A solar system planet famous for its unusual hexagonal shape. Saturn's hexagonal storm has changed color - and no one knows why

Already, humanity has discovered about 4826 thousand planets and asteroids, including - gas giant with a colossal system of 160 rings, it would seem that we already know quite a lot about the cosmos. However, the Universe loves to confuse researchers with various mysteries, and humanity has not yet fully studied its own solar system - we still have many new, previously unknown objects to discover.

10. (90482) Orc

We have all heard about Pluto, especially after it was removed from the list of planets in 2006, and also in connection with the flight to its orbit automatically interplanetary station NASA New Horizons. But have you ever heard of the "anti-Pluto"? Orcus is a large Kuiper Belt object with the same orbital period, axial tilt, and distance from the Sun as Pluto.

Pluto and Orcus are also in the same resonance with Neptune, although Orcus has a different orbital turn than Pluto. Satellites of both dwarf planets are large relative to their sizes: Charon is about half the mass of Pluto, and Vantus is one-third that of Orcus. By the way, the name “Orcus” was given to this planet, because that is what the Etruscans called the god of the kingdom of the dead - similar to the Roman Pluto.

The surface of Orca is covered with crystals of ice and possibly ammonia, indicating some geological activity and creovolcanism in the past. If the presence of ammonia is confirmed, Ork will help scientists understand the formation history of other trans-Neptunian objects.

9. (90) Antiope

The number 90 in the name means that Antiope was the ninetieth asteroid discovered, although there is still controversy surrounding this. This is the rarest binary system or a binary asteroid in the main belt orbit between Jupiter and Mars, which includes objects number 90 and 91.

When Antiope was discovered, it was off to the side and appeared no different from the many other small objects in the asteroid belt. However, in 2000, the 10-meter Keck II Telescope in Hawaii revealed that the previously discovered Great Spot was actually two small bodies orbiting each other. Each of them is approximately 86 km. in diameter, and their centers are separated at a distance of only 171 km.

Such an arrangement of objects in space is not uncommon, but for most celestial bodies The mass difference is always quite large. The Antiope system differs in that the satellite has the same mass as the asteroid itself, and is essentially a double celestial body, which can be imagined as two balls held together by a thread.

8. Hexagon of Saturn

We all know about Saturn's rings, but few have heard about its giant hexagon. In the early 1980s, the Voyager mission made an amazing and unprecedented discovery, later confirmed by photographs from the Cassini interplanetary station. Over the surface of almost the entire north pole of Saturn, the atmospheric vortices form a gigantic hexagon, each side of which is longer than the diameter of the entire Earth. This tornado has been observed on the planet for more than 30 years, miraculously remaining in place and not moving along with other clouds on the planet. The incredible geometric precision of the sides of the hexagon has served as food for various rumors extraterrestrial civilizations And alien life, however, most of them are frivolous.

Although such a phenomenon still does not find an exact scientific explanation, some scientists are putting forward bold ideas based on hydrodynamic research. Laboratory experiments have shown that if liquid medium the center of the vortex rotates faster than outer side, the phenomenon of turbulence begins to create some semblance of edges. When enough high speeds hexagon-like shapes appear. Given that the winds of Saturn's hexagonal formation move at speeds of up to 322 km/h, the formation of such a strange geometric figure. The hypothesis is not without common sense, although it seems unconvincing to supporters of the theory of another dimension.

Plutoid 136108 Haumea's first name since its discovery on December 28, 2004 was "Santa", as the object was discovered almost on Christmas Day. The name was quite appropriate, since Haumea is a very “gifted” and unique dwarf planet. From the very beginning, scientists have had a difficult time taking measurements of Haumea due to its extremely fast rotation: the planet completes a full revolution on its axis in 3.9 hours - faster than any other celestial body in the entire solar system.

Such a rapid turnover in itself is not big problem, but the whole point is that Haumea is not like other planets. The special combination of soil and ice, together with very low gravity, allowed centrifugal force to stretch the surface of the plutoid into what is called a “staircase ellipsoid.” Thus, it turned out that the distance between the poles of Hanumea is 996 kilometers, and the diameter along the equator is more than 1960 km. It also has two natural satellites - Hiiaka and Namaka, each of which is six times smaller than our Moon.

These two similar moons of Saturn are the closest to the planet, but what makes them special is the presence of their own rings, making the shape of the satellites reminiscent of UFOs from old movies. Pan, known as the "shepherd moon", is named after the Greek god of shepherds, and Atlas (or Atlas) is named after one of the Titans who hold the sky on his shoulders, as he supports the rings of Saturn with his gravity.

