Saturn’s rings are wider than the distance from Earth to the Moon, but as little as 330 feet (100 meters) thick. Our solar system is mind-bogglingly huge – it’s at least 9 billion miles (14.5 billion kilometers) from Earth to the outer edge of the Kuiper belt and back. Venus is sometimes called Earth’s twin because the two planets are very similar in size, although Earth is slightly bigger. Thanks to a combination of its dense atmosphere and low gravity, you’d easily be able to fly on Titan if you strapped wings to your arms. Makes sense, right? The Sun is by far the biggest object in our solar system. It contains 99.8% of our solar system’s “mass” (scientific word for stuff) and is more than 100 times the diameter of Earth! Rising about 62 miles (100 kilometers) above the surface, Earth’s atmosphere includes nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor and other gases essential to life. During a Uranian summer, one pole faces the Sun for 21 years and experiences no night. At the same time, the other pole faces away from the Sun and experiences nothing but night! Small pieces of asteroids are called meteoroids. And when meteoroids hit Earth’s surface, they’re called meteorites. Mercury and all the other planets move around (orbit) the Sun in the same direction on the same level plane because they all formed at the same time from a spinning, Frisbee-shaped disk of material that circled the infant Sun. In space, sticky collisions among dirty snowballs is a process called “accretion” and it’s an essential building technique of the cosmos.
Outer Space
Pictures & Facts
100s
Do you ever wonder how the universe came to be? What should the first Mars city be called? Is the power of imagination a kind of superpower? If you were an alien, do you think you'd have a lot of hair? Do you remember the first time you realized that all the stars in the sky are “other Suns” just like our own? If you could travel 5,000 years back in time to impress the ancients with your knowledge, what kinds of things would you tell them? Do you have any visible battle scars? Any invisible ones? Do you think Saturn’s rings will eventually coalesce into something new or wonderful? Do you sometimes do normal things in reverse? Have you ever connected with something in nature in a deep and meaningful way? How many other stars do you think are out there? What are some of the most important questions in life? Can you imagine traveling through space and time without a life partner? What have you read about recently that really grabbed your attention and made you think? If an alien spacecraft landed and asked you to come aboard, would you go? Do you think human explorers will visit other solar systems? What kind of star would you rather be: blue & brilliant (with a short life) or orange & ordinary (with a long life)? How would you burrow beneath (or melt) Europa’s hard crust to reach its ocean? What resources would humans need to support a permanent settlement on Mars? What do you think about when you look at the stars? What’s the most incredible thing you’ve ever seen in the sky?
100s
Inner Space
Thoughts & Dreams
Welcome to the Youniverse
Star Gallery
You’ve never seen anything like this before, and you’re not going to believe your eyes: A hyper-modern space museum for the Wandering Star you want to be!
Cosmic Blog
Observations on the journeys that lie ahead, reflections on the science of stargazing, and spirited musings on our place in the cosmos. This is as deep as it gets.
What People Are Saying
A Few Of The Universe's Favorite Things
