Moon Facts

The Moon (or Luna) is the Earth’s only natural satellite and was formed 4.6 billion years ago around some 30–50 million years after the formation of the solar system. The Moon is in synchronous rotation with Earth meaning the same side is always facing the Earth. The first unmanned mission to the Moon was in 1959 by the Soviet Lunar Program with the first manned landing being Apollo 11 in 1969.

Mars Facts

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and is the second smallest planet in the solar system. Named after the Roman god of war, Mars is also often described as the “Red Planet” due to its reddish appearance. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere composed primarily of carbon dioxide.

Mercury and Venus are the only two planets in our solar system that do not have any moons. If a star passes too close to a black hole, it can be torn apart. The hottest planet in our solar system is Venus. Most people often think that it would be Mercury, as it’s the closest planet to the sun. This is because Venus has a lot of gasses in its atmosphere, which causes the “Greenhouse Effect”. The solar system is around 4.6 billion years old. Scientist estimate that it will probably last another 5000 million years Enceladus, one of Saturn’s smaller moons, reflects some 90% of the sunlight, making it more reflective than snow! The highest mountain known to man is the Olympus Mons, which is located on Mars. It’s peak is 15 miles (25KM) high, making it nearly 3 times higher than Mt Everest. The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) was the very first celestial object to be identified as being spiral. A light year is the distance covered by light in a single year, this is equivalent to 5.88 trillion miles (9.5 trillion KM)!The width of the Milky Way is around 100,000 light years. The Sun is over 300,000 times larger than Earth.

Solar System Facts

The Solar System was formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago and consists of the Sun, planets, dwarf planets and other astronomical objects bound in its orbit.