On May 25, 1961 President Kennedy announced: “I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth.” In pursuit of this goal, it was considered necessary to conduct several unmanned test flights and supporting programs, including…
Mercury is a metallic element that is a liquid at room temperature; it is one of the transition elements. Mercury’s atomic number is 80. It is superconductive when cooled to within a few degrees of absolute zero. Mercury was once known as liquid silver or quicksilver which was studied by the alchemists. Mercury was first…
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. Its average distance from the sun is approximately fifty-eight million km and it’s diameter is 4875 km, making it the second smallest planet in our solar system. Its volume and mass are about 1/18 that of the earth and its average density is approximately equal to that…
A great cloud of gas and dust (called a nebula) begins to collapse and spin Nebula begins to flatten into a spinning pancake shape with a bulge at the center This is due to forces of gravity and rotation Further collapse causes certain regions to condense into the sun, planets, and moons In the center…
The earth, its relation to the stars and planets, and speculations as to its origin attracted human curiosity long before the birth of the geological sciences. Although such studies fall more properly within the realm of astronomy,’ a brief survey of the earth and its planetary relations will provide the reader with some understanding of…
– Astronomy is the study of the outer space outside of our planet. – It includes objects such as planets, moons, stars, comets and meteors, and uses instruments such as telescopes, satellites and space shuttles. – When you look up into the night sky, you can see various bright objects, most of which are stars.…
– Just like the Earth, all the planets in the solar system (there are eight of them) rotate around their axes (therefore the planet’s day) and revolve around the Sun (therefore the planet’s year). – Planets revolve in a certain path around the Sun called an “orbit.” An “orbital period” is the time it takes…