What the planet

Mercury Facts

Mercury''s magnetic field is offset relative to the planet''s equator. Though Mercury''s magnetic field at the surface has just 1% the strength of Earth''s, it interacts with the magnetic field of the solar wind to sometimes create intense magnetic tornadoes that funnel the fast, hot solar wind plasma down to the surface of the planet.

The Causes of Climate Change

Takeaways Increasing Greenhouses Gases Are Warming the Planet Scientists attribute the global warming trend observed since the mid-20th century to the human expansion of the "greenhouse effect"1 — warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth toward space. Life on Earth depends on energy coming from the Sun. About half the light []

Planets 101: What they are and how they form

What is a planet? Mars, the fourth planet from the sun. Credit: NASA / JPL. According to a definition issued by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2006, a planet is a celestial body...

Night Sky Map & Planets Visible Tonight

Planet Sizes and Order. With surface gravity, moons, current phase, type, and more. Who''s Closest Right Now? Play with our timeline to see the swings in the planets'' distances from Earth. Moon Phase and Position. Find the Moon''s illumination, distance, and

What is a Planet? | Planets – NASA Solar System Exploration

A planet is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly

Mars Facts

The Red Planet is actually many colors. At the surface, we see colors such as brown, gold, and tan. The reason Mars looks reddish is due to oxidization – or rusting – of iron in the rocks, regolith (Martian "soil"), and dust of Mars. This

The Effects of Climate Change

Global climate change is not a future problem. Changes to Earth''s climate driven by increased human emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases are already having widespread effects on the environment: glaciers and ice sheets are shrinking, river and lake ice is breaking up earlier, plant and animal geographic ranges are shifting, and plants and trees are blooming sooner.

What is the greenhouse effect?

The greenhouse effect is the process through which heat is trapped near Earth''s surface by substances known as ''greenhouse gases.'' Imagine these gases as a cozy blanket enveloping our planet, helping to maintain a warmer temperature

What The 3Ps Of The Triple Bottom Line Really Mean

Planet: the positive and negative impact an organization has on its natural environment. This includes reducing its carbon footprint, usage of natural resources, toxic materials and so on, but

What Is a Planet? | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids

A planet must do three things: it must orbit a star, it must be big enough to have enough gravity to force a spherical shape, and it must be big enough that its gravity cleared away any objects of a similar size near its orbit. This cosmic cloud, called Sharpless 2-106, is an area where stars (and planets) form. Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage

What Is Climate Change?

Climate change is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth''s local, regional and global climates. These changes have a broad range of observed effects that are synonymous with the term. Changes observed in Earth''s climate since the mid-20th century are driven by human activities, particularly fossil fuel burning, []

What is the greenhouse effect?

The greenhouse effect is the process through which heat is trapped near Earth''s surface by substances known as ''greenhouse gases.'' Imagine these gases as a cozy blanket enveloping our planet, helping to maintain a warmer temperature than it would have otherwise. Greenhouse gases consist of carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and

In Depth | Our Solar System – NASA Solar System Exploration

Our solar system consists of our star, the Sun, and everything bound to it by gravity – the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; dwarf planets such as

Moon Conjunction Today | Planet Next to Moon | Moon and

4 days ago· The Moon getting close to a planet is one of the easiest astronomical events to observe: the lunar disc and most of the Solar System planets (e.g. Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn) are visible to the naked eye, so you don''t need any special skills or complex equipment.The only thing you need to know is the date and time of the Moon''s approach to a

Planet

OverviewFormationPlanets in the Solar SystemExoplanetsAttributesHistory and etymologyMythology and namingSee also

A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets by the most restrictive definition of the term: the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, and the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The best available theory of planet formation is the

Planet Facts – The Planets In Order

Planet Facts – What Is a Planet? The answer to this question is a highly controversial one. This has not always been the case, though. In fact, before 1978 the definition of a "planet" was not really necessary.

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life.This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water.Almost all of Earth''s water is contained in its global ocean, covering 70.8% of Earth''s crust.The remaining 29.2% of Earth''s crust is land, most of which is located in the form of

Mars Facts

The Red Planet is actually many colors. At the surface, we see colors such as brown, gold, and tan. The reason Mars looks reddish is due to oxidization – or rusting – of iron in the rocks, regolith (Martian "soil"), and dust of Mars. This dust gets kicked up into the atmosphere and from a distance makes the planet appear mostly red.

What Color Are The Planets? (And Why)

Neptune is the last planet in the Solar system, and as such, it receives very little sunlight. As a result, its average temperature is -373 ° F (-225 ° C). It is really, really cold, and it has a frozen layer, but once again, ice is not really the reason for its color.

Solar System

The Solar System [d] is the gravitationally bound system of the Sun and the objects that orbit it. [11] It formed about 4.6 billion years ago when a dense region of a molecular cloud collapsed, forming the Sun and a protoplanetary disc.The Sun is a typical star that maintains a balanced equilibrium by the fusion of hydrogen into helium at its core, releasing this energy from its

Rains of Terror on Exoplanet HD 189733b

This Halloween, take a tour with NASA''s Exoplanet Exploration site of some of the most terrifying destinations in our galaxy. The nightmare world of HD 189733 b is the killer you never see coming. To the human eye, this far-off planet looks bright blue. But any space traveler confusing it with the friendly skies of Earth would be badly mistaken.

Solar system planets, order and formation — a guide | Space

The planet is estimated to be about 10 times the mass of Earth and to orbit the sun between 300 and 1,000 times farther than the orbit of the Earth. Scientists have not seen Planet Nine.

Climate change: How do we know it is happening and caused by humans

Our planet has been warming rapidly since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. The average temperature at the Earth''s surface has risen about 1.1C since 1850, external.Furthermore, each of the

What Are The Planets Made Of?

Whether a planet is a rocky world, gas giant, or ice giant is dependent upon its composition. What are each of the planets made of? Mercury Image of Mercury. Image credit: NASA. Mercury is the innermost planet of the solar system, orbiting the sun at an average distance of 58-million kilometres. Mercury is also the smallest planet in the solar

Global Temperature

Vital Signs of the Planet: Global Climate Change and Global Warming. Current news and data streams about global warming and climate change from NASA. A graph and an animated time series showing the change in global surface temperature relative to 1951-1980 average temperatures. The year 2023 is the warmest on record.

All About the Planets | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids

4 days ago· Click a planet on the sidebar or choose from below to get started. Mercury. Venus. Earth. Mars. Jupiter. Saturn. Uranus. Neptune. article last updated July 17, 2019 Explore All the Planets. If you liked this, you may like: What Is a Barycenter? What Is a Meteor Shower? How Long Is One Day on Other Planets? Games

The Planets In Order | From The Sun, Information,

The small planet has a diameter of 4.879 km / 3.032 mi. Venus. The second closest planet to the Sun. Venus is on average at a distance of 108 million km / 67 million mi or 0.72 AU away from the Sun. It is the hottest planet

About the Planets

The solar system has eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. There are five officially recognized dwarf planets in our solar system: Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris. What is a Planet?

Our Solar System

It takes Pluto, the most famous dwarf planet, 248 years to make one trip around the Sun. Moons orbit planets. Right now, Jupiter has the most named moons—50. Mercury and Venus don''t have any moons. Earth has one. It is the brightest object in our night sky. The Sun, of course, is the brightest object in our daytime sky.

All About Earth | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids

It is the only planet to have just one moon. Earth has lots of spacecraft watching it. There is still a lot we can learn about our home planet. Earth is the third planet from the Sun in our solar system. That means Venus and Mars are Earth''s neighboring planets. Quick History. We have known about our planet since ancient times, of course.