Mercury Venus Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto
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Mercury's magnetic field is approximately a magnetic dipole (meaning the field has only two magnetic poles) [ 7 ] that is significant, and apparently global, [ 8 ] on planet Mercury . [ 9 ] Data from Mariner 10 led to its discovery in 1974; the spacecraft measured the field's strength as 1.1% that of Earth's magnetic field . [ 10 ] The origin of the magnetic field can be explained by dynamo theory , [ 11 ] and because the magnetic field is strong enough near the bow shock , it slows down the solar wind , which induces a magnetosphere . [ 12 ] [ edit ] Strength The magnetic field is about 1.1% as strong as Earth's . [ 10 ] At the Hermean equator, the relative strength of the magnetic field is around 300 nT . [ 13 ] Although much weaker than Earth's magnetic field (about 1/100 its magnitude) according to Mariner 10 data, the magnetic field is still strong enough to deflect solar wind emissions, inducing a magnetosphere .
Mercury's magnetic field
Mercury (planet)
Mercury is the innermost planet in the Solar System , named after the Roman god Mercury , the messenger to the gods. It is the smallest of the eight planets in the Solar System. [ a ] It orbits the Sun once in about 88 Earth days. Since is has almost no atmosphere to retain heat, Mercury's surface experiences the greatest temperature variation of all the planets, ranging from 100 K (−173 °C; −280 °F) at night to 700 K (427 °C; 800 °F) during the day. Mercury's axis has the smallest tilt of any of the Solar System's planets (about 1 ⁄ 30 of a degree), but it has the largest orbital eccentricity . [ a ] At aphelion , Mercury is about 1.5 times as far from the Sun as it is at perihelion . Mercury's surface is heavily cratered and similar in appearance to Earth's Moon , indicating that it has been geologically inactive for billions of years.
Solar System Exploration: Multimedia: Gallery: Mercury as Never Seen Before
Mercury as Never Seen Before Date: 6 Oct 2008 The spectacular image shown here is one of the first to be returned from MESSENGER's second flyby of Mercury. The image shows the departing planet taken about 90 minutes after the spacecraft's closest approach. The bright crater just south of the center of the image is Kuiper, identified on images from the Mariner 10 mission in the 1970s. For most of the terrain east of Kuiper, toward the limb (edge) of the planet, the departing images are the first spacecraft views of that portion of Mercury's surface. A striking characteristic of this newly imaged area is the large pattern of rays that extend from the northern region of Mercury to regions south of Kuiper.saturn
Catalog of Transits of Mercury
A transit is the passage of a planet across the Sun's bright disk. At this time, the planet can be seen as a small black disk slowly moving in front of the Sun. The orbits of Mercury and Venus lie inside Earth's orbit, so they are the only planets which can pass between Earth and Sun to produce a transit. Transits are very rare astronomical events. In the case of Mercury, there are on average thirteen transits each century.
Cassini Spacecraft Images Seas on Saturn's Moon Titan Instruments on NASA's Cassini spacecraft have found evidence for seas, likely filled with liquid methane or ethane, in the high northern latitudes of Saturn's moon Titan. One such feature is larger than any of the Great Lakes of North America and is about the same size as several seas on Earth. Cassini's radar instrument imaged several very dark features near Titan's north pole.
Cassini Images of Seas on Titan
EO Newsroom: New Images - IMAGE Spacecraft Pictures Aurora
From space, the aurora is a crown of light that circles each of Earth’s poles. The IMAGE satellite captured this view of the aurora australis (southern lights) on September 11, 2005, four days after a record-setting solar flare sent plasma—an ionized gas of protons and electrons—flying towards the Earth. The ring of light that the solar storm generated over Antarctica glows green in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, shown in this image. The IMAGE observations of the aurora are overlaid onto NASA’s satellite-based Blue Marble image. From the Earth’s surface, the ring would appear as a curtain of light shimmering across the night sky. Like all solar storms, the September storm distorted the shape of the magnetic field that surrounds the Earth.Huygens CD on Titan
Hugens CD on Saturn's moon Titan Details about the CD This CD-ROM was mounted on the Huygens space probe which in 2005 has landed on Titan, Saturns largest satellite. It contains 85 000 messages collected by the European Space Agency between December 1996 and February 1997. These messages are texts, drawings, signatures and audio messages, that have been engraved on the master as digital files.
Microbes on or within Saturn's moon Enceladus?
Microbes on Enceladus? There’s a chance that Saturn’s sixth-largest moon, Enceladus, might harbor microbial life according to scientists studying information obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The spacecraft is now making a series of tantalizingly close flybys to the moon, scientists said on March 27, 2012. They said watery jets erupting from Enceladus might be coming from a vast underground sea.Saturn, Sixth Planet from Sun & Second Largest in Solar System | Gas Giant, Saturn’s Rings, Jovian Planet
Saturn's History and Naming Saturn was the Roman name for Cronus, the lord of the titans in Greek mythology. Saturn happens to be the root of the English word "Saturday." Physical Characteristics of the Planet Saturn Saturn is a gas giant made up mostly of hydrogen and helium. Saturn is the second largest planet, big enough to hold more than 760 Earths, and is more massive than any other planet except Jupiter, roughly 95 times Earth's mass .
