GALAXIES COLLIDING - and other space goings-on

Saturn

Neptune

...cont. from
The moons of Saturn are Atlas, Calypso, Dione, Enceladus, Epimetheus, Helene, Hyperion, Iapetus, Janus, Mimas, Pan, Pandora, Phoebe, Prometheus, Rhea, Telesto, Tethys, and Titan. Methane in the upper atmosphere of Uranus absorbs red light making the planet appear to be a blue-green color. A year on Uranus is the length of 84.01 Earth years and a day would last 17 hours and 14 minutes. The mean temperature on Uranus is -193°C and the composition of the atmosphere is hydrogen (83%), helium (15%), methane (2%), and small amounts of acetylene and other hydrocarbons. Uranus is odd in that it is tipped on its side possibly due to a collision with another planet-type mass during the building years of the solar system. A tail flowing from the planet called the Magnetotail is corkscrew shaped because of the rotation of Uranus. The 15 satellites of Uranus are Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemonda, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Belinda, Puck, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Obereon. All but four of these moons were discovered in 1986.

The lower two thirds of Neptune are composed of a mixture of molten rock, water, liquid ammonia, and methane. The outer area of the planet is composed of heated gases of hydrogen, water, and methane. The methane gas gives the planet its blue appearance. The Great Dark Spot on the surface of the planet is similar to Jupiter's Great Red Spot.

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It may also be a large storm rummaging across the surface. The wind blows westward in the opposite direction of the planet's rotation with speeds near the Dark Spot in excess of 2000 kilometers an hour (1200 miles an hour).The average cloud temperature is -193 to -153°C. A day is 16 hours and 6.7 minutes in length and a year equals 165 Earth years. The moons of Uranus are Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Naiad, Nereid, Proteus, Thalassa, and Triton.

Pluto is the farthest planet from the Sun. It takes 249 years to orbit the sun but 20 of those years is spent in an orbit that is closer to the sun than that of Neptune. Pluto is covered with methane ice which may possibly freeze in the thin atmosphere and fall to the surface as the planet leaves the Sun. The atmospheric composition is methane with 0.03% nitrogen. From Pluto's surface the Sun appears only as a very bright star. No ship has visited the planet but in 2001, the Pluto Express spacecraft will leave Earth and journey out to Pluto to further investigate this mysterious planet. Charon, Pluto's satellite appears to be covered with water ice rather than methane ice. The distance between Pluto and Charon is about 13,000 kilometers.

The Universe is forever changing and we should never take for granted the fact that we have sunlight, a moon to walk by, or stars to admire in the clear night sky. Although the possibility of any of these going away within the next 5 billion years is highly unlikely, one can never tell. So the next time you're out at night, take a look up and admire all those bright twinkles shimmering down at you. Who knows? Someone may be looking back at you. ;-)

[*Based on an article from Newsweek, November 3, 1997, called "When Galaxies Collide."
DISCLAIMER: All of the information found on these pages were researched on the Internet and from my own personal knowledge of the solar system. As far as I know, everything here is public domain unless otherwise indicated.]