Transcript of The Solar System Presented by Science Time

our fascination with space is endless and as old  as our species began to think and wonder about   the mysteries of the natural world astronomy in  greek literally means the science that studies   the law of the stars it's a natural science  that studies celestial objects and phenomena   using mathematics physics and chemistry in  order to explain their origin and evolution in this video we will take a virtual space  tour of the solar system find out how the   sun was formed visit the terrestrial planets  the asteroid belt the gas giants the ice giants   visit pluto and the oort cloud unveiling the  mysteries that make up our solar system [Music]   t minus 10 9 8 7 6 five four three  two one zero ignition liftoff liftoff [Music]   even though humanity has been thinking  about and dreaming about exploring space   for a very long time we've been able to set  foot on a celestial body other than earth   only in the last 50 years making progress  and expanding the frontier of space   in this last half of a century more  than in all of history of our species how did it all begin how did the solar system form  that eventually spawned life which contemplates   its own existence about 4.5 billion years ago  a giant rotating cloud of gas and dust called a   solar nebula collapsed because of its overwhelming  gravity the nebula started spinning faster and   faster and it flattened into a disc pulling most  of the materials towards its center forming what   we now call the sun the sun is a yellow dwarf star  at the heart of our solar system its gravity holds   the solar system together keeping everything from  the biggest planets to the smallest particles of   debris in its orbit the sun's enormous mass  is held together by gravitational attraction   producing immense pressure and temperature at its  core which is about 50 million degrees celsius hot   enough to sustain thermonuclear fusion like all  stars the sun will someday run out of energy when   the sun starts to die it will get so big that  it will engulf mercury which is our next stop mercury the closest planet to the sun and the  smallest planet in our solar system is only a   bit larger than our moon the first terrestrial  planet from the sun has a very thin atmosphere   mostly composed of oxygen on mercury temperatures  can reach up to 430 degrees celsius so if you plan   to visit this rocky planet you would have  a very long day literally a solar day lasts   176 earth days while it takes 88 earth days for  mercury to make a complete orbit around the sun   despite its proximity to the sun mercury is  not the hottest planet in our solar system   that title belongs to the goddess of love and  beauty venus similar in size and structure to   earth venus has been called earth's twin  but these worlds are far from being twins   venus has a thick toxic atmosphere filled with  carbon dioxide and is perpetually shrouded in   thick yellowish clouds of mostly sulfuric acid  that trap heat causing a runaway greenhouse effect   living up to at least one expectation of roman  mythology venus is the hottest planet in our   solar system venus has longer days than years  one day on venus lasts 243 earth days because   the planet spins backwards where the sun  rises in the west and sets in the east [Music]   next up we have the third rock from the sun and  the only astronomical object known to harbour   life earth our home planet but earth wasn't always  suitable for life it has a violent distant past in the geologic eon name haideon earth  was a hellish world hostile to life as we   know it the hayden eon began with the  formation of earth about 4.6 billion years ago   and according to the giant impact hypothesis  an ancient planet named thea collided with an   early earth with some of the resulting ejected  debris gathering to form what is today the moon geological history is a constant reminder that  we need to become a multi-planetary species   and the most suitable candidate planet to do  that is the last terrestrial planet from the sun   mars it is a dusty cold desert world with a very  thin atmosphere and is one of the most explored   bodies in our solar system mars is the only planet  where we've sent rovers to explore its landscape   robotic explorers i found lots of evidence  that the red planet was much wetter and warmer   with a thicker atmosphere billions of years ago   this is the first high color image to be sent back  by the hazard cameras on the underside of nasa's   perseverance mars rover after landing on february  18 2021 after mars there are no more rocky planets   in our solar system but the space beyond the orbit  of the red planet is occupied by great many solid   irregularly shaped bodies of many sizes but  much smaller than planets we call asteroids   this region is known as the asteroid  belt to give a perspective of how large   or small these asteroids are the total mass of  the asteroid belt is approximately four percent   that of the moon close encounters with mars  or other objects change the asteroid's orbits   knocking them out of the main belt and hurling  them into space in all directions across the   orbits of other planets stray asteroids and  asteroid fragments slammed into earth and the   other planets in the past playing a major role  in altering the geological history of the planets   and the evolution of life on earth luckily for us  we have a cosmic big brother named jupiter with a   massive gravitational attraction keeping most  asteroids in check jupiter is the fifth planet   in line and the first gas giant from the sun it is  by far the largest planet in the solar system more   than twice as massive as all the other planets  combined jupiter's stripes and swirls are actually   cold windy clouds of ammonia and water floating in  an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium its legendary   great red spot is a giant storm bigger than  earth and has been raging for hundreds of years   jupiter is a ringed world with more than 75  moons one of them is europa that could have   a water ocean beneath the icy surface harboring  extraterrestrial life the sixth planet from the   sun is the second gas joint and the second  largest planet in our solar system saturn   named after the roman god of wealth and  liberation saturn is adorned with thousands   of beautiful ringlets and is unique among  the planets saturn has a hexagonal storm   pattern around the north pole like jupiter  saturn is made mostly of hydrogen and helium   saturn has 53 known moons among which is titan a  world thought to be a prebiotic environment rich   in complex organic compounds possibly supporting  life the first planet found with the aid of a   telescope is an ice giant discovered in 1781 by  william herschel uranus is known as the sideways   planet because it rotates on its side most of its  mass is hot dense fluid of icy materials water   methane and ammonia above a small rocky core its  atmosphere is made mostly of molecular hydrogen   and atomic helium with a small amount of methane  uranus has 13 known rings and 27 known moons   no spacecraft has orbited this distant  planet to study it at length and up close the eighth and most distant planet in our solar  system is another ice joint more than 30 times   as far from the sun as earth neptune is the  only planet in our solar system not visible   to the naked eye and the first planet predicted  by mathematics before its discovery neptune takes   about 16 hours to rotate once on its axis which  is called a neptunian day and about 165 earth   years to orbit the sun neptune has 14 known moons  and most likely cannot support life as we know it and that is it no more planets beyond the orbit  of neptune there is however the dwarf planet pluto   it is about half the width of the united states  and orbits the sun about 5.8 billion kilometers   away on average about 40 times as far as earth  in a region called the kuiper belt pluto has   five moons the largest charon is so big that pluto  and sharon orbit each other like a double planet   pluto's surface gets as cold as minus 238  degrees celsius the dwarf planet has an almost   heart-shaped glacier blue skies high mountains and  it snows but the snow is red because of pluto's   elliptical orbit the dwarf planet is sometimes  closer to the sun and us than neptune is but   unlike the orbits of the planets which lie mostly  in the same flat disk around the sun the most   distant region of our solar system is the oort  cloud it is believed to be a giant spherical shell   surrounding the rest of the solar system it is  like a big thick walled bubble made of icy pieces   of space debris the size of mountains the oort  cloud might contain billions or even trillions   of objects marking the quote-unquote edge of the  solar system and the end of our space journey thanks for watching did you like this video then  show your support by subscribing ringing the bell   and enabling notifications to  never 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