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Great
BLUE MARBLE - Our Solar System & Space Exploration |
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The
First Animal In
Space
The first animal in space was a female dog
named
"Laika", which means barker in Russian. Laika went into
space in Sputnik II on November 3, 1957. Korabl or
Sputnik 5, was launched On August 19, 1960, and on
board were the dogs "Belka" (squirrel) and
"Strelka"
(little arrow). Also on board were 40 mice, 2 rats, and a
variety of plants. The USA sent a 44 month old
chimpanzee named "Ham" on board Mercury Capsule
No. 5 on January 31, 1961 from Cape Canaveral for
a sub-orbital flight. On October 18, 1963 "Felix", a
black and white tomcat reported as being from the
streets of Paris, became the first cat in space when
he was launched on board an AGI Rocket by France. |
Laika
prior to her space flight. |
Our Solar System
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Our Sun is a star located at
the center of our Solar
System. Our Solar System is
located on the outside edge
of our Galaxy. Our Galaxy is
called the Milky Way.
There are billions of other
stars in our Galaxy, and
there are billions of
galaxies in the Universe.
Most of the stars and
galaxies we see at night
are so far away that it takes
hundreds, even thousands,
of years for their light to
reach Earth. |
Our
Sun
&
Closest Star |
Distances in the
Universe are measured by
Light
Years. The Sun is
93,000,000 miles away
from our Earth, and it takes
more than eight minutes
for the Sun's light to reach
Earth. The next nearest
star, Proxima Centauri,
is about
270,000 times
farther away, and it takes
more than four years for
this star's light to reach
Earth. Sunspots have a
pattern of energy release,
that follow an 11 year cycle. |
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Click
on the NASA
image above for a
larger image. |
This is
a NASA image of the
largest ever recorded solar
flare on April 21, 2001.© NASA |
The Earth is roughly 4 times
larger than our Moon. The
Earth and the Moon
are exerting gravitational
pulls on each other.
The image below shows how we
see the moon's phases from earth.
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Earth
& Moon |
The side of Earth that is
nearer the Moon has a
stronger pull from the
Moon than Earth's far side.
This unequal force stretches
earth in the Moon's
direction.
Our solid Earth does not
stretch much, less than a foot,
however the oceans
are
lifted up towards the moon
by about two feet. The
rotating
Earth brings the resulting bulge
past any given coastline
twice a day, thus causing
the world's tides. |
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Mercury |
Venus |
Earth |
Mars |
There are nine planets
revolving around our Sun.
The four planets closest to the Sun are referred to as the terrestrial
(Earth-like) planets.
In order of proximity to the Sun, they are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
Mercury is the smallest inner planet, about 1/3 the size of Earth's diameter.
The surface of Mercury that faces the Sun reaches over 700ºF or about 400ºC,
and the side away from the Sun drops to -274ºF or -170ºC.
Venus is about the same size as Earth, and Mars is about 1/2 Earth's diameter. |
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Jupiter |
Earth |
Saturn |
Jupiter and Saturn are Jovian or giant gas planets.
Jupiter is 11.2 times larger than Earth, and has a mass 318 times that of Earth.
Jupiter is more massive than all the other planets
combined.
Saturn is 9.5 times larger than Earth. Saturn has a large moon called Titan.
For comparison, see how tiny the Earth
is when put between the two giants.
Jupiter has at least 16 satellites ( moons ), and four of them are larger than
Pluto.
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Uranus |
Neptune |
Pluto |
The most distant planets are Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
Uranus and Neptune are both about four times larger than Earth's
diameter.
Like Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are Jovian or gas giants.
Pluto, discovered in 1930, is the smallest and most distant planet.
Many astronomers consider Pluto to be a comet and not a planet.
Pluto is actually closer to Earth than Neptune for 20 years
of its 248-year orbit around the Sun.
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A Black Hole
is a region in the universe
which has enormous density. So enormous
that nothing can escape its intense
gravitational pull. Not even light can
escape the immense gravity
of a Black Hole.
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Black
Holes |
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Comets,
Meteors, and Shooting Stars |
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A Comet is a large
chunk of ice and rock that can
leave a tail of dust debris over 50 million miles long.
From ancient times to the present day many comets, such
as Haley's Comet, have returned to appear in our night sky.
Meteors are more common than comets. Meteors are often referred to
as falling stars, and appear as a flash of light as they enter Earth's
atmosphere.
Meteors are particles as small as dust, generally coming from comet debris,
and are called meteorites when they strike Earth. In July, 1994, 22 fragments of
Comet Shoemaker-Levy
9 impacted Jupiter over a six day period.
This was the first time we have witnessed a collision in our Solar System.
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Man
on the Moon |
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Apollo 11 landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, and
Neil Armstrong
became the first human to walk on a solid surface beyond earth.
This was perhaps the greatest scientific achievement in the history of mankind.
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Location of Asteroid Belt within Our Solar
System |
Photo of
International Space Station taken by
Atlantis
crew Feb 2001. Click on the image
for a larger view. |
Links
to NASA & Earth/Moon Viewer |
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Do
you want to see your
country from space?
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Proverbs
to Live By
The sky is
the daily bread
of the eyes.
Emerson |
Space Charts
The Solar System Poster
The Planets Poster
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Proverbs
to Live By
One can see
the heavens
through a
needle's eye.
Japanese Proverb |
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Zambia
.zm |
Great
Blue Marble thanks the
people
of the world who have visited us. |
Kazakhstan
.kz |
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Images & Space Facts.
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Animation
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Poster
Art © Art.com |
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