10 mindblowing facts about the solar system ---
Welcome to the fourth episode
of this fantastic series on the solar system! The solar system is a very interesting place, and
you are so lucky to live in it! The Earth and the other planets are just one of the magical things
that make up this spot of the universe. There are asteroids to be discovered, moons to be studied,
and spacecraft to be tracked and sent to explore distant worlds. Get ready to have your mind blown
up, because I’m gonna tell you about 10 of the craziest things we know about the solar system.
Let’s go!
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I wanna start with a recent discovery:
1) The ozone layer is healing. In order to understand why this is important,
let’s recap what we know about ozone. Imagine you have a precious crystal ball,
and this ball is what keeps you safe from harmful rays that come from the sun. But one day, you
notice that your crystal ball is getting thinner and thinner. You realize that if it keeps getting
thinner, it won't be able to protect you from the sun's rays anymore. This is what happened to our
atmosphere in the 1970s and 80s. Scientists in Antarctica discovered that our protective layer,
the ozone layer, was getting thinner every year. And by the mid-1980s, they realized that the ozone
layer was in danger of disappearing completely. The ozone layer is like our planet's sunscreen.
It protects us from the sun's harmful rays. But there was a chemical called
chlorofluorocarbons that we used to use a lot in things like refrigerators and aerosol sprays.
These chemicals were like little holes in our sunscreen, letting in too much of the sun's
rays. So, people all over the world came together to ban these chemicals and save our ozone layer.
Now, fast forward to the present day. Because of the hard work and dedication of people worldwide,
the ozone layer is slowly but surely starting to recover. In fact, a recent report found
that we're on track to have a fully recovered ozone layer within four decades! This is all
thanks to the international treaty that banned the use of chlorofluorocarbons.
Just like how we need to take care of our bodies by using sunscreen, we also need to take care of
our planet. And just like how it takes time for a sunburn to heal, it takes time for our
ozone layer to heal too. But if we keep doing our part and taking care of our planet, we can ensure
that future generations will be able to enjoy the same protection from the sun's harmful rays that
we do today.
This was only the beginning! Are you ready for fact number 2?
--- 2) A scientist was buried on the Moon
There could have been no finer tribute to the legendary planetary geologist
Levy Shoemaker who said his greatest unfulfilled dream was to go on the moon.
His ashes were
launched aboard the Lunar Prospector probe to the moon, enclosed in a special capsule that is
a mere one-and-three-quarters inches long and seventh-tenths inch in diameter. This capsule
was then wrapped in a piece of brass foil on which is inscribed an image of Comet Hale-Bopp,
Meteor Crater in Arizona, and a passage from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". Shoemaker was
best known for his expertise on extraterrestrial impacts and his discovery of comets with his wife,
Carolyn. He was a distinguished scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff,
Arizona, where he established their astrogeology branch. Tragically, he died in a car accident in
Alice Springs, Australia while conducting field research on impact crater geology.
His ashes rest on the moon, the place where he so longed to be, a fitting final resting place for
an outstanding scientist and pioneering explorer. This tribute was proposed by
planetary scientist Carolyn C. Porco, who was a student of Shoemaker's at Caltech.
She designed and crafted the inscriptions on the brass foil, including the passage from
Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", which speaks of taking someone's great soul and turning it
into "little stars" so that "the face of heaven" appears as if made of these stars. This metaphor
gave Porco the inspiration to send Shoemaker's ashes to the moon, where he can become a part of
the celestial body that he so deeply loved. The scientist had always desired to explore
the moon as an Apollo astronaut and study its geology first-hand. Unfortunately,
health issues prevented him from doing so. He continued his lunar research by training
the Apollo astronauts in lunar geology and impact cratering, and he even provided geologic
commentary during their moon walks. He played a significant role in the pre-Apollo Lunar Ranger
and Surveyor programs, and he was science-team leader on the 1994 Clementine mission.
And what about you? Would you like to be buried on the Moon? Or would you
prefer your body to chill on Earth for eternity? One thing is sure: it must feel really lonely to
be the only person buried on the Moon. ---
3) Curiosity sang happy birthday to itself
But perhaps what’s even sadder is to be alive, wandering alone on the surface of Mars on your
own birthday. Unfortunately, this is what the poor Curiosity rover witnesses every year.
Curiosity landed on Mars on August 5, 2012. It was born on Mars that day, and so scientists consider
that day as its birthday. Curiosity employs an instrument, the Sample Analysis at Mars, (SAM),
that runs some great science experiments on Mars, analyzing some soil samples.
To make the soil samples go down, scientists had to program SAM to vibrate at various frequencies.
When they introduce a sample into SAM, it goes through resonance and produces a sound.
