Description
Transcript: Pluto is the outer sentinel of the solar system. With a size of only 2,300 kilometers, it is half the size of Mercury and two-thirds the size of Earth's moon. Its mean distance from the sun is 39 astronomical units, but it has a highly eccentric orbit with an eccentricity of 0.25. Pluto is extremely cold, -370 degrees Fahrenheit. Its surface is mostly methane ice, and it has a very thin methane atmosphere.
Transcript: Jupiter's Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system, just under 5,300 kilometers in diameter. That's 8 percent larger than Mercury and twice the size of tiny Pluto. Ganymede has an old fractured surface covered in groves and fissures. This dark surface is heavily cratered...
Published 07/21/11
Transcript: There are many types of interplanetary bodies, and they contain important clues as to the formation and evolution of the solar system. Interplanetary bodies range in size from 1,000 kilometers to chunks of rock the size of a house and smaller. They range in composition from icy to...
Published 07/21/11
Transcript: Several hundred years ago the astronomer J. Bode noticed a peculiar thing about the spacings and distances of the planets from the Sun. If, for example, you take a sequence of numbers that double, add four to each one and divide by ten you end up almost exactly predicting the...
Published 07/21/11