The Atlas is the flattest of the two: the distance between the poles is only 19 km, but the diameter along the equator is 46 km. Such deformation of the satellites cannot be explained by reasons such as centrifugal force Haumea, since their rotation speed is insufficient for this. Rapid rotation should also produce uniform elongation, which is not the case with these satellites. After conducting numerous computer simulations, the University of Paris finally found the answer: it's all about accretion disks. When the disk of fragments rotates, the edges of such a connection are flattened. When Saturn's moons formed, accretion disks formed from the fine dust of the planet's large rings and eventually settled along the equators of the small satellites in the form of protruding ridges.

5. 2008 KV42

2008 KV42 became the first trans-Neptunian object discovered orbiting the Sun. KV42 rotates around our star in the opposite direction to other planets and makes a complete revolution around its axis in approximately 306 Earth years.

While other objects solar system with this retrograde rotation come quite close to the Sun (for example, Halley's Comet), KV42 never approaches the star closer than 20 astronomical units(1 astronomical unit is equal to the distance from the Earth to the Sun), that is, slightly further than the orbit of Uranus. Apparently, this trans-Neptunian object was formed from a cloud cosmic dust, and perhaps his research will help explain the nature of the formation of similar small celestial bodies, such as Halley's comet and other particles and asteroids of the solar system, with the exception of Pluto.

There are also many hypotheses about why KV42's orbit is backward spinning. One of the most likely assumptions is that this object was not formed simultaneously with the Solar System, but was pulled by the Sun from interstellar space. If scientists still manage to scientifically confirm this particular hypothesis, humanity will receive large number information about the distant reaches of space.

You may have heard about this satellite of Neptune. This largest satellite seems to have absorbed all the gases and particles of the planet's orbit: more than 99% of the mass of all Neptune's satellites. As photographs from Voyager 2 showed in 1989, Triton differs from known moons in the presence of geological active volcanoes, with which the surface of the satellite is full, however, during eruptions they emit not ash and lava, but water and ammonia.

Triton is the only reverse-rotating natural satellite in the entire solar system.. Moreover, its large mass for moons allows it to hold even thin layer own atmosphere. True, with air pressure 50 thousand times less than on Earth, it is impossible to fly over the surface of Triton. However, Voyager 2 photographed absolutely incredible clouds several kilometers above the volcanoes.

Finally, Triton is one of the most reflective objects, known to science: It casts 60% to 95% of all light that hits it. For comparison: the Moon, which illuminates the Earth quite brightly at night, reflects only 11% of the sun's rays.

Saturn is an amazing planet, and it is no coincidence that we have already mentioned it several times. The most famous part of the planet is its striking ring system. In 2009, Saturn's outer ring, the Phoebe ring, was discovered. It is inclined at an angle of 27 degrees from the main rings and is located at a distance of 128 to 207 planetary radii. The ring is so diffuse that it can only be detected in infrared light. Perhaps it was this that caused the two colors of Iapetus, the eighth satellite of Saturn.

The satellite Phoebus is located inside this ring and is also inclined towards Saturn. Phoebe surface particles are carried into open space and are attracted by Iapetus, whose orbit practically touches the edge of the ring. Every time Iapetus passes through, dust settles at the equator. Scientists have wondered for centuries what gives Iapetus such a strange color, but now the question is different: are the stripes formed by these particles white or black?

Saturn's moons Janus and Epimetheus are known as the "Siamese" moons, as they share essentially the same orbit, and the distance between them is only 50 km, which is less than even the radii of the satellites themselves. Due to such gravitational proximity to each other, both satellites change places every four years, but without touching each other.

Initially, scientists were very puzzled why their calculations of the behavior of the previously discovered Janus were not completely correct. Over time, it became clear that there were as many as two satellites in the same orbit. This was also confirmed by Voyager photographs in 1980. It is curious that at the location of the orbit of Janus and Epimytheus there is a small ring of cosmic dust. This may be evidence that the moons once formed one satellite, which broke into two parts, leaving a trace of soil.

1. (3753) Cruithney

The surrounding areas of the Earth are no less interesting. Since 1846, astronomers have been actively searching for another Moon within gravity. Frederic Petit was the first to announce the possible location of the second satellite of the Earth. He suggested that the satellite's orbit should be at a distance of about 11 kilometers from the surface of our planet. The efforts of all other astronomers to find something else similar to the Moon near the Earth were unsuccessful. True, there is one very strange exception.

(3753) Cruithne - an alien asteroid orbiting the Sun in 364 earthly days with absolute resonance to the Earth. This means that every year short time an asteroid 5 km in size. enters the Earth's system and comes as close as possible to the planet every November. Strictly speaking, Cruithne cannot be a satellite of the Earth, because it is not constantly near it, but it’s still nice to think that some alien object sometimes drops by to visit us.

Many secrets are hidden in the far corners of our solar system: unexplored planets, dark spots and various mysteries. Every year more and more space expeditions travels thousands and hundreds of thousands of kilometers in search of alien life, becoming convinced over and over again how amazing and rich our Universe is.