To commemorate SAM's birthday and Curiosity's birthday on Mars, NASA decided to play a little
song. If there was anyone listening on Mars on this special occasion, they would hear a happy
birthday song. This is a first for NASA and for the world: once again, music brought us
all together. Oh, I almost forgot: this happened only once, it was in 2013. It might have been
the only time someone played music on Mars. The exploration of our solar system has been
critical to our understanding of the universe and the planets that orbit around our sun, and
Curiosity is just one of the exploration missions we had. Spacecraft from different countries have
been launched over several decades to explore the planets in our solar system. In fact, spacecraft
have actually visited any planet. ---
4) Spacecrafts have visited any planet One of the most notable spacecraft that
have visited planets in the solar system is Voyager 1 and 2. Launched in 1977,
the twin probes have reached the furthest areas of our solar system and beyond. Voyager 1 was the
first spacecraft to enter interstellar space in 2012, almost 35 years after its launch. Voyager 2,
on the other hand, was the only spacecraft to visit all four of the outer planets - Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Another impressive spacecraft
is the Cassini spacecraft, which orbited Saturn from 2004 until 2017 when it was deliberately
plunged into the planet's atmosphere to prevent contamination of its moons. Cassini captured
stunning images of Saturn's rings and moons during its more than a decade-long mission.
The Juno spacecraft was launched in 2011 and arrived in orbit around Jupiter in 2016.
Since then, Juno has been investigating Jupiter's atmosphere and magnetic field,
providing new insights into the largest planet in our solar system.
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, launched in 2006, also made history when it flew by Pluto in 2015,
becoming the first spacecraft to visit the dwarf planet. New Horizons has continued
to travel beyond Pluto, exploring the Kuiper Belt, a region that contains icy
objects beyond the orbit of Neptune. Several other spacecraft have visited
the inner planets of our solar system, such as the MESSENGER spacecraft, which orbited Mercury
from 2011 to 2015, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been orbiting Mars since 2006,
studying the red planet's geology and climate.v In conclusion, the exploration of our solar
system has been made possible by the hard work and dedication of scientists and engineers.
The spacecraft that have visited planets in the solar system has provided valuable information
about our neighboring planets, allowing us to learn more about our own planet and our
place in the universe. From Voyager 1 and 2 to Cassini, Juno, New Horizons,
and beyond, these spacecraft represent some of humanity's greatest achievements.
We are basically explorers and pioneers: in less than a century, we managed to visit all
the planets in the solar system. However, the same doesn’t hold for the moons. For example, we have
never been to Triton, the largest moon of Neptune. ---
5) We’ve never been to Triton Triton is a strange and mysterious
moon that scientists have never visited. It's a shame because there's so much we could learn
from this fascinating world. It is one of the coldest objects in the solar system,
with temperatures hovering around -235 degrees Celsius. It's also one of the few moons in the
solar system that orbits its planet in a retrograde motion, meaning it travels in
the opposite direction to its planet's rotation. So why haven't we been to Triton yet? There are
a few reasons. First of all, Triton is really far away from Earth – it's over
4 billion kilometers away, which makes it one of the hardest places in the solar system to reach.
Second, Triton is covered in ice, which makes it difficult to land a spacecraft on the surface.
Finally, the extreme cold on Triton means that any spacecraft we send there will have to be specially
designed to withstand those temperatures. Despite these challenges, scientists are
developing mission concepts to send a spacecraft to Triton. One such concept is the Triton Hopper,
which would use a lander equipped with a hopping mechanism to explore Triton's surface.
Another idea is the Trident mission, which would send a spacecraft to orbit Triton and
study its atmosphere, surface, and interior. One of the main reasons why we want to explore
Triton is to search for signs of life. While it's unlikely that we'll find living organisms on the
frozen moon, there may be evidence of past or present life in the form of organic molecules.
There's also the possibility that Triton's subsurface ocean could harbor life, similar
to what we've found on Jupiter's moon Europa. In addition to its potential for finding life,
Triton could provide valuable information about the formation and evolution of the solar system.
As a moon that was likely captured by Neptune, Triton may hold clues about the early history
of our solar system and how it came to be. In conclusion, Triton remains one of the
most intriguing and mysterious places in the solar system. While the challenges
of exploring this frozen moon are significant, the potential rewards are enormous. Scientists
are working hard to develop mission concepts that will allow us to finally visit Triton
and unlock its secrets. Who knows what amazing discoveries we'll make once we finally get there?
But hey, let me tell you a secret: Triton is not the only interesting moon in the solar system.
In fact, ---
6) Jupiter moon Europa has liquid water oceans This moon has always been a mystery with its
icy surface hiding an unimaginable world beneath. Scientists have been studying this moon since the
first hints of liquid water were found during the Voyager mission in 1979, and today they are more
confident than ever about the presence of a vast and deep ocean lies beneath the thick ice shell.
