Apus

The constellation Apus was discovered in the 16th century by Petrus Plancius. Apus means "no feet" in Greek. Apus and of three star clusters. The star clusters are named NGC 6101, IC 4499, and IC 4633.

Antlia

The constellation Antlia was first created in the 18th century by the french astronomer Abbe Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. He named the constellation after the recent invention of the air pump.

Constellatoins

After my study of the planets, I am going to start on the constellations.

Andromeda

The constellation of Andromeda was named after a Greek princess in the Greek legend of Perseus. Some other names its is known by is "the Chained Lady" or "the Chained Woman." It has also been called Persea or Cepheis. The included stars are Alpha Andromedae, Beta Andromedae, Gamma Andromedae, Delta Andromedae, Lota Andromedae, Upsilon Andromedae, Xi Andromedae, and 51 Andromedae.

Pluto

Pluto

     Pluto has been under discussion weather it is classified as a planet or not. As of 2006, Pluto has now been classified as a dwarf planet because of its small size. Pluto has a seasonal atmosphere. It has clouds of nitrogen, but because of Pluto's low gravitational pull, the nitrogen easily escapes into space. It was recently discovered that because the nitrogen on its surface was exposed to sunlight, following a 120 year winter, it became a gas. It took a little bit of time for the nitrogen to solidify and hold in its gases. Pluto's surface has actually not been explored, however its interior has been. Its interior has been explored. Its interior is said to be composed of ice. Its core is made up of iron/nickel alloy, and rock.

Neptune

Neptune

      Neptune is the eighth farthest planet from the sun, it is named from the ancient Roman's God of the sea. It is also known as the third largest planet in mass in the solar system. It is also seventeen times the mass of earth. Neptune was discovered on September 23, 1846, found by mathematical 

 prediction. It was discovered by someone observing the inaccurate orbit, thus they predicted that another planet must have been perturbing its orbit. Only one spacecraft has visited the planet of Neptune, and that is the spacecraft named Voyager 2, which flew by on August 25, 1989. Neptune's atmosphere is classified as a gas giant, being composed of  mostly of hydrogen, helium, and traces of ice. Neptune itself is also composed of gas, but contains some liquids like water, ammonia, methane, and other compounds. Neptune's core is guessed by scientists to me composed of iron, nickel, and other silicates.

 

Read more about Neptune  l  Neptune facts, pictures and information. by nineplanets.org

After the discovery of Uranus, it was noticed that its orbit was not as it should be in accordance with Newton's laws. It was therefore predicted that another more distant planet must be perturbing Uranus' orbit.

Read more about Neptune  l  Neptune facts, pictures and information. by nineplanets.org

After the discovery of Uranus, it was noticed that its orbit was not as it should be in accordance with Newton's laws. It was therefore predicted that another more distant planet must be perturbing Uranus' orbit.

Read more about Neptune  l  Neptune facts, pictures and information. by nineplanets.org

After the discovery of Uranus, it was noticed that its orbit was not as it should be in accordance with Newton's laws. It was therefore predicted that another more distant planet must be perturbing Uranus' orbit.

Read more about Neptune  l  Neptune facts, pictures and information. by nineplanets.org

Uranus

Uranus 

     Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun, but it is the third largest planet. Uranus was actually the first planet discovered with a telescope. Uranus is also classified as an ice giant, because of the ice in its atmosphere. Uranus is composed of helium, and hydrogen, and because of that it has the coldest atmosphere in the solar system. Its insides are mainly composed of Ices and Rock. Along with other "gas giants", it has numerous moons. Its axis (unlike any other planet) is tilted sideways. Because of this, its north and south poles are located where other planets equators are located. On the surface, the winds can reach up to the speeds of 250 meters per second. The seasonal changes of Uranus are completely unlike those of other planets. Uranus has many planetary rings, which were discovered on March 10, 1977 by James L. Elliot, Edward W. Dunham, and Douglas J. mink using the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. Uranus has 27 known natural satellites.  

 information from here

Astronomy Picture Of The Day

Above is a diagram of Saturn's known moons

 This is a picture of Saturn's most famous moons.

