California’s Death Valley holds the record for the highest reliably reported air temperature in the world, 56.7°C in July, 1913. In midsummer the desert region averages around 47°C and is the driest place in the US. Hardly the environment you would expect to find hiking trails, resorts, and a bewilderingly green golf course.
Ringed by mountains, Death Valley plunges to 86 metres below sea level, which helps explain the heat. It’s around a three-hour drive from Las Vegas.
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But, not all of it? Nope. In the late 1970s, scientists studying the seafloor discovered geysers belching a boiling mineral-rich stew into the crushing depths of the ocean. These ‘’hydrothermal vents’’ didn’t just look like they were from outer space – they were actually teeming with alien life. Here, in the constant darkness, bacteria convert chemicals into sugars in a process called chemosynthesis. Shrimp, crabs, and eyeless tube worms survive by feeding on these bacteria, creating a food chain completely independent of the sun. Astrobiologist– scientists who study the possibility of life on other planets – examine the vents for examples of life that might exist on planets far from the sun. In fact, they wonder if life on Earth began near these geysers rather than on the surface.
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We can make estimates regarding the composition of Earth’s interior regions is by recording and calculating how dense our planet is.
Crust: A very thin, solid outer layer. The oceanic crust is about 5 km (3 miles) thick. The continental crust is from 30–40 km (18–24 miles) thick.
Mantle: The layer beneath the crust. The mantle is about 2885 km (1790 miles) thick.
Upper mantle: Includes a solid layer fused to the crust. This layer combined with the crust is called the lithosphere. Beneath this is the asthenosphere, which is a partly molten layer. The asthenosphere is thought to be the layer upon which tectonic plates ride. The upper mantle is about 700 km (420 miles) thick.
Lower mantle: Is composed of solid rock under conditions of extremely high temperature and pressure. This layer is about 2,185 km (1,370 miles) thick.
Outer Core: A layer about 2,270 km (1,400 miles) thick, having the properties of a metallic liquid.
Inner Core: A solid, metallic, spherical layer about 1,216 km (755 miles) thick.
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Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun making it the most distant in the solar system. This gas giant planet may have formed much closer to the Sun in early solar system history before migrating to its present position. Large storms whirl through its upper atmosphere, and high-speed winds track around the planet at up 600 meters per second. One of the largest storms ever seen was recorded in 1989. It was called the Great Dark Spot. It lasted about five years. Neptune has 14 moons. The most interesting moon is Triton, a frozen world that is spewing nitrogen ice and dust particles out from below its surface. It was likely captured by the gravitational pull of Neptune. It is probably the coldest world in the solar system.
Distance from the sun: 2,771,162,074 to 2,819,185,846 miles (4,459,753,056 to 4,537,039,826 km)
Length of space journey from Earth: 12 years
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Here are a few of the many reasons why you should visit Uranus:
Distance from the sun: 1,699,449,110 to 1,868,039,489 miles (2,734,998,229 to 3,006,318,143 km)
Length of space journey from Earth: 9 years
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Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun and it is the only planet less dense than water. Saturn is between Jupiter and Uranus. Saturn has 7 rings. Rings are only visible from Earth using a telescope. Saturn has at least 60 moons and 18 are named. Titan is one of Saturn moons, it has a thick atmosphere, and astronomers think that there may be life on Titan. Saturn is the sixth more important planet on the Solar System. Saturn is one of the biggest planets in the Solar System with Jupiter. Saturn’s rings are made of millions of icy rocks. Saturn is the lightest planet in the Solar System. For many years Saturn was called the ring planet.
Distance from sun: 838,741,509 to 934,237,322 miles (1,349,823,615 to 1,503,509,229 km)
Length of space journey from Earth: 3 years
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The largest planet in our solar system – large enough that 1,300 Earths could fit inside of it – rules over a system of its own. Several of Jupiter’s nearly 70 moons are worthy of your attention. Mega-moon Ganymede is larger than Mercury and has its own magnetic field. Volcanoes on lo, the most volcanic body in the solar system, spew clouds of yellow sulfur nearly 200 miles (322 km) high.
Distance from the sun: 460,237,112 to 507,040,015 miles (740,679,835 to 816,001,807 km)
Length of space journey from Earth: 13 months.
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Mars has a 24-hour day. It has polar ice caps. Its axis is tilted compared with its orbit, just as Earth is tilted on its axis. That means Mars goes through seasons, just like Earth. Mars, as cold as it is, is not as oppressive an environment as almost any other place we can think of going in the Solar System. From a runaway greenhouse effect, Venus is 900 degrees Fahrenheit and would melt or vaporize most things you sent to its surface. Mercury is also very hot, being close to the Sun.
Distance from the sun: 128,409,598 to 154,865,853 miles (206,655,215 to 249,232,432 km)
Length of space journey from Earth: 3 years
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Venus is the second planet from the Sun, and is Earth’s closest neighbor in the solar system. Venus is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon, and sometimes looks like a bright star in the morning or evening sky. The planet is a little smaller than Earth, and is similar to Earth inside. We can’t see the surface of Venus from Earth, because it is covered with thick clouds. However, space missions to Venus have shown us that its surface is covered with craters, volcanoes, mountains, and big lava plains. The surface of Venus is not where you’d like to be, with temperatures that can melt lead, an atmosphere so thick it would crush you and clouds of sulfuric acid that smell like rotten eggs to top it off!
Distance from the sun: 66,782,596 to 67,693,905 miles (107,476,170 to 108,942,780 km)
Length of space journey from Earth: 6 months
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There are many reasons you may want to visit Mercury. For one, the gravity is about 1/3 of that on Earth, so you can have the same low gravity effect as on the moon. Some phenomena that occurs on Mercury that may be of interest includes magnetic plasma tornadoes cause by conflict between the sun’s radiation and mercury’s magnetic field. Mercury is also the fastest moving planet in the solar system, so you can become the person who traveled the fastest in history. Mercury holds the solar system’s 17th largest mountain, Caloris Montes, and a huge crater called Caloris Basin. Mercury also has a tail that is not visible to the eye, but consists of tiny subatomic particles blown out by the sun.
Distance from the sun: 28,583,702 to 43,382,549 miles
Length of space journey from Earth: 4 years
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