EXPLORE THE SPACE

INTRODUCTION :

What is a Solar System ?

Solar system is a place full of planets, moons, asteroids, comets, minor planets, and many other exciting objects. We will study each objects one by one.


  Our Solar Systems consists of  nine planets, they are  :

  1) Mercury
  2) Venus
  3) Earth
  4) Mars
  5) Jupiter
  6) Saturn
  7) Uranus
  8) Neptune
  9) Pluto

In our solar system, nine planets circle around our Sun. The Sun sits in the middle while the planets travel in circular paths (called orbits) around it. These nine planets travel in the same direction (counter- clockwise looking down from the Sun's north pole). The picture on the left shows the different  positions of each planet.

Mercury is closest planet to the sun and Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. 

The solar system is made up of two parts:

1)The inner solar system contains Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. These four planets are closest to the Sun.


2)The outer solar system contains Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.


WHAT IS A MOON ?



The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System.






WHAT ARE ASTEROIDS ?

Asteroids are rocky and metallic objects that orbit the Sun but are too small to be considered planets. They are known as minor planets. Asteroids range in size from Ceres, which has a diameter of about 1000 km, down to the size of pebbles. Sixteen asteroids have a diameter of 240 km or greater. They have been found inside Earth's orbit to beyond Saturn's orbit. Most, however, are contained within a main belt that exists between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Some have orbits that cross Earth's path and some have even hit the Earth in times past.

WHAT ARE BLACK HOLES ?

The Scientist have given black holes their name because light inside the event horizon can never be seen by mankind, or any outside observer. We believe that black holes in space are created by the collapse of a red super giant star. As these stars reach the end of their lives, an imbalance of inward and outward pressure forces the star to collapse.

Information on black holes is limited, though numerous schools of theory exist. We know black holes exist not because we can see them, but because of the impact they have on the space around them.
Refer the Video below to know  about Black Holes.

THE ECLIPSE :

1) SOLAR ECLIPSE:

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth so that the Sun is fully or partially covered. This can only happen during a new moon, when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction as seen from the Earth. At least two and up to five solar eclipses can occur each year on Earth.

There are four types of solar eclipses:

A total eclipse occurs when the Sun is completely obscured by the Moon. The intensely bright disk of the Sun is replaced by the dark silhouette of the Moon, and the much fainter corona is visible. During any one eclipse, totality is visible only from at most a narrow track on the surface of the Earth.

An annular eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the Moon is smaller than that of the Sun. Hence the Sun appears as a very bright ring, or annulus, surrounding the outline of the Moon.

A hybrid eclipse (also called annular/total eclipse) transitions between a total and annular eclipse. At some points on the surface of the Earth it is visible as a total eclipse, whereas at others it is annular. Hybrid eclipses are comparatively rare.

A partial eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are not exactly in line and the Moon only partially obscures the Sun. This phenomenon can usually be seen from a large part of the Earth outside of the track of an annular or total eclipse. However, some eclipses can only be seen as a partial eclipse, because the umbra never intersects the Earth's surface, passing above or below the Earth's polar regions.

2) LUNAR ECLIPSE :

A lunar eclipse is an eclipse which occurs whenever the moon passes behind the earth such that the earth blocks the sun’s rays from striking the moon. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, there is always a full moon the night of a lunar eclipse.

There are 3 types of  Lunar Eclipse:

1) Penumbral Lunar Eclipse

   The Moon passes through Earth's penumbral shadow.

   

2) Partial Lunar Eclipse

    A portion of the Moon passes through Earth's umbral shadow.

3. Total Lunar Eclipse
    The entire Moon passes through Earth's umbral shadow.