At the North Pole of Saturn there is a unique phenomenon - a giant cloud of a regular hexagonal shape hangs in the atmosphere. Each side of the hexagon (also called the Hexagon of Saturn) is 13,800 kilometers long and is comparable to the size of the Earth.

Let's find out more about it...

The hexagon rotates - every 10 hours 39 minutes it makes a full revolution around its axis. Unlike other clouds in Saturn's atmosphere, the hexagon does not move and is always in the same place.

On South Pole There are no hexagons on Saturn, but there is a huge crater in the atmosphere. There is also such a funnel in the center of the hexagon at the North Pole. This phenomenon was first discovered spacecraft Voyager project in the early 1980s. When Cassini flew to Saturn in 2006, it filmed the rotation of the hexagon.

Currently there is no specific scientific definition for the hexagon of Saturn, which would explain this atmospheric phenomenon. A geometrically regular hexagon 25 thousand kilometers in diameter is located at the north pole of the planet. Its “walls” go deep into the atmosphere at a distance of up to 100 kilometers.

Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, consists of hydrogen, with admixtures of helium, traces of water, methane, ammonia and heavy elements.
The photo above was taken on November 27, 2012 from a distance of 376,171 km. beyond Saturn's north pole using orbiter Cassini, owned by NASA. The photo captures something very interesting. atmospheric phenomenon, which has never been seen anywhere before.

And here is a close-up image of the vortex in the center of the hexagon:

The photo was also taken on November 27, 2012 using special filters P0 and CB2. Cassini's camera was pointed towards Saturn at a distance of approximately 400,048 kilometers.

Another view of Saturn's hexagon:

Scientists from Oxford University were able to laboratory conditions simulate the appearance of such a hexagon. To find out how this formation occurs, the researchers placed a 30-liter bottle of water on a rotating table. It simulated Saturn's atmosphere and its normal rotation. Inside, the scientists placed small rings that rotate faster than the container. This generated miniature vortices and jets, which the experimenters visualized using green paint. The faster the ring rotated, the larger the vortices became, causing the nearby flow to deviate from its circular shape. In this way, the authors of the experiment managed to obtain various shapes - ovals, triangles, squares and, of course, the desired hexagon.

Scientists compared the experimental data with what is happening on Saturn and suggested that in its high northern latitudes individual jet streams are accelerated just to the speed at which something like a stable wave is formed - a planetary hexagon. And although the “investigation” does not reveal the origin of such currents, it shows why the entire system is so beautiful and, most importantly, lasts so long

“The faster the ring rotates, the smaller the circular motion of the green jet becomes. Small vortices form at the edges, slowly become larger and larger, and cause the liquid to change from a ring shape to a polygon. By changing the speed of rotation of the ring, scientists can create various shapes. "We could create ovals, triangles, squares and almost anything," says Oxford University physicist Peter Read. How more difference in the speed of rotation of the planet and jet stream- in the experiment it is a cylinder and a ring - the fewer sides the polygon will have. University physicists theorize that the jet stream at Saturn's north pole rotates at a specific speed relative to the rest of the atmosphere, which helps create the hexagonal shape."

To date, using the Kepler spacecraft, astronomers have been able to find and confirm the existence of 4896 planets. And just recently, a gas giant with a colossal system of 160 rings was discovered, so it might seem that we already know something about what is happening in space.

Nevertheless, the Universe never tires of presenting us with surprises. And suddenly it turns out that we haven’t even fully figured out what’s happening in our own solar system.

(Total 10 photos + 4 videos)

1. Orc and Vanth

We all know about Pluto. Especially increased attention to it was in 2006, when it was deprived of the status of a full-fledged planet.

But have you ever heard of the object sometimes called the "anti-Pluto"?

Object 90482 Orcus is a Kuiper belt object that has almost the same orbital period as Pluto, almost the same axial tilt, and is located almost the same distance from the Sun.

Both Pluto and Orcus are in a 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune, although Orcus is oriented slightly differently in space. The orbits of Pluto and Orcus are almost identical, and, moreover, Orcus and Pluto have moons that are quite large compared to these planets.

Pluto's moon Charon is half the size of Pluto, and Orcus's moon Vanth is, according to various estimates, a third the size of Orcus.

The name "Orcus" was chosen because it is the Etruscan equivalent of the Roman word "Pluto". The surface of Orcus is covered in crystalline ice made from water and possibly ammonia, which indicates that Orcus has had geological activity and cryovolcanism in the past. If the presence of ammonia on Orcus is officially confirmed, then Orcus will be able to help specialists understand the mechanism of formation of other trans-Neptunian objects.

2. (90) Antiope

The number 90 in the name of this object indicates that the asteroid Antiope was discovered ninety years ago, although this fact is still considered controversial.

The fact is that the object’s orbit is located inside the asteroid field between Mars and Jupiter, and, most interestingly, Antiope is the first double asteroid that scientists have discovered.

