Exploring the Solar System

Geological factors of Solar Terrestrial planets 

         Our Solar System is of over 500 known solar system in the entire Milky way galaxy. The Solar system came into being about 4.5 billion years, when a cloud of interstellar gas and dust collapsed, resulting in a solar nebula, resulting in a solar nebula-a swirling disc of material that collided to form the Solar system,The Solar system is located in the Milky Way galaxy's Orion star cluster. Only 15% of the stars in the galaxy host planetary systems. One of those star is our own sun.

Sun         

         The sun's fiery nature along with a tremendous gravitational pull and an extensive magnetic field helped it to become the heart of our solar system. Our sun can be dived into six layers or regions corona,chromosphere,photosphere,convective zone,radiative zone and core.In about atom count the sun is 90% of Hydrogen,8.9% of Helium and 0.1% of Heavier elements(carbon and nitrogen). Due the extreme temperature  of sun these materials stay in gas like phase called plasma.  In the core temperatures reaching 27 million degrees F. Combined with sun's powerful gravity fused together hydrogen molecules to create helium called thermonuclear fusion to releases an enormous amount of energy in form of radiation,electricity,solar wind and as we experience on earth life-giving heat and light. 

Inner planets:

Mercury

         Mercury is smallest planet in solar system and the most mysterious. It is diameter measures just over 3000 miles about the size of the continental USA. Mercury consist of three layers Core,Mantle,Crust. Only mercury's crust has no tectonic plates. Also it's iron core is enormous by comparison,making up 85% of its radius.Because of the core's exceptional size,its's had a surprising influence on Mercury's overall size, by causing it to shrink because the hot iron core is slowly cooled and contracted over the planets 4.5 billion years. The mercury has a thin layer of exosphere  which is a traditionally the outer most layer of a Planet's atmosphere. The lack of atmosphere and close proximity to the sun also makes mercury a planet of extremes. The surface temperature can climb to 800 degrees during daytime  and fall to 290 degrees below zero at night time.

Venus

        Venus is known for its exceptional brightness in the night sky. But behind the facade is a world of storms and infernos unlike anywhere else in solar system. venus is about the same size as earth,just slightly smaller. It structure is also nearly identical with an iron core a hot core and a rocky crust. the crust of venus is dotted with thousands of volcanoes,including Maxwell Montes, a volcano almost as tall as Mount Everest. venus also has a thick layered atmosphere, its full of clouds that rain sulfuric acid and whip around the planet,at speeds up up to 224 miles per hour. Faster than than some category five hurricanes. The atmospheric was so thick that it creates the surface pressure similar to what it would be about half a mile deep in the earth's ocean. This pressure is heavy enough that a human standing on venus's surface would be crushed.

Earth

       Earth the only planet known to maintain life. A product of scientific phenomena and sheer chance. The blue speck in space holds the past, present, and future of our very existence. At its heart it is solid inner core covered by liquid outer core,above this this sits the mantle made of flowing silicate rocks and a rocky crust. it close enough to the sun to be warm unlike the cold gas giants. But it is not so close that its surface is exposed to extreme heat and solar radiation as is the case for the Mercury. The Earth is only known place in the universe too have the water in the liquid state, thereby having cascading effects on the planet. About 3.8 billion years ago in Earth's oceans Primitive life existed in the form of microbial organisms. In earth 1.5 billion species of plants animals. fungs and others have been cataloged with potentially millions.

Mars

      To many people today this red planet may hold the key for a bright new future for Humanity. Mars is the second smallest planet in the solar system with the diameter just shy of the width of Africa .in fact its entire surface is similar to that of all of Earth's continents combined. At its center of the planet is core made of iron nickel and sulphur which may have created a protective magnetic field during mars's earlier years enveloping the core is a rocky mantle made of silicate minerals and a crust rich in iron. These iron minerals with trace amount of oxygen and mars's atmosphere and rusts giving the planet's signature reddish hue. Today Mars dry desolate and cold with temperature dropping as low as negative 225 degree fahrenheit but billions of years ago the planet was much warmer more geologically active and had a watery surface, lake beds and river valleys snake along the face of mars indicating the mars indicating that liquid water was for a time present.Water on the red planet still exists today but mostly in the form of the ice caps.

We will discuss the outer planets in the next blog. 

Stay tuned