About the Planets - Science@NASA
About the Planets. The solar system has eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. There are five officially recognized dwarf ...
The Effects of Climate Change - Science@NASA
Global climate change is not a future problem. Changes to Earth’s climate driven by increased human emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases are already having widespread effects on the environment: glaciers and ice sheets are shrinking, river and lake ice is breaking up earlier, plant and animal geographic ranges are shifting, and plants and trees are blooming sooner.
The Causes of Climate Change - Science@NASA
In its Sixth Assessment Report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, composed of scientific experts from countries all over the world, concluded that it is unequivocal that the increase of CO 2, methane, and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere over the industrial era is the result of human activities and that human influence is the principal driver of many changes …
What Is Climate Change? - NASA Science
Climate change is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional and global climates. These changes have a broad range of observed effects that are synonymous with the term. Changes observed in Earth’s climate since the mid-20th century are driven by human activities, particularly fossil fuel burning, […]
Mars Facts - Science@NASA
Mars has a dense core at its center between 930 and 1,300 miles (1,500 to 2,100 kilometers) in radius. It's made of iron, nickel, and sulfur. Surrounding the core is a rocky mantle between 770 and 1,170 miles (1,240 to 1,880 kilometers) thick, and above that, a crust made of iron, magnesium, aluminum, calcium, and potassium.
Solar System Exploration - NASA Science
7. Room to Breathe. Our solar system has many worlds with many types of atmospheres. 8. Ring Worlds. The four giant planets – and at least one asteroid – have rings. 9. Getting Out There. More than 300 robotic spacecraft have left Earth's orbit, and …
Hubble Images - NASA Science
Flip through Hubble's numerous Flickr albums and see astronauts at work in space, behind the scenes of mission operations, and Hubble's iconic images from nebulae to gravitational lens. M57, or the Ring Nebula, is a planetary nebula, the glowing remains of a sun-like star. The tiny white dot in the center of the nebula is the star’s hot core ...
Our Sun: Facts - Science@NASA
From our vantage point on Earth, the Sun may appear like an unchanging source of light and heat in the sky. But the Sun is a dynamic star, constantly changing and sending energy out into space. The science of studying the Sun and its influence throughout the solar system is called heliophysics. The Sun is […]
Moon Facts - NASA Science
How the Moon Got Its Name Our Moon shares a name with all moons simply because people didn’t know other moons existed until Galileo Galilei discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610. In Latin, the Moon was called Luna, which is the main adjective for all things Moon-related: lunar. Potential for Life The many missions […]
Mercury Facts - Science@NASA
Oct 16, 2017 · Size and Distance. With a radius of 1,516 miles (2,440 kilometers), Mercury is a little more than 1/3 the width of Earth. If Earth were the size of a nickel, Mercury would be about as big as a blueberry. From an average distance of 36 million miles (58 million kilometers), Mercury is 0.4 astronomical units away from the Sun.