Latest Astronomy Interview Questions Part – 3
How Is Venus Different To Earth?
Venus is different to planet earth in quite profound ways. We focus, being alive, on the fact that Venus could surely not support life. This focuses us in on some massive differences between the two planets.
First, up, Venus rotates extremely slowly compared to earth.
It also has a magnetic field that is almost nonexistent not good for life! Of course, the temperature means it is so dry and there is hardly any water.
There is extreme pressure on the surface and temperature, and the atmosphere is very dense with a run away greenhouse effect.
How Is Venus Like Earth?
Venus is like Earth in some ways, mainly cosmetic, but very different in others.
However until we studied Venus in general it was thought to be a sister planet but the reality is very different. In terms of similarities are the two main facts:
It is the closest to Earth in the solar system, very close indeed in planetary terms
The second thing is that it is a small rocky planet, of almost the same size as earth
However as you will see in the differences to Earth question I just answered, the differences between the two planets Earth and Venus are much more profound than the similarities.
How Long Is A Day On Saturn?
A day on Saturn is hard to measure, however scientists now believe that the value of a day on Saturn in terms of length is around 10 hours and as such being ten hours compared to our 24 it is less hours than a day on earth.
How Long Is A Year On Saturn?
Saturn is much further from the Sun than the Earth is. Therefore, for it to complete its orbit around the sun once takes much longer than for Earth due to the much wider circle it has to go around in order orbiting (well, ellipse).
Therefore, the length of a year on Saturn is approximately 29.5 Earth years.
So if you want to feel a lot younger and be a child again, define your age in Saturn years instead of Earth years!
How Long Is It Until Our Solar System Ceases To Exist?
It is thought that the sun is approaching roughly the halfway point of its life.
In addition, the solar system the system of the sun lives and dies with its star, at least in turns of being active, because it is the heat and energy from the sun that sustains the reactions on the planets that are within the reach of its light and gravitational force.
The sun has several billion years to go yet until it cools and expands, so we are no immediate danger from the sun in fact, we can guarantee that by the time the sun is big enough, nothing we recognize as human will exist.
How Many Black Holes Are There?
We do not know for sure, 100%, that there are any black holes. However, beyond reasonable doubt, when the compact object in an Xray binary system is shown to be more massive than about 3 times the mass of the Sun, then this compact object is a black hole.
With regard how many there are in total, it is thought that many, perhaps most; galaxies contain a massive black hole in their centers. If this is the case, then there will be almost as many black holes as galaxies a great number!
How Many Earths Can Fit Into Jupiter S Great Red Spot?
The great red spot is a storm on Jupiter that has been raging for around 300 years or so that is when it was first spotted.
That is quite a storm really is not it, and we do not know when it will die out. It is also rather large as the question implies.
The answer is that it is estimated something in the region of two earths would fit into the great red spot alone, which gives some idea of the colossal scale of the gas giant that is Jupiter in comparison to the smaller ball of rock that is planet Earth.
How Many Moons Do Ceres Have?
Ceres is a big asteroid that has just become a wannabe planet in the new solar system, unbelievably, or at least is a pluton.
How Many Moons Do Mars Have?
With all the focus on the red planet and life, and the supposed channels that were the sign of extra terrestrial life in previous centuries, people forget about the moons of this neighbor planet, the Red Planet.
However, Mars has two moons.
These are called Phobos and Deimos respectively, and are minor satellites, so called. They are small compared to the Earth’s moon, which is much larger and more significant.
How Many Moons Does Neptune Have?
Neptune is the planet with the fourth most moons in the solar system. The planet has 13 moons.
The planets with more moons are Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, in descending order of number of moons.
How Many Moons Does Saturn Have?
Saturn has 46 known moons (as of 4th May 2005 when 12 more were discovered).
These moons vary in size greatly, from the largest moon Titan (bigger than Mercury and Pluto), to other more controversial moons which are really just large rocks. Of the 12 most recently discovered, some are only 3 7 km wide, and take around 2 years to orbit the planet.
The number of moons is not stable, and more moons are being discovered all the time as detection techniques become more sophisticated.
Saturn is the planet with the second largest number of moons, with Jupiter catalogued as having the most.
How Many Moons Does Uranus Have?
Uranus has 27 moons. This means it has more moons than any other planet in the solar system, apart from Jupiter and Saturn.
However, it has more than twice the number of moons of the next planet in the list Neptune.