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Solar System portal "Did you know" archive
Note: Newer facts added at top of most relevant section.

Sun

...that the Battle of Szkłów in 1654 occurred during a solar eclipse?

...that the Solar Sentinels, a NASA spacecraft designed to study the Sun, will have to survive at distances from the Sun only one-quarter of Earth's distance?

Mercury

...that NASA engineer Harvey Allen's "Blunt Body Theory" made possible the design of heat shields that protected the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts?

...that the Kuiper crater in the Kuiper quadrangle, named after Dutch American astronomer Gerard Kuiper, has the highest albedo recorded on Mercury?

...that systematic mapping of the Michelangelo quadrangle on Mercury has revealed the presence of four nearly obliterated multi-ring impact basins, possibly the oldest features in the mapped areas of the planet?

...that the Beethoven crater in the Beethoven quadrangle on Mercury is the eleventh largest named impact crater in the Solar System?

...that the Caloris Basin on Mercury, one of the largest impact basins in the Solar System, is surrounded by a series of geological formations believed to have been produced by the basin's ejecta?

...that ridges and escarpments in the Victoria quadrangle of the planet Mercury have been associated with the stresses caused by the Sun slowing Mercury's rotation through tidal forces?

...that scarps, ridges, and troughs, such as the 650 km long and 2 km high Discovery Rupes cutting through the Rameau crater, are common features in the Discovery quadrangle on the planet Mercury?

...that the south pole of the planet Mercury is located in the Bach quadrangle?

...that the dominant feature in the Shakespeare quadrangle is the 1300 km wide Caloris Planitia, the largest and best preserved impact basin on Mercury observed by the spacecraft Mariner 10?

...that the Tolstoj crater, a 400-km (240 mile) wide impact crater on the planet Mercury has an extensive, and remarkably well-preserved, radially-lineated ejecta blanket?

...that the north pole of the planet Mercury is located in the Borealis quadrangle?

...that water vapor is probably present in the tenuous atmosphere of Mercury, being brought to the planet by comets?

... that with the diameter of 715 km (444 mi) Rembrandt (pictured) is the second largest impact crater on Mercury?

...that the European and Japanese collaborative BepiColombo mission is planned to be the first extensive mission to Mercury since Mariner 10? (Computer rendition of the BepiColombo orbiters)

Venus

...that although NASA originally thought that there was only one scalloped margin dome on the planet Venus (pictured), they have since discovered hundreds of them?

...that just over 50 kilometres above its surface, the atmosphere of Venus has very similar pressure and temperature as does Earth, making it the most Earth-like area in the Solar System?

Earth

...that the Explorer 32 satellite was able to determine the density of the upper atmosphere through ground-based observations of the effect of drag on the satellite?

...that 6Q0B44E, a recently discovered satellite of Earth, is thought to be a large piece of space debris?

...that there have been several proposals for space advertising projects, including a giant, 1km² billboard visible from Earth?

...that Kordylewski clouds are large concentrations of dust that orbit Earth at the distance of the Moon?

...that J002E3 was at first thought to be a new moon of Earth when discovered in 2002 but was later found to be the third stage of the Apollo 12 Saturn V?

...that the Kármán line dividing the Earth's atmosphere and outer space is defined by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale as 100 km above mean sea level?

Moon

...that NASA conducts field trials, called Desert RATS, for new technologies for human exploration of the surface of the Moon, Mars, or beyond?

...that 17th century philosopher Cesare Cremonini refused to look at the Moon's mountains through Galileo's telescope, because Aristotle had proved the Moon was a perfect sphere?

...that some astrologers claim Earth has a second moon they call Lilith?

Mars

... that troilite, a form of pyrrhotite, is extremely rare on Earth but is abundant on Mars (pictured)?
...that the planet Mars appears red primarily because of a ubiquitous layer of dust containing nanophase ferric oxides?

...that no viable solution has yet been found to counteract radiation from space, which is a serious threat to astronauts on any future mission to Mars?