Since its discovery, Antiope was considered a single asteroid, but in 2000, with the help of the 10-meter Kek-2 telescope, located at the observatory on Hawaiian Islands, a team of astronomers has determined that this asteroid is actually made up of a pair of objects. The size of each of them is about 86 kilometers, and the distance that separates them is only 171 kilometers.

In fact, a pair of objects with the same orbit is not uncommon in astronomy, but the difference in mass between the components of Antiope is so small that best way to imagine what it looks like is to imagine a pair of spinning bowling balls connected by a piece of string.

3. Hexagon of Saturn

Everyone knows about Saturn's rings, but have you heard anything about the shape of its clouds? In the early 80s, the Voyager spacecraft made an amazing and unprecedented discovery, which was confirmed later after the Cassini spacecraft arrived at Saturn.

The entire north pole of Saturn is engulfed by a giant hexagon-shaped storm, each side larger than the diameter of the Earth. This storm has been raging there for over 30 years.

Incredibly, this hexagon does not move with the rest of the clouds on the planet, and its amazing geometric precision provides rich fodder for all sorts of pseudoscientific theories (fortunately, most of them can hardly be called serious).

Although this phenomenon has not yet been fully explained, scientists are trying to explain what is happening on Saturn using fluid dynamics.

Laboratory experiments have shown that in a liquid, the center of which rotates much faster than the periphery, so-called edges appear. If the rotation speeds are very high, polygons are formed in the liquid. The wind speed in the “hexagon” on Saturn reaches 322 kilometers per hour. Perhaps this speed creates such a distinct geometric shape.

Before object 136108 Haumea got its official name, it was known as "Santa" because it opened on December 24, 2004.

This unofficial name, actually, quite appropriate, since Haumea is a very “gifted” and unique dwarf planet. It was very difficult for specialists to take measurements of Haumea due to its incredibly fast rotation. It rotates faster than any of the solar system bodies known to science.

The rotation itself doesn't pose too many problems, but it did cause Haumea to form differently than other planets.

It consists of rock and ice, gravity there is very low, and due to the monstrous centrifugal force, the surface of the planet has turned into what is called an “oblique ellipsoid.”

This means that the distance between the planet's poles is 996 kilometers, and the long axis of the ellipsoid is 1960 kilometers.

By the way, such properties associated with fast rotation, not only the planet has. Its satellites Hiiaka and Namaka, whose mass is only 6% of the mass of our Moon, have the same properties.

5. Pan and Atlas

These two moons of Saturn have a lot in common, and they are also located closest to Saturn.

What makes these satellites special is that they seem to have copied the rings of Saturn and, as a result, are shaped like UFOs from 50s movies.

Pan, which is also known as the “shepherd moon,” was named after the ancient Greek god of shepherds, while Atlas was named after the Titan who held the sky on his shoulders.

In this pair of moons, Atlas is flatter, the distance between the poles is only 19 kilometers. But his “waist” is wide - 46 kilometers. The long equators of these moons cannot be explained by the same processes that occur on Haumea, since their rotation speed is not so frantic.

As a result of extensive computer modeling at the University of Paris they found the answer: it’s all about accretion disks: the equators of these moons gradually increase and align due to the fact that surrounding debris sticks to them. During the formation of Saturn's moons, small accretion disks formed around them, consisting of dust and debris that are abundant in Saturn's rings. The gradual growth of these disks led to the shape of the moons that we see now.

Still, why do so many astronomical objects have such annoying names?

Fortunately, this comet is called "Drac". She was named after Dracula, who had the ability to walk on walls. But what does wall walking have to do with the comet? Drak is the first trans-Neptunian object to be found to orbit the Sun in a retrograde orbit, that is, backwards. This happens slowly, the orbital period is 306 years (although it is still unclear where the connection with walking on the walls is).

To date, there are several objects in the Solar System with retrograde orbits. One such object is Halley's Comet, whose orbital trajectory passes quite close to the Sun. Drak never approached the Sun at a distance exceeding 20 distances from the Sun to Earth, which is approximately equivalent to the orbit of Uranus.

This feature of the comet may become a link between Halley's comet and other objects from the Oort cloud, which is presumably the source of comets for our solar system, and this link may help scientists explain the specifics of the formation of these comets, which at the moment remains a mystery to science.

There are many theories trying to explain why Drak's orbit is different from all the others. Most interesting theory states that this comet was not formed along with the rest of the solar system, because if it were, it would have orbited in the same direction as all other objects. It is possible that the comet simply fell into our system as a trap, thereby giving us the opportunity to obtain an unprecedented amount of information about space.

You've probably heard this name at least once. Triton's mass is approximately 99.5% of the total mass of all known satellites of Neptune. The Voyager spacecraft, which flew past Triton in 1989, showed that Triton has a very difficult geological history, evidence of which is cryovolcanism. This satellite still has active volcanoes, but they do not emit lava and ash, as on Earth, but water and ammonia.

