![]() ![]() Scientists are still trying to figure out how heat spreads through Io's interior, though, making it difficult to predict where the volcanoes exist using scientific models alone. The moon's insides tense up and relax as it orbits closer to, and farther from, the planet, generating enough energy for volcanic activity. Io's eruptive nature is caused by the immense forces the moon is exposed to, nestled in Jupiter's gravitational well and its magnetic field. According to a statement from NASA (opens in new tab), Io's volcanos emit one ton (more than 900 kilograms) of gases and particles into the space near Jupiter each second. The Jovian moon has hundreds of volcanoes and is considered the most active moon in the solar system, sending plumes of sulfur up to 190 miles (300 kilometers) into its atmosphere. (Image credit: NASA/JPL/DLR) (opens in new tab)Ĭompared to Earth's peaceful moon, Jupiter's moon Io may come as a surprise. Here, an impressive eruption was captured by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft during a flyby. Jupiter's moon Io has towering volcanic eruptions But it was seven years later that the atmosphere erupted into wild unpredicted storms, making Uranus more of a puzzle than ever. Scientists monitor these extreme seasons on Uranus and expected that the 2007 equinox on the planet might cause unusual weather. That means for more than two decades on Earth, half of Uranus never sees the sun at all. For about a quarter of each Uranus year (or 21 Earth years, as each Uranus year is 84 years long), the sun shines directly over the north or south pole of the planet. Uranus' tilt causes what NASA considers to be the most extreme seasons in the solar system. The most likely explanation for the planet's unusual orientation (about 90 degrees sideways compared to the other planets) is that it underwent some sort of titanic collision in the ancient past. First, the planet rotates on its side, appearing to roll around the sun like a ball, according to NASA's Uranus guide (opens in new tab). Uranus usually appears in classroom solar system models as a featureless blue ball, but this gas giant of the outer solar system is pretty weird on closer inspection. (Image credit: Lawrence Sromovsky, University of Wisconsin-Madison/W.W. This composite image of the two hemispheres of Uranus was obtained with Keck Telescope adaptive optics and the north pole is at 4 o'clock. Uranus appears to roll around the sun like a ball, rotating on its side. Jupiter is about 5.2 AU from the sun, and Neptune is 30.07 AU from the sun or approximately 30 times as far from the star as Earth 3. Scientists use an approximation of the Earth-to-sun distance, also known as one astronomical unit or AU, to compare distances within the solar system. Eight enormous planets could fit between here and there, and yet according to NOAA (opens in new tab), the distance from Earth to the sun is more than 390 times the distance from the Earth to the moon. The moon is the farthest from Earth that we've ever sent humans, and it's both mind-bogglingly distant and incredibly close depending on how you think about it. Our little moon creates vast tides on Earth already - the gravitational perturbation from our new proximity to Jupiter alone would keep any of us from admiring the view.) (Of course, in all practicality we'd have other problems to worry about, too. They'd just barely squeeze in between us and our closest companion in space, blocking out the sky with their rings and gas giant bulk as they did so. But imagine lining them all up, pole to pole. The distance between the Earth and the moon varies, as does the diameter of each of the planets - they're wider at their equators, so Saturn or Jupiter or both would have to be tilted sideways for this to work, according to news site Slate. Did you know that all of the planets in the solar system could fit between Earth and our moon? (Image credit: Jeremy Horner via Getty images) (opens in new tab)ĭepending on how carefully you do the calculations and how you arrange them, all of the planets in the solar system could fit in between Earth and its moon. ![]()
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