Ahh, Earth... the third rock from the Sun. The blue planet. You get it. Its atmosphere is made up of around 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% argon, water vapor, and carbon dioxide, a nice balance for any living creature to breathe. The weather here is also perfect for life to exist, unlike in places like Saturn, Mercury, or any other celestial object in our Solar System — we have the troposphere to thank for that. It’s the densest part of the atmosphere on our planet and is 5 to 9 miles thick. It’s the layer of the atmosphere that always affects our weather and secures the right conditions for life to exist and to have bodies of water.
In our Solar system, most planets spin counterclockwise — but not Venus. This rebel planet decided to spin clockwise, and scientists are still trying to figure out why. By the way, why do planets rotate in general? What defines the speed of their rotation? Does the Sun rotate? Buckle up and let’s try to answer these questions. Venus is the second planet from the Sun and the hottest planet in our Solar system. Did you know that Venus is sometimes called Earth’s “twin”? That’s because it’s similar in size and composition to our own planet. But that’s where the similarities end, because Venus is a pretty crazy place, to say the least. For example, the weather. On Venus, it’s always hot and cloudy. And when I say “hot”, I mean it — it’s like over 800°F there! And those clouds? They’re not made of water like the ones on Earth. Instead, they’re made of sulfuric acid. So yeah, you wouldn’t want to go outside without a really good sunscreen on Venus.
The secrets behind the mysterious 819-day Mayan calendar and its planetary connections over 45 years are revealed. Researchers shared how expanding the calendar’s length to 20 periods of 819 days uncovers the alignment with periods of planets in our universe.
You’re on a plane heading to an important astronomy convention when you see a large figure outside your window that eclipses the whole Sun. You spit out all of your coffee, and everyone in the plane stares outside in shock. You then notice that it has rings like Saturn. You were supposed to fly to Japan, but you’re forced to land in California.As soon as you land, you look up in the sky and see some more giant planet-like structures floating around in the sky. Everyone is taking pictures and trying to figure out what’s going on. Suddenly you notice a huge ball of fire crashing down near the airport. Everyone scrambles for safety, and luckily, it ends up in the middle of the runway with no one around. The bad news is that there’s no more runway for planes to land.
We’re flying past the planets of our Solar System. We pass by Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Then we move through dark space beyond the edge of our world. We’ve reached our destination. It’s the Oort cloud. It’s a hypothetical region around the Solar System that holds tons of asteroids and blocks of ice. It’s likely to be where the largest comet in human history was born. And now, it’s heading toward the Sun! Bernardinelli-Bernstein was discovered totally by accident during the Dark Energy Survey. Our telescopes were pointed at distant space. Their main goal was to learn more about how the Universe was expanding. Astronomers also wanted to make a more detailed map of the observable universe.Scientists analyzed over 80,000 images and found a moving object. It was alarmingly close to our home planet. Its size was an impressive 62[ml (100 km)] miles. That’s about the width of Lake Michigan. It was an already active comet with a long tail. Usually, comets get a tail when they come close to the Sun. The heat from the star warms the comet’s surface, and light materials, like ice, begin to evaporate. This forms a cloud of steam and dust that stretches far beyond the comet.
You take off from Earth and park your spacecraft somewhere near the Moon. You’re now almost 240,000 miles away from your home planet. That’s almost 100 widths of the United States. Now, you take out a giant hammer and an enormous chisel using the robotic arms of your spaceship. You place the chisel at the Earth’s North Pole and strike its head with the hammer. Earth splits open like an eggshell, and you see it... Another planet.It’s Theia. And it’s hiding inside our planet like a yolk in an egg. You’d need to go back in time 4.5 billion years to find out how it got there. This beautiful nebula will soon become our Solar System. Colored dust and various space debris are slowly coming closer toward the common center. Soon this jigsaw puzzle of debris becomes too heavy and dense. The temperature inside the giant is rising. Soon, it gets so high that it triggers a nuclear chain reaction.
The Sun, our majestic and life-sustaining star, has been a constant presence in our skies since time immemorial. Its radiant energy provides warmth, light, and the conditions necessary for life to thrive on Earth. But have you ever wondered what would happen if our Sun suddenly vanished and was replaced by another star?Arcturus. A huge red star. It’s just bursting from inside out! The red sea of plasma on its surface rages and pulsates. This star burns anything that comes close to it. And now... flop! Arcturus is gone! But at the same moment, it reappears at the center of our solar system, replacing the Sun. What we see in the sky isn’t a small yellow dot anymore, but a giant red ball. It’s 25 times wider and 30% heavier than the Sun.
