Solar System Planetary Orbits

The Solar System formed 4. 6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a giant interstellar molecular cloud. The vast majority of the system’s mass is in the Sun, with the majority of the remaining mass contained in Jupiter. The four smaller inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, are terrestrial planets, being primarily composed of rock and metal. The four outer planets are giant planets, being substantially more massive than the terrestrials. The two largest, Jupiter and Saturn, are gas giants, being composed mainly of hydrogen and helium; the two outermost planets, Uranus and Neptune, are ice giants, being composed mostly of substances with relatively high melting points compared with hydrogen and helium, called volatiles, such as water, ammonia and methane. All eight planets have almost circular orbits that lie within a nearly flat disc called the ecliptic.


Unfortunately, the various economic troubles which are plaguing Europe has caused ESA to spend less money than before, so many space programs in Europe has halted. However, both in China as well as in India, there are several ambitious programs present, which may cause any one of these nations to send another man to the moon in the next decade. Naturally, only time will tell; but nothing will change the fact that mankind's future is in the stars. Phases of the Moon. The moon cycles 13 times a year through phases, each of which influence us just like the pull of the tides. It starts with the New Moon, which carries the energy of new beginnings, this is a great time to focus on stepping into something new. Then the Full Moon, Signifies the time of the completion of a project, and finally returns to the New Moon again. This entire cycle occurs over a period of 28 days, and yes, there is no mistaking it, this is the same as women's menstrual cycles, women tend to be much more connected to the moon than men. Discovered on March 31, 2005, by a team of planetary scientists led by Dr. Michael E. Brown of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, Makemake was initially dubbed 2005 FY 9, when Dr. Brown and his colleagues, announced its discovery on July 29, 2005. The team of astronomers had used Caltech's Palomar Observatory near San Diego to make their discovery of this icy dwarf planet, that was later given the minor-planet number of 136472. Makemake was classified as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in July 2008. Dr. Brown's team of astronomers had originally planned to delay announcing their discoveries of the bright, icy denizens of the Kuiper Belt--Makemake and its sister world Eris--until additional calculations and observations were complete. However, they went on to announce them both on July 29, 2005, when the discovery of Haumea--another large icy denizen of the outer limits of our Solar System that they had been watching--was announced amidst considerable controversy on July 27, 2005, by a different team of planetary scientists from Spain.