma. Pluto has blue skies, spinning ology-is-unlike-any-other/#:~:text moons, mountains as high as the rockies, and its snow is red. Pluto is a frigid ball of ice and rock that orbits =Pluto's%20geological%20activit far from the Sun on the frozen fringes of our Solar System. The surface of Pluto appears to be composed of a y%20is%20driven,its%20surface mixture of ice and rock, while its interior is probably similar to that of other icy moons in the solar system. %20and%20its%20atmosphere.;h Pluto has volatile compounds that cycle between freezing onto the ground and sublimating back into the ttps://www.sciencenews.org/article/i atmosphere. It has stunningly bright terrain juxtaposed with dark areas. It also seems to have streaks made ce-volcanoes-pluto-may-have-spew by wind marrying its icy surface. Pluto’s geological activity is driven by heat leaking from radioactive elements ed-organic-rich-water in its interior—a remnant of its birth more than 4 billion years ago—and by the volatile compounds that flit between its surface and its atmosphere. As Pluto moves away from the Sun in its 248-ear elliptical orbit, temperatures plummet and these compounds freeze out the atmosphere and fall onto the surface at ffrost. When Pluto warms up again, methane, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and other chemicals transform directly from ice on the surface into the atmospheric gases. Pluto has five moons. Those moons are Styx, Hydra, Kerberos, Nix, and Charon. Charon is nearly as big as Pluto. They are made out of the same rock and even spin at the same rate. Pluto is about 2,380 km wide and orbits the sun in an oval shaped path that is very different from other planets. Before 2006, Pluto was classified as a planet. The International Astronomical Union created criteria in order for a planet to be considered a planet. Pluto didn’t meet one of the criteria and was demoted to dwarf planet.

THE NEW HORIZONS MISSION OVERVIEW 23 Launched: January 19th, 2006 at Cape Canaveral, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is the first spacecraft to explore Pluto up close, flying Fla./Launch Complex 41 by the dwarf planet and its moons on July 14th, 2015. It’s objective was a Pluto Flyby Pluto Flyby:: July 14th, 2015 and a Kuiper Belt Object Flyby. It was the first spacecraft to explore Pluto and its MU69 Flyby: January 1st, 2019. Moons up close as well as the first spacecraft to explore a second Kuiper Belt Object up close. By the time it reached the Pluto system, the spacecraft has traveled farther away and for a longer time period (more than 9 years) than any previous deep space spacecraft ever launched. The scientific instruments the spacecraft has are Ralph-Visible and Infrared Imager/Spectrometer, Alice-Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer, Radio-Science Experiment, Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager, Solar Wind and Plasma Spectrometer, Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation, and Student Dust Counter. Sources: SCIENCE https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/mai n/index.html;https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/ne The discovery of new Pluto moons Kerberos and Styx during the mission added to w-horizons/in-depth/ concerns that there might be debris or dust around Pluto. Mission planners devised two possible contingency plans in case debris increased as the spacecraft approached Pluto, either using its antenna facing the incoming particles as a shield or flying closer to Pluto where there might be less debris. Pictures of Pluto began to reveal distinct features by April 29th, 2015, with detail increasing week by week unto the approach. The New Horizons mission was used to conclusively answer what size Pluto is. Pluto is about 1,470 miles in diameter, which was slightly larger than previously estimated. It also confirmed that Charon is about 750 miles in diameter. Data from New Horizons clearly indicated that Pluto and its satellites were far more complex than imagined, and scientists were particularly surprised by the degree of current activity on Pluto’s surface. The atmospheric haze and lower than predicted atmospheric escape rate forced scientists to fundamentally revise earlier models of the system. New Horizons also provided stunning photographs that showed a vast heart-shaped nitrogen glacier (named Sputnik Planitia for Sputnik 1, Earth’s first artificial satellite) on the surface. It is the largest known glacier in the solar system.