... that on the Mars Exploration Rover (artist's impression pictured), a technique known as visual odometry allowed the rover to estimate its position and orientation using only camera images?

... that ejecta from the impact that created Zunil crater in Athabasca Valles on Mars is a possible source of Martian meteorites?

...that Tony Spear, a leader of the Mars Pathfinder project, is now working to pursue the Google Lunar X Prize?

... that the first engineering analysis of a human mission to Mars (artist's conception pictured) was made by Wernher von Braun in 1948, which included ten ships with seventy crewmembers?

...that the Tooting impact crater on Mars was named after the London suburb of the same name because the discoverer "thought [his] mum and brother would get a kick out of having their home town paired with a land form on Mars"?

...that Mars' south polar ice cap may be melting due to global warming?

...that Malin Space Science Systems operates the camera on the Mars Global Surveyor?

...that CRISM is a spectrometer on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and will be used to find minerals on the surface of Mars?

...that Yogi Rock (pictured) is a rock found on Mars by the Mars Pathfinder mission that looks surprisingly like Yogi Bear's head?

Jupiter

...that the 1997 volcanic eruption of Pillan Patera on Jupiter's moon Io was the largest effusive eruption ever witnessed?

...that Claudia Alexander was the last project manager of NASA's Galileo mission to Jupiter?

...that 99% of the mass of the Carme group, a group of retrograde irregular satellites of Jupiter, is located in Carme?

... that the Valhalla structure (pictured) on Jupiter's moon Callisto is the largest multi-ring basin in the Solar System?

... that Jupiter is the only planet capable of pulling an interstellar comet into a Sun-centered orbit?

... that Frank J. Low, an infrared astronomy pioneer, used data from an infrared telescope flown on a Learjet to show that planets Jupiter and Saturn generate and emit internal energy into space?

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

Pluto

...that Lowell Observatory staff resisted building the telescope used to discover the dwarf planet Pluto until trustee Roger Putnam ordered them to do so?

Solar System

General topics and small bodies

...that the Sweden Solar System is currently the world's largest scale model of the Solar System?

...that the passing of the Great Comet of 1577 (pictured) caused almost century-long debate, during which Galileo argued that comets were merely optical illusions?

...that the nearly circular shape of Lukanga Swamp, a wetland covering 2,600 km² in Central Province, Zambia, has led to speculation that it may be a crater formed by the impact of a meteorite?

...that New York's Panther Mountain (pictured) was the site of a prehistoric meteor crash?

...that Abbott Lawrence Rotch established the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory in 1885, which maintains the longest-running meteorological record of any observation site in the United States?

...that the 1934 jazz standard "Stars Fell on Alabama" was inspired by the Leonid meteor shower that was observed in Alabama a century earlier, in 1833?

...that the Tagish Lake meteorite originally came from a part of the asteroid belt which existed when the Solar System was being formed?

...that the asteroid 7796 Járacimrman, discovered in 1996 on Kleť Observatory and named after the famous fictitious Czech genius Jára Cimrman, proved to be the lost asteroid that had already been observed in 1973 on Brera-Merate Observatory in northern Italy?

...that the Hoba meteorite is the largest known meteorite ever found on Earth?

...that the All Sky Automated Survey is a Polish astronomical project based in Chile, controlled remotely from Poland through the Internet, and that it has discovered two comets since 1996 with a tiny budget?

...that the Paragould Meteorite is the third-largest meteorite ever discovered in North America?

...that the trans-Neptunian object Eris (formerly known as 2003 UB313) is native to a distant region of the Solar System known as the scattered disc?

...that there is no widely accepted explanation for geographic features called Carolina bays, but that meteors may be the cause?

...that the Oort cloud, a postulated spherical cloud of comets around the Sun, is thought to be the origin of comets in the Solar System?

Solar System portal "Did you know" archive
Note: Newer facts added at top of most relevant section.

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