Mars, located four planets from the Sun and second in size behind Mercury in our solar system, is an icy desert planet approximately half as big as Earth. Mars has less mass, leading to less gravity pull; therefore, you would weigh approximately 38 percent as much on Mars than you would on Earth. Mass Mars,…
Mercury may be one of the smaller planets in our solar system, but it holds much promise as an intriguing world. It boasts an immense iron core with no atmosphere to speak of – though an intriguing magnetic field still exists! Surface features of Mars include bright streaks known as crater rays that result from…
Be wary if you come upon a swarm of flying ants around your home; these likely represent an established colony about to breed. Don’t panic: Instead, be patient as the ants may just be getting ready to breed again! Winged ants, commonly known as swarmers or alates, appear at certain times of year to seek…
Like Mercury, rocky planets may undergo changes due to internal forces which push and pull at crustal material, creating landforms such as volcanoes, mountains, and canyons. These forces are known as tectonics and may contribute to landform formation such as volcanoes. Scientists have various hypotheses as to what caused Mercury’s scarred surface, one being its…
Last week, scientists announced the discovery of an Earth-like planet orbiting Proxima Centauri — our closest star and source of life — which might support life. This exoplanet represents one of the nearest possible candidate planets for human habitation ever found so far. But how close are we cosmically speaking? To answer that question, we…
Mercury and Venus, unlike most rocky planets in our Solar System, are typically not considered suitable places for life to exist; their harsh conditions make them unsuitable as candidates for life support systems. Yet engineers have created spacecraft capable of withstanding these inhospitable worlds’ harsh environment. Scientists have recently discovered that Venus’ atmosphere contains phosphine,…
Mercury, our closest neighboring planet to our Sun, experiences extreme daytime temperatures that make its surface scorchingly hot. Craters and basins dot its surface, from small bowl-shaped cavities to multiringed impact craters hundreds of kilometers across. Craters on Mercury are surrounded by massive scarps or cliffs that soar over one mile high, as predicted by…