Triton is slightly smaller than our Moon, and this the only satellite in the solar system, which moves in the direction opposite to the rotation of Neptune. And since Triton is one of large satellites Solar system (it is even larger than Pluto), it has enough gravitational force to maintain its own atmospheric layer. But atmospheric pressure Triton is 50,000 times lower than on Earth, so you probably wouldn't be able to kite there.

Finally, Triton is one of the very highly reflective objects, capable of reflecting between 60 and 95% of the light that hits its surface. For comparison, our Moon reflects only 11% of the light falling on it.

8. Additional ring of Saturn

Saturn has been mentioned more than once in this article. This planet is famous for its unusual rings made of ice and dust. But relatively recently, in 2009, experts learned that Saturn has another, additional and incredibly huge ring. It is deviated from the main rings by 27 degrees; the distance from Saturn to the ring is approximately 128 radii of this planet. The ring is so discharged that it can only be seen in the infrared spectrum. It may be the reason why one of Saturn’s satellites, Iapetus, is called “two-faced”: one of its hemispheres is black as soot, the second is white as snow.

The orbit of another Saturn satellite, Phoebe, passes through the same ring. Perhaps it was precisely because of this satellite that the ring arose. The dust ejected by Phoebe settles on Iapetus, whose orbit intersects with the ring. Each time Iapetus passes through the ring, particles contained in the ring accumulate at its equator. Perhaps it was because of this process that Iapetus, after hundreds of thousands of years, acquired its striking appearance.

9. "Siamese Moons"

The moons Janus and Epimetheus are also known as the "Siamese moons" because they share the same orbit and are only 50 kilometers apart. It's even less than radius the satellites themselves.

Because of this, they are forced to dance their gravitational tango, which literally forces them to change places every four years.

Initially, scientists couldn't understand why the data they were getting from the moon, which they named Janus, didn't match their expectations. And only in 1978, 12 years after the opening common orbit"Siamese moons", experts realized that what they call Janus is actually two different moons. This assumption was confirmed during the flight of the Voyager spacecraft in 1980. Interestingly, a barely noticeable ring of dust is observed in the area of ​​​​the satellites' orbit. This suggests that these two moons used to be one moon, which for some reason split apart, forming small quantity debris and dust.

10. Cruithney

Having become acquainted with the most strange things in the solar system, let's turn our gaze to Earth and discuss one very controversial issue about the second satellite of our planet.

Astronomers have been searching for Earth's second satellite since 1846. Frederic Petit was the first to claim that he had found the second Moon. He suggested that its period of revolution around the Earth was less than three hours and that it passed only 11 kilometers above the surface of our planet. Since then, many astronomers have claimed that they found a second Moon, but they could not prove it.

3753 Cruithne is an asteroid that takes 364 days to complete its orbit around the Sun and is in perfect orbital resonance with Earth. This means that for a short period of time every year the 5 km asteroid Cruithney becomes part of earth system. Every November it approaches the Earth at its maximum close distance. Technically, this asteroid cannot be considered the second satellite of the Earth, since, having approached as close as possible, it then moves away from our planet for a long time. But it’s still nice to think that every year, at the same time, an old acquaintance comes to visit us.

The Saturn Hexagon shape is stable. Perhaps this is also due to the fact that on Earth atmospheric vortices collide with inhomogeneities on the surface of the planet, but on Saturn cyclones are not threatened by such a collision.

Saturn is a very unusual planet in the solar system. Everyone knows that this is a gas giant with huge cosmic rings, a real distinctive feature planets. But not everyone knows that Saturn, like Jupiter, has its own huge mark in the atmosphere. And if formidable Jupiter it is famous and widely known as the Great Red Spot in the shape of an irregular circle, then for Saturn it is known as the Saturn Hexagon and has the shape of... a hexagon! The nature of the spots, however, is the same - these are huge storm cyclones that have been raging on the planets for many centuries. However, on Saturn this atmospheric vortex also changes color over time. Over four years of observation, the hexagon changed from blue to gold.

The Saturn hexagon is a geometrically regular hexagon with a diameter of 25 thousand kilometers. It is located at the north pole of the planet. The walls of the vortex are straight and extend 100 kilometers deep into the atmosphere. In the infrared range, bright areas were detected in the vortex. These are giant holes in the cloud system that extend 75 kilometers deep into the atmosphere. Saturn's hexagon tends to rotate. Full turn It rotates around its axis in 10 hours 39 minutes. Surprisingly, this giant vortex does not move and remains in the same place. There are no such formations at the South Pole of Saturn. But there is a huge crater in the atmosphere. By the way, the same funnel exists in the center of the incredible hexagon. This phenomenon was first discovered by the Voyager spacecraft in the early 1980s. And in 2006, the Cassini spacecraft flew up to Saturn and filmed the rotation of the hexagon.