People stop their cars on the highway, get out of them, and lift their heads in wonder. In the cities, everyone takes to the streets. Balconies and rooftops of houses are full of people staring at the Moon in shock. It’s red. Some people scream that it’s the end of the world; some seek shelter. Indeed, the usual white Moon now looks like it has been doused in red paint. There’s no need to be afraid if you see such a thing. On the contrary, enjoy the view, because you have witnessed a rare astronomical phenomenon. This is a total lunar eclipse.
I hope you feel well-rested. Because I’ve got a tough task for you. Don’t worry — it’s fun! You’re going to visit different planets of our Solar System and try to run on each of them! Let’s figure out where you can run the fastest and where you can barely walk! The fastest man on Earth, Usain Bolt, can run with an average speed of about 23 miles per hour. But his top speed is higher — up to 27 miles per hour! Sadly, we can’t all be Usain Bolts. The average person runs at a speed of 6 to 8 mph. But maybe, there’s a planet out there where you can beat the famous Jamaican sprinter’s records? But first things first, what will affect your speed when you run on other planets? For one thing, gravity. Depending on how strong it is on the planet you visit, it’ll influence your weight. And in most cases, the heavier you are, the more slowly you run.
If you landed on Mercury, the first thing you’d notice would be how close it is to the Sun. It’s actually the closest planet to the big ball of fire and the smallest. But it’s not the hottest planet. Venus takes credit for that. It takes Earth 365 days to orbit the Sun, and it takes Mercury more than 3 months. Well, 88 days, to be exact. The days are boiling hot, with the temperature reaching above 800 °F (425 °C). But on the other side of the planet that the Sun doesn’t reach, the temperatures drop to −300 °F (-180 °C). Mercury’s atmosphere can’t hold any heat when it’s nighttime, just like a desert. Deserts have no atmosphere, which is why they have no moisture, and no clouds or rain.If you manage to get from one end of the planet to the other and always stay in between the scorching heat and freezing cold, then you can survive. But oxygen isn’t a friend to Mercury’s atmosphere. So you’d just live for as long as you can hold your breath. Plus, there’s a magnetic field that has solar winds from the Sun that create plasma tornadoes.
Let’s pretend that humanity faces a huge threat from outer space. We’ll imagine that a giant planet-eating octopus comes to our solar system to eat Venus, Mars, Earth, Jupiter, and other planets, except Saturn. Therefore, people decide to move to the big planet with giant rings. Fortunately, they already have cool technologies that allow them to make such trips. So, we quickly get into giant ships, take off, and fly to Saturn. Life on the planet itself is impossible because it has no solid ground. The ship won’t be able to land there. This is a giant gas ball that is 9 times wider than Earth.
Mercury gets a bad rap for always being hot, but that’s not entirely true. The planet’s got no atmosphere, so its temperature swings are wild. When it’s facing the Sun, it can get up to a blistering 800°F, but when it’s turned away, it drops to a frigid −290°F. The reason for this is that Earth has a cozy atmosphere that keeps our temps in check. Mercury doesn’t have that luxury, so it’s at the mercy of the Sun’s rays. But despite all that, Mercury’s still worth checking out. It’s close to the Sun, which makes it a prime spot for studying how solar radiation affects planets. And even though it’s not exactly hospitable to life, there are still plenty of mysteries to unravel.
Our Sun. Something strange just happened now. Every TV channel, the news, they’re all talking about a black hole that came closer to us — on the spot where our Sun used to be! You can even see an accretion disk, and the background of the sky looks kinda distorted, which means it got really close.Normally, black holes are so far away that we can’t see them with the unaided eye. You can’t even see them with a telescope directly! What is it doing here, so close? Where is the Sun? Did the black hole swallow it?
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if every planet in our solar system was the size of Earth? Well, it’s time to dive into this mind-boggling scenario! Let’s imagine what each planet would look like if they were as big as our beloved blue planet. Would the barren, red landscape of Mars suddenly become a lush green oasis? Would the massive, swirling gas giant Jupiter just disappear? And how would it affect our solar system as a whole — are we all doomed? Buckle up and let’s find out.
You’re on a spaceship flying through outer space at a speed of 180,000 miles per second. This is almost the speed of light. Make yourself comfortable, because the voyage is gonna be long. It will last a little more than 90 years. It’s better to use a cryo capsule to not get bored. In short, you need to fly for almost a century at the speed of light to get to a mysterious exoplanet that scientists have recently discovered.
It’s becoming colder by the minute. The temperature drops below zero very quickly, and although there’s no snow, the cold is becoming unbearable. Hoarfrost appears on the ground, the grass and the trees, and ice forms on bodies of water at an incredible rate. Shivering people all over the planet raise their eyes to the sky, and their jaws drop in disbelief: the Sun has become twice as small as it used to be. It now looks like a distant speck, and it won’t be able to heat the Earth any longer. But the worst thing is, there’s a huge, blazing rock coming right at the horrified spectators from the sky, and the impact with that thing will undoubtedly do a lot of damage.
