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Tag Archives: Planet

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Podcast #1: Seven earth-like planets

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on 26 Feb, 2017 by Allen Versfeld27 Jun, 2017
Comparison of the sizes of the TRAPPIST-1 planets with Solar System. Credit: ESO/O. Furtak

Wow, we finally did it!  The podcast is alive, and this is the first episode!  In this episode, I cover probably the biggest astronomy news item of the year so far, and also read one of my more recent opinion pieces.  I know, you could just read it yourself, but it’s something I feel quite passionate about, and wanted to let you hear it in my own voice. As long-time readers will know, this is something I’ve been threatening to … Continue reading →

https://media.blubrry.com/urbanastronomer/s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/constellationonline.net/media/Podcast/UrbanAstronomer/UA_Episode_1.mp3

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Posted in News and Updates, The Urban Astronomer Podcast | Tagged ESO, NASA, Planet, podcast, Trappist-1 | Leave a reply

Mercury

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on 19 Mar, 2013 by Allen Versfeld29 Mar, 2017
Mercury

Mercury is one of The five classical planets and an easy naked eye object.  The planets stood out from the other stars to our ancestors because of the way they all moved in regular patterns against the night sky, but Mercury was unique in its rapid motion and the way it never strayed far from the sun.  If the planets were to be named for gods, then it was only natural that the flighty mercurial one should be their messenger. … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Astronomy 101, The Solar System | Tagged Mercury, Mythology, Planet, Solar System | Leave a reply

How many moons does Jupiter have?

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on 23 May, 2012 by Allen Versfeld18 Jul, 2018

Current total: 79. I’ll keep updating this page as more get discovered. Details in the UPDATES section below As of 2 February 2012, we know of 67 moons around Jupiter.  We will probably continue to find more and more, as we keep looking, since Jupiter is large enough that it constantly captures passing asteroids and comets, turning them into moons.  The smallest ones are so hard to see, and have such big irregular orbits, that astronomers sometimes lose them, until … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Questions and Answers, Short Questions | Tagged Jupiter, Planet, Q&A | Leave a reply

What does Jupiter weigh?

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on 13 Mar, 2012 by Allen Versfeld28 Jan, 2017

Jupiter has a mass of about 1.9 x 1027kg – 1900 trillion Trillion kilogrammes.  That’s more than double all the other planets, asteroids, comets and dust of the entire Solar System put together.  Jupiter is BIG, yet still manages to not weigh anything at all.  How?  Because it is in orbit around the Sun, just like an astronaut orbits the Earth, and so experiences zero gravity.  That’s not to say there is no gravity around Jupiter – it has plenty gravity … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Questions and Answers, Short Questions | Tagged Jupiter, Planet, Q&A, Solar System | 2 Replies

The Scale of the Solar System – a 3rd attempt

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on 11 Nov, 2011 by Allen Versfeld20 May, 2016
Solar system bodies to scale, by Emily Lakdawalla

Some time ago, we featured a poster created by the Planerary Society’s Emily Lakdawalla which showed all of the Sun’s largest satellites (or at least, everything we know of that’s bigger than 400km across), to scale.  She has since refined the image to correct perspective effects that made Saturn look bigger than Jupiter, and you can see the result to the right.  Gas giants, rocky planets, minor planets, asteroids, moons, they’re all there.  Click the image to see it in … Continue reading →

Posted in News and Updates | Tagged Planet, Solar System | Leave a reply

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