The Earth’s journey around the Sun is not a perfectly circular orbit but rather an elliptical one. As a result, our planet experiences variations in its distance from the Sun throughout the year. Two significant events in the Earth’s orbit, known as perihelion and aphelion, mark its closest and farthest points from the Sun, respectively.
![Cassini image of Saturn and its rings [October 28, 2016]](https://cdn-0.ourplnt.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Saturn-Cassini-2016-10-28.jpg)
A new study led by physicist Sascha Kempf at the University of Colorado Boulder has upended our understanding of Saturn’s iconic rings, suggesting that they may be much younger than previously believed. According to recent research, the majestic rings encircling the gas giant could be no more than a mere 400 million years old. These findings, based on a comprehensive analysis of data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, have ignited a scientific debate and raised intriguing questions about the origin and evolution of Saturn’s beautiful ring system.
The photos of Saturn, with its majestic rings, are a testament to the breathtaking beauty of our solar system. Now, imagine if Earth had a similar feature! The sight of a vibrant ring system surrounding our planet would undoubtedly leave us in awe. The striking contrast of the rings against the blue and green of our planet would offer breathtaking views, and the endless possibilities for photography and art would be endless. While Earth’s unique geological features make it stand out in our solar system, it’s hard not to imagine how incredible our planet would look with a set of rings like Saturn’s.
Pluto was discovered on February 18, 1930, by the American astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh (February 4, 1906 – January 17, 1997) at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.
On January 21, 1979, a rare phenomenon occurred in our solar system: Neptune, the 8th planet from the Sun, took over Pluto and became the outermost planet as Pluto moved closer due to their highly elliptical orbits. Pluto was still a planet back then (good old days!).
Uranus looks like a featureless blue-green marble from space. Because of this, most people consider the gas giant “boring” and as a result, it receives the least attention from science enthusiasts. But, actually, the planets in our solar system are all fascinating in their own way, and each one has unique features that make it worth studying. Uranus has a number of interesting features and it is an important part of our solar system. It offers many opportunities for scientific discovery.
With a radius of 25,362±7 km (about 15,760 miles), Uranus is the third-largest planet in the solar system, after Jupiter and Saturn. It’s the fourth, behind Neptune, by mass, though.
Its average distance from the Sun is roughly 20 AU (3 billion km or 2 billion miles, see notes 1). 1 Uranus year is about 84 earth years. One day on Uranus takes about 17 hours and 14 minutes.
Here are the 10 amazing facts about Uranus, (probably) the most underrated planet in the solar system.
Yes, the sun rotates on its axis. The sun is a giant ball of gas and plasma, and like most objects in space, it rotates. The sun takes about 25-35 days to complete one rotation on its axis, depending on the latitude. This rotation also plays a role in the creation of the sun’s magnetic field, which in turn drives phenomena such as solar flares and sunspots.
Stars, planets, and moons are round because of the force of gravity acting on them. Gravitational forces cause matter to clump together, and the more mass an object has, the stronger its gravitational forces will be. When a large amount of mass is concentrated in a single object, such as a star or planet, the force of gravity causes it to take on a spherical shape, since gravity always pulls toward the center of mass. This is why stars, planets, and moons are round objects.
No, the Sun will not become a black hole. Black holes are incredibly dense objects that are formed when very massive stars collapse in on themselves at the end of their lives. The Sun is not massive enough to become a black hole. Instead, it will eventually exhaust its supply of hydrogen fuel and expand into a red giant. After it shreds its outer layers, it will shrink down into a white dwarf.
The Super blue blood moon is a rare celestial phenomenon. It is made up of three coinciding events. A supermoon is a full moon when our satellite is at its closest (hence it appears bigger in the sky). A blue moon refers to an “extra” full moon, whereas a year that usually has 12 full moons has 13 instead. The “blue moon” reference is applied to the third full moon in a season with four full moons.
In addition to these two phenomena, during a lunar eclipse, when the moon passes through Earth’s extended shadow, it looks reddish, and that is a “blood moon”. When all those three phenomena occur at the same time, it’s called a Super blue blood moon.
