The grand tour

This informative book offers readers a grand tour through our solar system. It takes readers from the giant planet to the small ones.

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. The composition of it is hydrogen, ice; hydrogen-helium atmosphere. It has a iron-silicate core surrounded by liquid metallic hydrogen. The upper layer of it is made of liquid hydrogen. Jupiter is famous for its forever red spot and the auroras near polar.

Saturn has a composition of hydrogen, ices; hydrogen-helium atmosphere. It is a giant planet, however, it has the least dense of all the planets in the solar system. Saturn’ s rings are magnificent view in the universe which are consisted of chunks of ices and stones.

Uranus is composed of ice, hydrogen, helium; hydrogen-helium-methane atmosphere. The bluish planet tilts at an extreme angle almost right. Because of this, some strange phenomena happen on the planet. For example, one of its poles can point directly to the sun. pictures from voyagers show that it has several rings too.

Neptune is the last giant planet in the solar system whose composition is ice, hydrogen, helium; hydrogen-helium-methane atmosphere. The atmosphere of Neptune is much colder than the other planet. The beauty of its dark blue oval spot with prominent cloud belt overlying matches that of Jupiter’s red spot. The great dark spot is actually a storm mimicking Jupiter’s red spot.

Earth is alive. The special planet is made of nickel-iron, silicates,; nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere. Vast oceans, thick atmosphere, and sufficient sunlight provide a favorable environment for livings. Earth is an active planet. Tectonic movements go on and on reshaping surface all the time.

Venus has a composition of nickel-iron, silicates; carbon dioxide atmosphere. the dense and opaque atmosphere veils the planet and brings lots of wonderful illusions to human, however, good dreams finally end when voyagers penetrate through its atmosphere and land on its surface. To our dismay, the landscape of Venus is barren and craggy rocks hot enough to cook on under the yellowish clouds.

Mars is the sister of earth which is made of silicates, iron; oxidized minerals; carbon dioxide atmosphere. it was thought that mars should be once covered with water because its canyons, gullies, and cliffs show evidence of water erosion. The water on mars has gradually evaporated into space due to the low gravitation. Landslide is not uncommon on mars because magma melts underground ice.

Ganymede is a satellite of Jupiter with the composition of ice, carbonaceous silicates. The surface of Ganymede resembles a giant jigsaw puzzle, which is caused by the ices welling up from underground.

Titan is a masked moon of Saturn with the composition of organics, nitrogen atmosphere. the rain on titan is not water, but rather organism, such as methane, gasoline. One could see the view that a river of methane flows into a lake of liquid hydrocarbons on titan.

Mercury is the child of the sun with composition of nickel-iron, silicates. One year of mercury only takes 88 days, however, one day requires two thirds of its years because the sun’s tides have locked its rotation into a very slow spin. Because of the combination of rotational and orbital properties, the sun moves at an irregular rate from one horizon to the other, therefore, a weird phenomenon that the sun comes to a complete halt or even moves backward during the day of mercury appears.

A very special yellow ball rotates around Jupiter is Io. It is made of silicates and sulfur. The bright colors are due to sulfur compounds spewed from its many volcanoes. The tidal force caused by Jupiter and other satellites of Jupiter is the source of io’s internal heat.