11 results for “outer planets”
Planets & the Solar System
Uranus and Neptune
outer solar system, but inside the planets they are a searing slush under crushing pressure. Deeper
Article · 4 min read
Planets & the Solar System
Comets, Asteroids and Pluto
planet. Its gravity stirred the region so violently that bodies collided and shattered rather than merging. Comets Comets are the ice of the outer
Article · 4 min read
Planets & the Solar System
Jupiter
planet without a surface Jupiter is a gas giant. There is no ground to stand on. Its outer
Article · 3 min read
Space & the Universe
Dark Matter and Dark Energy
planets farther from the Sun move more slowly, because the Sun's pull weakens with distance. Galaxies should behave the same way, with stars at the edges crawling along. Instead, Rubin found
Article · 3 min read
Planet Earth
Plate Tectonics and Earthquakes
outer layer, the crust together with the rigid top of the mantle, is broken into about a dozen large plates and several smaller ones. They fit together like the plates
Article · 4 min read
Planets & the Solar System
The Moon
planet, about a quarter of Earth's diameter, and rocks brought back by the Apollo astronauts showed it is made of material almost identical to Earth's outer
Article · 4 min read
Matter, Energy & Physics
The Periodic Table
outer electrons are held more loosely, so the metals become more reactive and the non-metals less. Reading across a row, the atoms shrink and grip their electrons harder. With these rules
Article · 4 min read
Planets & the Solar System
The Sun
outer layers into space and shrink to a white dwarf the size of our planet, slowly
Article · 4 min read
Planet Earth
Inside the Earth
outer core is the reason compasses point north. Liquid iron is an electrical conductor, and as it churns, driven by heat and twisted by the planet
Article · 4 min read
Planets & the Solar System
Mercury and Venus
planet is unusually dense; a huge iron core takes up about 85 percent of its radius, suggesting a giant collision early in its history stripped away much of its rocky outer
Article · 3 min read
Space & the Universe
Nebulae
planets were born in a cloud like this 4.6 billion years ago. The brightest stars in such a nebula are also its destroyers. Their fierce radiation and stellar winds carve the cloud
Article · 3 min read