The Moon. Our little companion. Our only friend in the big, dark, cold space. It’s not surprising that any events related to it, like solar or lunar eclipses, excite us. But how about... the black Moon? The blue Moon? A supermoon? Have you ever heard of them? Well, let me tell you about it and how you can observe them. Let’s get your calendars ready. The distance between the Earth and the Moon is 238,900 miles. Feels not so far, doesn’t it? But trust me — most people GREATLY underestimate this distance! Did you know that every planet in the Solar System, including Jupiter and Saturn, would fit between the Moon and us? I couldn’t believe it myself!
Now, what would Earth look like if it was the only planet in the Solar System? Or what would happen to our planet if the Moon went missing? Or what if dinosaurs had never gone extinct? We’ve all heard the story: over 66 million years ago, a big asteroid hit Earth. Almost 75% of creatures that roamed the planet at that time were wiped out in mass extinction. Amongst them, dinosaurs. Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Velociraptor... All gone. But because of that, we’re all alive! According to science, the human race was developing more safely without these gigantic creatures hunting us. But what if that asteroid had crashed to the ground a few miles away from the place where it fell? What would the world be like today? Imagine walking down the street to your local supermarket and coming across a truck-sized T. rex. Could that ever happen in this alternate universe we’re talking about?
You step on the surface of the Moon. It’s... unusual. You definitely feel lighter here, and it’s easier to walk. You decide to check out that obsessive idea of yours — jump on Earth’s natural satellite. And even despite your bulky spacesuit, you literally fly up into the air! Woohoo! Anyway, you continue your walk on the surface of the Moon when you feel something strange. The ground under your feet is... is it SHAKING?! It feels as if an earthquake has just started on the Moon! But it’s simply impossible! Or is it? Surprisingly, your gut feeling hasn’t let you down this time — moonquakes do exist! In fact, there are four types of moonquakes that are strong enough to be detected from a large distance. There are deep moonquakes occurring more than 430 miles below the surface. Then there are meteoroid impacts. Thermal quakes occur when the frigid lunar crust expands. It happens when the morning sun illuminates the satellite after a two-week-long deep-freeze lunar night.
Way back in the Victorian Era, a strange celestial body appears to have popped up in our solar system. Was it an asteroid? Or maybe a comet? It took us until October 2017 to notice it and to start studying it closely. It was named Oumuamua [Oh-moo-ah moo-ah] — which is Hawaiian for “scout”. Not only is its shape extremely unusual — highly elongated and narrow — but it’s also speeding so fast that it appears the Sun’s gravity doesn’t affect it so much.
Imagine you’re showing Planet Earth around to a visitor from outer space. How about we show them some of Earth’s majestic phenomena? First things first: the dancing Northern Lights. They’d probably think it’s a work of magic if science hadn’t been able to explain how on Earth these things work. It’s crazy that such a beautiful phenomenon can emerge from such a violent encounter. So how about we take a closer look into the process?
It’s the year 2031, and the first human has just set foot on the red surface of Mars. It was a long flight that lasted 172 days. It was a tough journey. There were lots of technical issues. There were some physiological obstacles. Astronauts had to deliver tons of equipment and energy-generating and life-supporting systems to the Red Planet. Those responsible for the mission had to understand how to deal with low-pressure atmosphere and catastrophic sandstorms. How to keep people safe on Mars’ surface, and how to bring them back to Earth after their work is done. It does sound like a science-fiction story. But soon, it’s going to be our reality. But the coolest thing? It’s not the limit. After exploring Mars, people might set even more ambitious goals. And this is what some of them may look like.
Venus has exceptionally high temperatures, hot enough to melt lead. It’s the hottest planet in our Solar System, with a high-pressure environment and super-strong winds. The winds there are 50 times faster than the planet’s rotation. It’s getting stronger over time, and scientists don’t know why. But they did find something interesting in the planet’s clouds — a potential sign of decaying biological matter. Could there be life then? Not quite, since Venus has a dry, windy atmosphere and doesn’t have enough water for life to develop.
Clouds of fire and smoke fly upward, and the rocket launches. The Delta IV Heavy is one of the most powerful rockets people have ever made. Three massive engines burn tons of fuel, helping the spacecraft gain altitude. The two side boosters undock, leaving the common booster core for further ascent. When in orbit, the rocket releases its payload. This is the Parker Solar Probe — the first spacecraft to touch the Sun. And we’ll follow its journey step by step.
The good old Solar System is actually a pretty bizarre place, what with all its out-of-this-world phenomena that we, humans, haven’t managed to explain so far! There are rumors that a gigantic, undiscovered planet is hiding behind Neptune, volcanoes on Pluto spew ice, and a colossal canyon on Mars can accommodate the whole US territory! Well, let’s figure out if it’s true by talking about the most mystifying Solar System facts. The Solar System is 4.6 billion years old! So old — it’s a senior Solar System. Scientists came to this conclusion after they studied the oldest material they managed to get a hold of — and by that, I mean meteorites, of course.