Scientists from Oxford University have simulated the formation of the Saturn Hexagon in the laboratory. They placed a 30-liter water bottle on a rotating table. The water simulated Saturn's atmosphere and its rotation. Inside the vessel, scientists placed small rings that rotated faster than the balloon. They created miniature vortices and jets, which became visible thanks to green paint added to the water. The faster the rings spun, the larger the vortices became, causing the nearby flow to deviate from its circular shape. Scientists managed to obtain circles, ovals, triangles, squares and a hexagon in this way. Based on their experience, the researchers suggested that at the north pole of Saturn, individual jet streams are accelerated to a certain speed relative to the rest of the planetary atmosphere. This promotes the formation of a planetary hexagon. At big difference in the speed of rotation of the planet and the jet stream, it is formed different quantities sides of the polygon. Travel speed atmospheric masses here it is 150 m/s.

The Saturn Hexagon shape is stable. Perhaps this is also due to the fact that on Earth atmospheric vortices collide with inhomogeneities on the surface of the planet, but on Saturn cyclones are not threatened by such a collision. There is simply no hard surface there. What is the true depth of the atmosphere of this amazing planet, is not yet known exactly, and what is underneath is still only a subject for theoretical modeling.

Why did the Hexagon of Saturn change its color? A year on the planet is equal to 29 years on Earth. The seasons on Saturn change every seven years. When increasing solar activity Over the years, the planet has received more sunlight than in the previous season. Perhaps this is the reason for the change in color of the Hexagon to a golden hue. Interestingly, 2017 marks the Saturnian solstice. And it’s actually raining on the planet. Only it consists not of water drops, but of liquid helium.

In this article we will look at our beloved solar system and analyze each planet, and even take the Sun. I hope you find it interesting and enjoy everything.

So, we will start with the basic principles of our system. As you know, in the center is the Sun star, around which 8 planets revolve, having a wide variety of characteristics, ranging from the unusual relief of Mercury to the stunning view of Neptune. All planets are located in the so-called ecliptic plane, that is, each has an almost circular orbit and are located throughout the system in the form of an almost ideal disk, namely in one plane.

The mass of the entire system is 1.0014. Where 1 = mass of the Sun. As you might guess, the Star occupies 99.86% of the total mass of the system.

The solar system has the following sequence of bodies: Sun - Mercury - Venus - Earth - Mars - Asteroid Belt - Jupiter - Saturn - Uranus - Neptune - Pluto.

Although Pluto is not officially a planet of the solar system, we will still look at it.

Sun

Well then – the Sun. Our star has spectral class characteristic of G2V, which, of course, won’t tell you anything, let’s figure it out then. So, in in this case the star is being considered according to the Yerkes classification, where:

"G" is the color emitted by the star (i.e. yellow)

“2” - means the temperature level of the star’s photosphere (at the Sun 5780 K ~ 5507 °C)

"V" - dwarf stars or the stars main sequence according to the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. And if we again explain something incomprehensible, then these are stars where the main thermonuclear reaction is the combustion of hydrogen and its degeneration into helium.

Yes, yes, you understood everything correctly: the Sun is a yellow dwarf, no matter how offensive it may be, but it is so. And we're spinning around something that's not so big fireball, with a diameter of only 1.4 million km and a mass of 332270 Earth masses. Because the Sun is literally burning, its mass and volume are constantly decreasing. In just an hour it will lose 1 meter in diameter, so we can say that the star is losing weight. Stars like ours live on average 10 billion years. But since the Sun is still 4.3 billion years old, it will shine on us for about 7 billion years and earthlings should not worry about the fact that the star will explode. We will either destroy ourselves, or our technologies will develop to such a level during this time that predicting and stopping a supernova explosion will be no more difficult than erecting a hut in the middle of a huge construction site in the center of the city.

Mercury

The closest friend of the Sun is located at a distance of 57,909,176 km from the Star or 0.4 AU (astronomical unit - the distance from the Sun to the Earth). Although Mercury is closest to the star, the temperature on its surface is not the hottest in the Solar System; this record belongs to Venus, but we will return to it a little later. Mercury itself is 2440 km in diameter and only 0.055 the mass of the Earth. The first planet from the Sun has a very interesting topography: in addition to craters all over its surface, there are numerous ledges stretching for hundreds of kilometers.

For a large amount of time, it was believed that Mercury was constantly turned to one side of the star, like our Moon was facing us. By the way, the planet has no satellites, and the planet itself has a rather rarefied atmosphere with particles knocked out of the soil under the influence of the solar wind. What’s also interesting is that this planet makes a revolution around the star in 58 Earth days, and itself rotates around its axis in about 88 Earth days. As a result, it turns out that after passing one cycle around the Sun, the rays will fall on the opposite side Mercury, and again, after passing the second cycle, the star will shine there.

