Our Solar System
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Our Solar System can be found on the outer edge of our galaxy, The Milky Way. The Solar System is full off planets, moons, asteroids, comets and minor planets. It contains 8 planets, 9 counting Pluto which was recently named a dwarf planet. The formation of the Solar System starts with a shrinking cloud. This is a cloud of gas that started to shrink under its own gravity. Then as it shrank the cloud heated up, flattened out and started to spin which formed a gigantic disc. The particles inside the disc then started to combine and formed small moon-like objects. These then attracted to one another and started to form even larger objects. The sun formed at the centre and the planets gradually formed around it. The order of the planets that are in our Solar System is Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. The planet we are focusing most on is Venus.
Venus has been known since the Prehistoric times. In many ways, Venus is seen as Earth's sister as it is similar in size with roughly the same chemistry, gravity and density. The planet is almost made up of the exact same materials as Earth and in about the same amounts.The closeness to the sun makes Venus appear to as the brightest planet in the night sky, making it clearly visible to the naked eye. The brightness of the planet is due to the sun's reflection off it's atmosphere. Venus does actually have an atmosphere although it is far thicker than Earth's making it difficult for modern science to penetrate. Venus, unlike Earth, does not have any moons. The surface temperature on the planet is 426 degrees celcius, which is enough to cook a meal in mere minutes. It is even hotter than Mercury which is closer to the sun. This is caused by the fact that Venus is covered with thick clouds which trap in the heat from the sun. Recently, scientist have got a peek through these thick clouds and have got a few glimpses of the surface. They have saw that there are numerous volcanoes and many mountains that appear to be misshapen. Scientist are not sure but it is possible that Venus has more volcanoes than all other planets in the Solar System and even though Venus is home to many volcanoes, they erupt in a less violent way. It is even believed by some, that they do not erupt at all but instead the lava just flows out onto the surface. This proves that Venus has volcanoes, mountains and sand just like Earth. There is even evidence that the surface once moved in a very similar way to Earth's surface today although unlike Earth's surface there is no evidence that Venus' surface had a tectonic plate system. Venus' atmosphere is deadly. It mostly contains Carbon Dioxide which makes Venus a highly toxic place. The first space craft to reach Venus was in 1962 and was called Mariner 2.
Venus' diameter is 12 103.6km, approximately 65% of this surface is flat and the other 35% is made up of 6 mountain regions. It is the 6th largest planet in the Solar System. The gravity on Venus is 8.87 m/s2. The planet has a iron core and rocky mantle. The planet rotates in an east to west way and is the only planet to do so. It also rotates very slowly meaning that one day on Venus is equivalent to 117 days on Earth. Venus takes 225 days to complete a full orbit around the sun and 243 days to orbit around the sun. Just like Earth it rises and sets with the sun. It's orbit around the sun is quite fast which means that Venus overtakes Earth ever 584 days.An interesting fact is that Venus' day is actually longer than it's year! Also did you know that the word Venus means Friday? The English word Friday is derived from the anglo saxon frigedaeg meaning Venus. WOW!
Venus has been known since the Prehistoric times. In many ways, Venus is seen as Earth's sister as it is similar in size with roughly the same chemistry, gravity and density. The planet is almost made up of the exact same materials as Earth and in about the same amounts.The closeness to the sun makes Venus appear to as the brightest planet in the night sky, making it clearly visible to the naked eye. The brightness of the planet is due to the sun's reflection off it's atmosphere. Venus does actually have an atmosphere although it is far thicker than Earth's making it difficult for modern science to penetrate. Venus, unlike Earth, does not have any moons. The surface temperature on the planet is 426 degrees celcius, which is enough to cook a meal in mere minutes. It is even hotter than Mercury which is closer to the sun. This is caused by the fact that Venus is covered with thick clouds which trap in the heat from the sun. Recently, scientist have got a peek through these thick clouds and have got a few glimpses of the surface. They have saw that there are numerous volcanoes and many mountains that appear to be misshapen. Scientist are not sure but it is possible that Venus has more volcanoes than all other planets in the Solar System and even though Venus is home to many volcanoes, they erupt in a less violent way. It is even believed by some, that they do not erupt at all but instead the lava just flows out onto the surface. This proves that Venus has volcanoes, mountains and sand just like Earth. There is even evidence that the surface once moved in a very similar way to Earth's surface today although unlike Earth's surface there is no evidence that Venus' surface had a tectonic plate system. Venus' atmosphere is deadly. It mostly contains Carbon Dioxide which makes Venus a highly toxic place. The first space craft to reach Venus was in 1962 and was called Mariner 2.
Venus' diameter is 12 103.6km, approximately 65% of this surface is flat and the other 35% is made up of 6 mountain regions. It is the 6th largest planet in the Solar System. The gravity on Venus is 8.87 m/s2. The planet has a iron core and rocky mantle. The planet rotates in an east to west way and is the only planet to do so. It also rotates very slowly meaning that one day on Venus is equivalent to 117 days on Earth. Venus takes 225 days to complete a full orbit around the sun and 243 days to orbit around the sun. Just like Earth it rises and sets with the sun. It's orbit around the sun is quite fast which means that Venus overtakes Earth ever 584 days.An interesting fact is that Venus' day is actually longer than it's year! Also did you know that the word Venus means Friday? The English word Friday is derived from the anglo saxon frigedaeg meaning Venus. WOW!