Everything in the Universe is in constant, quite predictable motion. Some very complicated math can help us predict what the night sky will look like in hundreds of years! That’s why astronomers make up entire calendars of unusual celestial events. So, let’s find out more about the most interesting astronomical events that are waiting for us in the next 100 years.
You’re strapped in a Spaceship that’ll take you all the way to Pluto for your galaxy backpacking trip. It’s the longest journey from Earth and without any shortcuts, so you’ll have to get quite comfy. It’s recommended for everyone aboard to have at least 8 hours of sleep at night.Astronauts in the International Space Station have little rooms suitable for 1 person with special sleeping bags and enough room for personal belongings. If they don’t, they’ll float, bumping into each other.
I have to say — it would be hard to visit the biggest waterfall in the world because it’s underwater. Deep down below, there are fissures and caverns on the ocean floor. They form when water oozes through the layers of salt that are beneath it. This water is filled with dissolved salt. This makes it denser than the water surrounding it, which is why it ends up settling into these fissures. Such type of dense water forms a massive waterfall near Denmark. It’s a giant cascade that plummets 11,500 feet. That’s over three times the height of the well-known Angel Falls in Venezuela. So, the colder water of this waterfall sinks after it collides with the surrounding water that’s less dense.
Weird unusual sounds out of nowhere are spreading all over our galaxy, constantly repeating, and it’s something we’ve never heard before... Scientists discovered it in 2020, and it was nothing like any of the other energy signatures they ever studied.Powerful and bright radio signals occurring from time to time, mysteriously disappearing within a day. It doesn’t fit the profile of any space body we know. The signal is a bit irritating, and it disappears without a schedule. When scientists tried to match the signal with some other telescopes, it was gone. Low-mass stars sometimes flare up with radio energy, but not here since they mostly have X-ray counterparts. Very dense collapsed stars like Pulsars, Magnetars are also not a choice.
Imagine you’re 15 and you got bored of playing video games. Instead, to pass the time, you decide to give some attention to an old hobby of yours: tracking down lost Mayan cities. You’ve heard that some ancient civilizations are said to have built entire cities based on constellations, so you decide to check out whether that was true for the Mayans.
We fly away from Earth to look at it from a distance. It glows like a holiday tree! Big cities look like yellow spots at night. And during the day we see strange structures, like a palm tree-shaped island in the UAE or a dark band that runs all the way through China — the Great Wall. These are traces of human existence. Now let’s point our telescope at other planets. Mars? It’s just an empty, endless desert. Venus? Only rocks and volcanoes. Even if we look into distant space, all the planets out there are deserted and lifeless. Not a single trace of an extraterrestrial civilization.
“In space, no one can hear you scream.” We know that no supernovas, crashing asteroids, and burning planets make a sound in space. Or do they? What if you actually CAN hear something out there? Well, let’s see!Okie-dokie, back to middle school. “Sound is a mechanical wave originating from vibration.” Umm... what exactly does that mean? The simplest example is guitar strings. Let’s pull one of them. It starts to vibrate. The atoms inside the metal string begin to push and beat the atoms of the air around them.So, now, atoms are constantly pushing each other — until they reach our ears. It’s like a wave from a pebble thrown into a pond. And it happens very quickly — at a speed of about 0.21 mi/s!
It’s normal for planets to be a bit tilted on the side. The Earth is tilted at a 23-degree angle. That’s why we have seasons. It’s summer when the part of the world where you are leans closer to the Sun. It works the opposite way, too — it’s winter when you lean away from it. But, Uranus is tilted more than normal. It lies at a 98-degree angle, which has a huge effect on its seasons. Each season on Uranus takes 21 years to play out. Something to think about next time we complain that winter lasts forever.
Well, looky here! You’re about to figure out what lies under the surface of each planet in the Solar System! Get into your spaceship equipped with the largest drill you can only imagine — and off you go! You start with Mercury. It’s the closest planet to the Sun. At first sight, the place looks similar to our good old Moon! But after landing, you understand it’s an illusion.
It’s only a matter of time before humans begin colonizing other planets, with NASA already wanting to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s. It’s safe to say that if we do start moving to other neighboring planets, we wouldn’t want to leave our 4-legged friends behind!We at Bright Side decided to get a little creative and imagine what our pets would look like if they adapted to the environments of other planets in our solar system. Here is what we came up with.
As we all know, living basically anywhere besides Earth in our solar system would be near-impossible. However, that doesn’t stop some researchers from imagining what life on other planets would be like if and when we colonize space. So, let’s forget about that for a moment and assume that we have the capabilities to do so and that no danger is real for us.