Europa's ocean is a true enigma - it is unfathomably deep, wider than the
Earth's diameter, and may contain twice as much water as all the oceans on our
planet combined. With such an abundance of water, many believe that Europa is the most
promising place to look for extraterrestrial life. Recently, scientists have detected thin plumes of
water vapor being ejected into space from Europa's surface, which could be a game-changer in the
search for life. If these plumes are linked to the moon's ocean, a spacecraft could travel through
them, sample the water and analyze it from orbit. Even if Europa's ocean is not ejecting samples,
it is possible that the ocean's material could get frozen into the base of the moon's ice shell.
As the ice shell flexes from tidal forces, the ocean samples could rise to the surface,
allowing a spacecraft to study them remotely. Europa is not the only icy moon in our solar
system, but it is a unique world in its own right. While Enceladus, Saturn's moon,
also has an ocean spraying into space, it is much smaller than Europa and its ocean is not as deep.
Europa's ocean is vast and mysterious, like staring into the depths of the unknown.
Studying Europa's ocean is like peeling an onion - each layer reveals something new and unexpected.
It is a journey of discovery, where the ultimate goal is to find the truth about the possibility
of life beyond our planet. With technology advancing at a rapid pace, and with the Juice
mission waiting to be launched, we may soon have a chance to unlock the secrets of Europa's ocean and
unravel the mysteries of the solar system.
Europa might be hiding some secrets, but what about its huge gaseous planet? Astronomers
found out that, in the past, Jupiter liked to run towards the sun and back,
in a process that’s now known as “planetary migration”. But it wasn’t alone: Saturn
migrated too. ---
7) Jupiter and Saturn migrated in the past These are the two largest planets in our
solar system. They both formed farther away from the sun than their current location. Scientists
believe that they migrated inward towards the sun in a phenomenon called the "Grand Tack".
About 4 billion years ago, Jupiter and Saturn were moving towards each other.
Jupiter's gravity pulled on Saturn, causing it to change course and head toward the sun.
As Saturn moved closer to the sun, it began to feel the effects of the solar wind, which pushed
it further toward the inner solar system. As Saturn continued to migrate inward,
it pulled on Jupiter's orbit, causing it to move in a similar direction towards the sun. Once they
got close to the sun's gravity, the planets were trapped in a stable orbit around them.
This migration had a big impact on the rest of the solar system. As Jupiter and Saturn moved inward,
they scattered and disrupted smaller bodies in the solar system, including asteroids and comets. This
made a big impact on the formation and evolution of the rest of the planets, including Earth.
Perhaps the most interesting thing is that astronomers currently observe migrating
planets in far exoplanetary systems! In these systems, planets can migrate towards or away
from their star, depending on their location and the gravitational forces acting on them.
The migration can be caused by the gravitational pull of other planets, or by interactions with the
disk of gas and dust that surrounded the star during the planet's formation. This
migration can have a big impact on the planet's atmosphere, temperature, and overall habitability.
Planetary migration could have been one of the
key processes that contributed to the development of life as we know it in the solar system.
All of these discoveries were made possible by the presence in space of our best telescopes,
such as Hubble, Spitzer, and now James Webb.
These are expensive tools that require years if not decades to be conceived, built, and assembled.
But in general, just like every other industry, the space industry revolves around money.
For example, did you know that a full NASA spacesuit costs around 12 million
dollars?
--- 8) A
FULL NASA SPACE SUIT COSTS 12 million dollars.
Amazing, isn’t it? If you had to choose between a space suit or an expensive house, what would you
go for? Let me know in the comments below. If I can be honest, I would go for a house,
though. Yeah, because I want to settle and maybe have kids. Who knows, maybe
one of my children will get the chance to name an exoplanet, in the future.
Yeah, I’m talking seriously. Something like this already happened. A little kid,
back in 1930, was told about the discovery of a new planet, the ninth planet of the solar system.
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9) Pluto was named by a child The little kid's name was Venetia Burney,
who suggested to her grandfather that the new discovery be named for the Roman god of the
underworld, Pluto. He forwarded the name to the Lowell Observatory and it was selected.
Pluto is the only world - so far - named by an 11-year-old girl.
Girls really rock.
--- 10) Light from the
sun takes about 8 minutes to get to the Earth. The Sun is really far away, something like 93
million miles away. This distance is unimaginably huge, so much that even photons - the fastest
particles in the universe - take 8 and 1/3 minutes to get to us. Not many changes about the Sun in so
short a time, but it still means that when you look at the Sun, you see it as it was 8 minutes
ago. You are basically always observing a past version of the Sun. This actually applies to
every other astrophysical object in the sky, even those lying billions of light years away from us.
Perhaps we would never be able to foresee the future, but at least we have access to the past.
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Hey! This was the last mindblowing fact about the solar system,
episode 3. If you missed the other episodes, why don’t you check them
out? I promise they are all worth some of your time! Thanks for watching!