HARTLEY 2 MORE 24 It takes Hartley 2 about 6.47 years to orbit the Sun. It Hartley 2 is a small, oval shaped comet. Its nucleus measures approximately one last reached perihelion in 2017. mile in diameter. Hartley 2 spins around on one axis, while tumbling around another one. Comet Hartley’s core is also not uniform, but it is made up of water ice with methanol, carbon dioxide, and possibly ethane. The release of these gases occur at different locations on the comet. For example, carbon dioxide-driven jets shoot from the ends of the comet, with most occurring from the small end. Water vapor is released from the mid-section with very little, or no carbon dioxide or ice. The comet’s surfaces dotted with glittering bloks that are approximately 164 feet high and 262 feet wide. These surface features appear to be two to three times more reflective than the surface average. MISSION One spacecraft has encountered this comet: Deep Impact (EPOXI) in 2010. During its flyby, the spacecraft came within 4331 miles (694 kilometers) of the comet. Hartley 2 was the fifth comet to be visited by spacecraft and was the second encounter made by this particular spacecraft. Deep Impact has previously visited comet 9P/Tempel 1 in 2005. In 2010, the EPOXI mission flyby revealed that comet Hartley 2’s rocky ends spew out tons of golf-ball to basketball-size fluffy ice particles, while the smooth middle area is more like what was observed on comet Tempel 1 with water evaporating below the surface and percolating out through the dust. Some of the EPOXI mission;s key findings include: strong activity in water release and carbon dioxide-powered jets does not occur equally in the different regions of Hartley 2, Hartley 2 has an ‘excited state of rotation’ because it spins around one axis, but also tumblesf arouferent axis, and on its larger, rouher ends, the comet’s surface is dotted with glittering blocks that can reach approximately 165 feet high and 260 feet wide and the block-like, shiny objects, some as big as one block long and 16 stories tall, appear to be two to three times more reflective than the surface average. The mission recycled the Deep Impact spacecraft. On September 26th, 2007, EPOXI adjusted its orbit toward Hartley 2. On January 22nd, 2008, aims its telescope toward five stars in search of alien planets. On November 4th, 2010, EPOXI successfully flew by Hartley 2. Source:https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/deep-impact-epoxi/;https://www.space.com/33677-comet-swift-tuttle-perseid-meteor-shower-sourc e.html;https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/comets/103p-hartley-hartley-2/in-depth/

16 PSYCHE 25 A M-type asteroid comprised mostly of metallic iron MORE and nickel similar to the Earth’s core. 16 Psyche is a M-type asteroid comprised mostly of metallic iron and nickel similar to Earth’s core. Scientists wonder whether Psyche could be an exposed core of an early planet, maybe as large as Mars, that lost its rocky outer layers due to a number of violent collisions billions of years ago. Astronomers on Earth have studied 16 Psyche in visible and infrared wavelengths, as well as radar, which suggest Psyche is shaped somewhat like a potato. Observations indicate that its dimensions are 173 miles by 144 miles, by 177 miles. Psyche takes about five Earth years to complete one orbit of the Sun, but only a bit over four hours to rotate once on its axis. 16 Psyche is three times farther away from the sun than is the Earth. Its average diameter is about 140 miles. Source:https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-come MISSION ts-and-meteors/asteroids/16-psyche/in-depth/ 16 Psyche was the primary target of the Psyche mission. Targeted to launch in August of 2022, the Psyche spacecraft would arrive at the asteroid in early 2026, following a Mars spacecraft will map and study 16 Psych’s properties using a multispectral imager, a gamma ray and neutron spectrometer, a magnetometer, and radio instrument (for gravity measurement). The mission’s goal is, among other things, to determine whether Psyche is indeed the core of a planet-size object. The Psyche mission will be the first mission to investigate a world of metal rather than of rock and ice. Deep within rocky, terrestrial planets—including Earth—scientists infer the presence of metallic cores, but these lie unreachable below planets’ rocky mantles and crusts. Because scientists cannot see or measure Earth’s core directly, Psyche offers a unique window into the violent history of collisions and accretion that created terrestrial planets.