Saturn

Saturn

Saturn, or the sixth planet from the sun is the largest planet in the solar system. Saturn is named after a Roman god named Saturn. The conditions produced on Saturn are extreme compared to earth because of its large mass and gravitation. Saturn's core is composed of iron, nicker, silicon, and oxygen. On the surface of Saturn, the winds can reach up to 1,800 km/h. Saturn's ring system consists of mostly ice particles with small amounts of debris and dust. Saturn has sixty-two known moons that orbit it. Saturn's atmosphere consists mainly of hydrogen and helium.Saturn is most known for its ring system. One theory of the origination of Saturn's rings is that one of its moons were destroyed. The ice in Saturn's rings comes from one of the volcanoes on Enceladus.

           Information from Wikipedia. Click here.

 

 

Jupiter

Jupiter

Jupiter is the fifth planes from the sun, and it is the largest planet in our solar system. Jupiter is known as a gas giant. Also classified as gas giants are Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Jupiter was named after the Roman god Jupiter. Jupiter viewed from earth, is about the third-brightest star in the night sky. Jupiter is composed of hydrogen, and a quarter of it being helium. Jupiter is also said to have a rocky core of heavier elements. The outer atmosphere is divided into several bands, resulting in turbulence and storms along the interacting boundaries. One of the results of this is the Great Red Spot, a storm that is known to have existed since the 17th century at least when it was seen first by a telescope. There are at least 64 moons orbiting Jupiter. One of its moons named Ganymede, has a greater diameter than Mercury.

 

Click here to see the website the information came from.

Mars Facts

• Mars's moons Phobos and Deimos go around Mars the opposite way most other moons in the Solar System do.

• Phobos orbits Mars three times a day (Mars day), it is so far the only moon to be discovered that goes around a planet faster than that planet turns.

• You could launch yourself off Deimos by running, because the escape velocity is only 7 mph (11 km/hr).

• Phobos is only 6000 km off the surface of Mars, the closest moon to its planet in the Solar System.

• Mars has the biggest mountain in the Solar System (Olympus Mons). 

information site here 

Mars

Mars

Mars is the only planet whose surface can bee seen in detail from Earth. It has a red tint in color, and was named after the Roman's god of war. Mars is the fourth planet from the sun, with a width a little over half of the size of earth. Mars is the second smallest planet in the solar system. Mars has a sort of red look because of rust. There is a lot of iron in the soil, causing it to have a red tint. The air on Mars has made it turn red. Mars has the tallest Volcano in the Solar System named Olympus Mons, and it is 15 miles high.

information from: click here to see the website.

click here to see the website for this image.

Astronomy Picture Of The Day

 Astronomy Picture of the Day

 This is a picture of the "Wizard Nebula." It is located 8,000 light-years from Earth in the Milky Way
Galaxy. This star cluster is embedded in a nebula, which has a span of 110 light-years. It appears to be larger than the Moon. It can be located toward the constellation of Cepheus.

click here to see the website and archive of amazing pictures.

Venus

Venus

 Venus was named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. Venus is the second brightest natural object in the sky to the moon. It reaches its maximum brightness shortly before sunrise, and shortly after sunset, and that is where it has gotten its name "the morning star," or "the evening star." Venus is called earth's "sister planet" due to similar size, gravity, and bulk composition. Venus's clouds of sulfiric acid prevent it from being seen from space in visible light. Venus's surface is a desert with many slab-like rocks, constantly refreshed by volcanism, or volcanoes and volcanic activity. Venus's atmospheric pressure at the surface is ninety-two times more than Earth's surface.The sulfur in the atmosphere indicates that there have been recent eruptions. The absence of lava evidence remains a mystery. Venus has no carbon cycle, and it does not seem to have any organic life to absorb it.

picture and information from Wikipedia. click here to see it.

 There is also no evidence for plate tectonics on Venus, possibly because its crust is too strong to subduct, or where one tectonic plate sinks beneath another.

This is an optical illusion created by STEREO optics.  As Venus moved beyond the field of vision it seemed to flare back into view. I just thought it was kind of interesting looking.