Venus

Venus is the third planet on our list and the second planet from the Sun. It is very similar to the Earth and has a peculiar atmosphere 90 times denser than the Earth’s, and instead of oxygen, carbon dioxide predominates and there is much less water there. As already mentioned, Venus is the most hot planet Solar system, its surface temperature is approximately 400-450 °C. Such characteristics (atmospheric density and temperature) most likely appeared due to greenhouse effect on Venus. However, the planet does not have its own magnetic field, and the atmosphere is maintained on the planet by volcanoes, which constantly emit large amounts of carbon dioxide. Studies of Venus have shown that it is relatively young, by cosmic standards, of course. And, also, that there once were oceans there, similar to those now on Earth, but due to high temperatures they evaporated. The surface cannot be seen visually from orbit or the Earth, because the sun's rays do not pass through the atmosphere, but radio waves managed to penetrate there, which means it was possible to obtain an approximate map of the planet. Nevertheless, people still sent many probes, but the specificity of the surface was such that they were able to function for no more than a few hours after landing.

Earth

Well, we flew up to our planet - Earth. The most beautiful, beautiful and diverse place in the solar system. All this is possible only due to the location of the planet; if it were closer to the Sun, life would not be able to develop due to the high temperature sufficient conditions, due to high temperature, and you and I were not there. The same applies to the farthest location from the star - low temperature would not allow life to exist, such as we see it with you now. Namely, this is an ideal distance, approximately equal to 150 million kilometers for our Solar System.

Although this is not noticeable, the Earth is not spherical, but elliptical. Namely, it is elongated at the equator and flattened at the poles. The planet has only one natural satellite- Moon. Most of its surface is covered with craters.

Each star has its own region of space where life can arise on the planet, and the Earth is in such a zone. Venus is at the closest boundary, and Mars is at the farthest from the Sun. Our planet is also the only planet, where from the point of view official science life was found. The earth has ozone layer and its magnetic field. The first one does not transmit ultraviolet and radioactive radiation, which preserves life on the planet, and the second deflects particles solar winds. These not unimportant features allowed life to develop. Here you will find everything: from microorganisms that can survive in the crater of a volcano and almost in a vacuum (tardigrades), to complex organisms that tolerate a narrower range of external aggressive conditions, but have consciousness and at least some intelligence.

Mars

The Red Planet owes its color to iron oxide, which is abundant on the surface, and its name to the ancient Roman deity - Mars (god of war). The fourth planet from the Sun has two small satellites. Mars can be considered a planet terrestrial group, it has river channels and a polar cap. Perhaps, once upon a time, there was life on the red planet, but due to some catastrophe it all disappeared from the surface.

The planet's temperature on average ranges from −89 to −31 °C. On Mars polar ice caps V winter time increase in size and occupy large territory than in summer time. Unlike the Earth, where the polar caps consist of water ice, on Mars they consist of the same water ice - this is the secular component of the “cap” and the seasonal one, consisting of carbon dioxide. We have a lot in common with this planet, even a day on Mars lasts 24.62 hours, which is only 40 minutes longer, but a year on the red planet is twice as long as on Earth. Mars also has its own climatic zones. What else I would like to highlight is that the most big volcano in the Solar System. Olympus, as it is called, is 24 kilometers high and is mainly formed by liquid lava that has long since cooled. And the diameter of the volcano is 550 km.

Asteroid belt

In the solar system, between Mars and Jupiter there is an asteroid belt. There is even a theory that long ago in its place there was a planet that was destroyed due to some circumstances, maybe it was torn apart gravitational attraction Jupiter and Mars, or maybe something else. The density of bodies in the belt is so low that not a single object sent beyond it collided with a single asteroid there. Even if you add up all the objects located there into one planet, it will be smaller than the Moon. There is also an assumption that the asteroid belt is nothing more than a building material for a planet, which, again, was not formed due to Mars and Jupiter. For many years, scientists searched for a planet in this area, and found it. Ceres is a dwarf planet, about 1000 km in size, and, nevertheless, the most large object in the belt. After its discovery it was considered a planet, then large asteroid and finally given the status of a dwarf planet. Well, in general, four large objects live in the belt: Hygiea, Vesta, Pallas and, in fact, Ceres.

Jupiter

Well, we've reached the gas giant. Planets like Jupiter are made entirely of gas. It is mainly hydrogen - 90%, the rest is Helium, there are also admixtures of other gases, but they are insignificant. In the solar system, this is the most big planet, even if we take all the planets together, Jupiter will still be larger. Planets of this type have a very large mass and, as a result, the deeper you dive towards the center of the planet, the stronger the pressure will be. Many scientists disagree about the core; some believe that the core consists of solid rock, others that it is a ball of molten iron, and still others think that it is highly compressed, up to solid state, gases. This planet is more similar to the Sun than to Earth or other planets, up to the asteroid belt. And if Jupiter got it more substance, then it is likely that he would have become a star. The planet even emits more heat than reaches it from the Sun, causing it to lose about two centimeters in size per year. As for the temperature, in the upper layers of the planet’s atmosphere it is about -130 °C. However, the deeper you go, the warmer it will become, for example already at a depth of 130 km. it is equal to +150 °C, and in the center in general +30,000 °C. This is not due to thermonuclear reactions flowing in the planet, but due to the enormous pressure in the center.

