WELCOME TO
JOURNEY ACROSS THE PLANETS
THE PLANETS
There are 8 planets in our solar system, they are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. With the exception of Neptune and Uranus the other 6 planets can be seen unaided and all 8 are visible with a small telescope or binoculars.
Planets are among the many worlds and smaller objects that orbit the Sun. The formal definition of planet, as voted on by the International Astronomical Union in 2006, is as follows:A planet is a celestial body that(a) is in orbit around the Sun,(b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and(c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.
THE SATELLITES
In space, a satellite can be anything that orbits a planet or star. Our moon is a satellite as it orbits our planet, Earth. The International Space Station is also a satellite as it orbit the earth. Earth is a satellite as it orbits the sun, and our galaxy, 'The Milky Way' can be describes as a satellite as it orbits a black hole in the centre of our galaxy.
We rely on man-made satellites here on Earth for communication and navigation, we would not be able to watch tv or make phone calls without these satellites beaming signals. Man made satellites are also important to scientists to monitor the condition of earth as well as to document and explore space.
THE MISSIONS
Since the early 1950's there have been many space missions that have tried to expand our understanding of our planet, space and the universe.
Each mission has a unique focus and goal, for example, in experimenting and developing space transportation, creating a co-habitable space station or one that we all know, landing man on the moon.
These missions are important to developing our life on earth but also our future in space.
THE ROCKETS
Most people focus on the things in space but forget how they got there. Space rockets are essential to transport humans and technology into space, without rockets, there would be no moon landing, no internet or mobile phones and no tv.
The rockets are almost all the time unmanned as the rocket carry's the fuel that is need to get the 'payload' outside the Earth's atmosphere. The rockets then fall back to earth, sometims they are fixed and then reused.
Rockets continue to develop with technology and get better with time.