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| Picture of Earth from Apollo 17. First of its kind to have a shot of the South Pole. Credits: NASA |
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| Earth at nighttime from the ISS. See the bright glow of the atmosphere, and the galaxy? Credits: NASA |
Formed 4.6 billions years ago, the planet third farthest from the sun, which we call home, started off as scientists believe, as a waterless body, with radioactivity and pressure, which caused the interior of the planet to melt, and thus turn to hot liquid, and the crust and the oceans may have formed 200 millions years after the planet was formed. Evidence from ancient microscopic crystals give hints that water existed 500 million years, from the time Earth put itself together.
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| Another beautiful shot from the ISS. Earth's atmosphere with a floating moon. Credits: NASA |
Earth's axis is tilted at 23.5 degrees, thus, seasons exists on the planet, unlike Venus and Mercury, which has no significant seasons. Earth's rotation causes the equator seems more swollen than the poles, thus the planet is not exactly round, and also from this rotation, Earth revolves around the sun in a rather oval shape than a circle shape, which is same for all planets.
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| 2017 Solar Eclipse viewed from an orbiting probe DSCOVR. Credits: NASA |
Earth's atmosphere consists of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% are the rest of the gaseous elements that surrounds us. Not just that, the atmosphere protects us from harmful radiation thrown at us from the sun, and also retains the temperatures, thus temperatures on Earth does not vary too much, unlike Mars, and Mercury. Earth is also 70% contained with water, and 30% with the ground we stand on. Our planet also has a magnetic field, caused by the fast spinning of the planet, and the iron nickel core that is hidden inside the planet. To view the events of the magnetic field and the solar wind, go to north, on special occasions, and if you see curtains of color in the air, (aka Aurorae) are the reactions of these two elements in space.
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| Earth, from Voyager 1, as it was 4 billion miles from Earth. Credits: NASA |
Earth has many moons orbiting around it. Most of them are artificial, meaning that they were made and revolves around the Earth, like many satellites, or the International Space Station. In natural moon terms, Earth only has one, called the Moon. The moon give tides at the beaches, bright natural light at nighttime, solar and lunar eclipses, and the slower spin of the planet. The Moon helps Earth be how it is, and the artificial satellites help monitor and track processes on the planet that are helpful with research.
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| Earth, live composite of lights passing, as observed from the ISS. Credits: NASA |
Lastly, a day on Earth is 24 hours (or actually 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds), and a year is 365 days (or actually 365.2654 days, which adds up to the leap year every four years). The distance from the Sun is 92.96 million miles, or 1 AU (Astronomical Unit), and the distance to Moon is 238,900 miles, or 0.002 AU.
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| Earth, from a small telescope. Credits: Ryan's Studio |
Sunset at the beach. Enlarged with the help of a binocular.
Credits: Ryan's Studio
Bibliography:
"Planet Earth Facts" National Geographic Accessed on October 23, 2018 from
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system/earth/?user.testname=photogallery:2
"Earth-NASA" NASA October 16, 2018 Accessed on October 23, 2018 from
https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/index.html
"Earth Facts" Space Facts Accessed on October 23, 2018 from
https://space-facts.com/earth/
Choi, Charles. "Planet Earth: Facts About its Orbit, Atmosphere and Size" Space October 10, 2018. Accessed on October 23, 2018 from
https://www.space.com/54-earth-history-composition-and-atmosphere.html
Love your works cited!!! <3
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