Saturn

The second gas giant we have approached and the second largest planet in the solar system. Saturn has bright, chic and beautiful rings, like all the Giants of our system, but Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune have them poorly defined and do not have clear outlines visible to the eye. The width of these rings of Saturn is about several hundred thousand kilometers, however, they are only a few hundred meters thick. It is rings that become a favorite theme of writers, artists and other gifted individuals. The composition of the rings is replete with objects of different sizes, ranging from a small snowflake to the size of a multi-story building. Like Jupiter, Saturn has the same structure: in the upper layers of the atmosphere there is hydrogen gas and a little helium. Well, the lower we go, the warmer and denser it becomes. There is a fact that if Saturn is put in water, it will float up, this is due to the fact that the density of the planet is much less density water.

On this same planet the most fast winds in the Solar System, they reach 500 m/s. And, of course, the very famous hexagonal vortex, which has almost straight sides. The reason for its formation is still for scientists a mystery. The planet has no perfect shape sphere, but rather elliptical, only much stronger than the Earth. At the moment, Saturn has 62 satellites, one of them is Titan, the most large satellite in the Solar System.

Uranus

The seventh planet from the Sun, and the third largest. Uranus differs from Jupiter or Saturn in that in the depths of the first, instead of metallic hydrogen, there is a large amount of ice. It is worth noting that on Uranus the temperatures are lower than on any other planet in the solar system, they reach -224 °C. The planet is shrouded in clouds containing tiny methane crystals. This is what gives Uranus such a beautiful color. Below is the mantle, consisting of ammonia dissolved in water, and, as a result, has high density. The core is located even deeper; it contains metals and silicon; it is similar in size to the Earth, but its density is 2 times higher, and it weighs even 5 times more. The region between the mantle and core is very high pressure, it reaches 8,000,000 bar. 1 bar – this is where the surface of the planet begins. Uranus has rings that are dark enough to go unnoticed and not as gorgeous as Saturn's. But still they exist and there are 13 of them. They owe their invisibility to the small sizes of the particles included in them, from small specks of dust to several fractions of a meter, and to the dark sizes of these very particles.

Neptune

Like most of the planets in the system, it was named after the Roman deity Neptune, the god of water and oceans. This is the eighth and last planet Solar system. significantly inferior in size and mass to Jupiter and Saturn, but there is healthy competition with Uranus. Although Neptune is smaller in size than its brother Uranus, it is heavier in mass. The surface of the planet is a viscous mass and is very far from the concept of solid ground, so the pressure of 1 bar is again taken as the reference point. It is a great regret that Neptune cannot be seen in the night sky with the naked eye. It is a large blue ball with iridescence; no other planet in the solar system can boast such a depth of color. Due to its distance from us, it is difficult to accurately judge the composition of Neptune. All theories built on this subject are very fragile and may turn out to be false. But the composition of the planet is very similar to Uranus. The core, mantle, upper layers of the atmosphere are very similar, except for size and slight difference in the composition. The main substance that sets the color is ammonia, but it cannot give such a bright blue tint. Therefore, it was suggested that there are other substances in the atmosphere that make the gas giant not like Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, but so similar to earth's oceans by color.

Pluto

Although this object is not a planet in the solar system, since 2006 it has been called a dwarf planet. And from that same year, Neptune became the outermost planet of the system.

Pluto is quite difficult to see even with very powerful telescopes. Therefore, clear and accurate maps Pluto doesn't exist. However, we can say with confidence that the main substance there is frozen nitrogen. This planet has a very funny orbit. Sometimes Pluto flies closer to the Sun than Neptune, respectively crossing its border. But it will never collide with it due to the fact that Pluto’s orbit is located above the ecliptic plane, and therefore they will not approach each other closer than 17 astronomical units. Let's look at the composition. The planet's core is quite large and consists mainly of silicates. There is an assumption that the mantle is liquid water, due to the core not yet cooling down, it continues to heat up. The surface of the planet, although not homogeneous, is mostly dominated by frozen nitrogen, which forms an ice crust. The planet has an atmosphere only when approaching the star, after which, as the removal begins, the atmosphere will freeze again. Pluto has a large satellite, about 2 times smaller in diameter. Therefore, many scientists considered Pluto and Charon to be a system of dwarf planets, mainly because the barycenter is located outside of both bodies.

Conclusion

Next we have the Kuiper Belt - this is a system of asteroids surrounding the Solar System, it contains a large number of dwarf planets and asteroids, some even larger than Pluto, such as Eris. And then huge amount stars and other worlds, no less interesting worlds, ready to captivate.