Some of you are working on planet foldables and need more information. Others may just be interested. Here’s a great site about the planets.
You can also use the Earth Science Textbook Online. The user id is: “lms123″ without the quotes and the password is: “lakeview”. The information you need is in Chapter 23.
Astronomy Journal Entry
Mysterious Hot Spot at Saturn’s Pole (January 21, 2008)
Thanks to new pictures from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, astronomers spotted a mysterious hot spot at Saturn’s chilly north pole. The spot is a spinning vortex of gases much hotter than its surroundings.
A similar spot was found earlier on Saturn’s south pole, currently bathed in sunlight. But astronomers were shocked to find a matching one on the wintry north pole, where the Sun hasn’t been shining since 1995.
The hot spots are likely due to currents plunging down into the troposphere or weather layer of the atmosphere from higher altitudes. As gas in the atmosphere moves down towards the poles, it gets …. (more)
Polar view showing hot spot and hexagonal ring at Saturn’s north pole.
NASA JPL.
Copyright 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved.
Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
SPACE.com
Fri Oct 6, 9:15 AM ET
Tonight’s full Moon will be almost 12 percent bigger than some of the full Moons this year, according to NASA, setting up a fine viewing opportunity when it rises in the evening.
The reason: The Moon is near perigee, the point on its slightly out-of-round orbit that is closest to Earth. This Moon is called the Harvest Moon, owing to its timing of being nearest the…
..read more
Pity Poor Pluto: It’s Been Demoted (August 28, 2006)
View of Pluto (lower left) and its moon Charon from the Hubble Space Telescope. The planet was 2.6 billion miles (4.6 billion kilometers) away when the picture was take, nearly 30 times Earth’s distance from the Sun. NASA/European Space Agency.
Suddenly, every solar system poster hanging in every classroom around the world is out of date. After years of lively debate, astronomers announced some stunning news: Pluto is not a planet any more.
The International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) decision changes the list of planets for the first time since Pluto was discovered in 1930. From now on, poor Pluto will be considered a dwarf planet.
The change in Pluto’s status follows from the IAU’s new definition of a planet. To be a planet, a solar system body must be massive enough for its gravity to pull it into the shape of a ball. Secondly, the body must orbit the Sun. It also cannot share its “neighborhood” in space with any other bodies…. more…