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Planet

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Planetesimals are solid objects thought to exist in protoplanetary disks and in debris disks.

 


planetary orbit
On the About network: planetary orbit
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Planetary Orbit Prediction May Modify Newton's Laws ...

Planetary Linguistics
Names of the Planets
English is generally recognized as the international language for professional astronomy. However, the various languages often also have their own words which are used in everyday speech.

Planetarium
Related Category: Astronomy: General
optical device used to project a representation of the heavens onto a domed ceiling; the term also designates the building that houses such a device.

Planetary system formation coincides with the process of star formation in which our Sun belongs to the generation of stars created 4.6 billion years ago, when our galaxy was roughly half its present age.

Planet atmospheres slow down the rate that heat escapes from a planet's surface or interior, as well as, distributing heat over a planet's surface.

Planets around other Stars
Artist's concept of a rocky planet in orbit around a distant star.
Click on image for full size (201 Kb)
NASA, ESA and G. Bacon (STScI)
Did you know that about 200 planets have been discovered around distant stars?

Planet
A planet (from the Greek planetes or "wanderers") is a body of considerable mass that orbits a star and that doesn't produce energy through nuclear fusion.

Planets rarer than we thought, Hubble search turns up blank
The globular cluster 47 Tucanae, as seen by the Anglo-Australian telescope (left) and the Hubble Space Telescope (right).

Planet Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System, in both diameter and mass.

Planet Tac Toe
Aliens have challenged you to a game of Planet-Tac-Toe. You can win only if you have become a solar system expert. To start the game, choose a square by clicking your mouse in it. Your trivia question will appear.

Planets are generally divided into two main types: large, low-density gas giants, and smaller, rocky terrestrials. Under IAU definitions, there are eight planets in the Solar System.

Planetary nebulae, some of the loveliest objects in the sky, are complex shells of gas that have been ejected by dying advanced giant stars like Mira. They were discovered as a set and given their name by William Herschel in the late 1700s.

Planetary nebulae form when a star can no longer support itself by fusion reactions in its center.

Planetary Nebula
A nebula produced when a star expels its outer layers. Many planetary nebula are spherical, and appear to be nearly perfect circles to observers since the largest occurs for the portions of the sphere tangent to the line of sight.

Planetary gravity-assist,
once more
What is the connection with planetary gravity-assist maneuvers?

Planet is the common designation for a certain type of celestial body orbiting a star. They occur in a great variety of different compositions, masses and surface conditions. The exact definition of what constitutes a planet varies among cultures.

planetary science
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
planetology
A Dictionary of Astronomy
Planetary Science
Science of Everyday Things ...

planetesimal
One of the small bodies that formed from the solar nebula and eventually grew into proto-planets.
population I ...

Planetary information
Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto diameter (Earth=1) 0.382 0.949 1 0.532 11.209 9.44 4.007 3.883 0.180 diameter (km) 4,878 12,104 12,756 6,787 142,800 120,000 51,118 49,528 2,300 mass (Earth=1) 0.055 0.

Planet Activities and Quizzes
Planet Coloring pages
An interactive puzzle on the Solar System.
Find It!, a quiz on the planets.

A Planetary Delight
Throughout the history of mankind, the human race has always been fascinated by the planets. These objects seem to move in relation to the so called "fixed" background stars.

Doran Planetarium (Laurentian University, Sudbury)
Ontario Science Centre (Toronto)
Royal Ontario Museum - Mobile Planetariums for programs at the museum and in the community (Toronto) ...

Jovian Planet DefinitionExtrasolar Planet DefinitionInferior Planets Definition
Related Articles ...

2. Which planet is the hottest?_______________________
3. Is Venus or Mars the planet closest in size to the Earth? ________________
4. Is Earth the densest planet in our Solar System? _______________ ...

What keeps planetary rings in place?
The Answer
You can think of rings as a bunch of tiny moons, all in a similar orbit around the planet.

Southern Hemisphere view of the Moon and Planets for the month
Each of the pages gives a guide to the visibility of the Moon, planets and to solar system events during the month.

Now fully formed giant gaseous planets exist within the hole, even as new planets are still under construction in the outer parts of the disk. Earth-like planets will build up from the many smaller objects now in orbit close to the star.

Even in Copernicus' day, educated people had a very good idea of the relative distances to the known planets in terms of the Astronical Unit -- the only problem was that no one knew how far that was.

Planets
The eight planets of our Solar System are the smallest and best-studied astronomical bodies. All of the planets within the Solar System have been visited by our spacecraft.

Planet-Making Recipe May be Easy to Whip Up
The oldest planet yet discovered (shown at top) orbits a pair of "dead" stars in the globular cluster M4, as seen in this artist's concept.

Planetary nebula
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source
A planetary nebula is an astronomical object consisting of a glowing shell of gas and plasma formed by certain types of stars at the end of their lives.

Planetary scientists sharing ideas and discoveries.
Planetary Science Research Discoveries (PSRD) is an educational site sharing the latest research on meteorites, planets, and other solar system bodies being made by NASA-sponsored scientists.

Planetary physiography. The features described above combine in regional and global patterns to establish physiographic provinces that reflect the geologic evolution of Mercury (see above Figure 11).

Planet - This is a celestial body that: (a) is in orbit around the Sun; (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a nearly round shape (due to a hydrostatic equilibrium); ...

Planetary scientists may order WTP CD-ROM through the Planetary Data System. Welcome to the Planets CD-ROM is available to the general public through the National Space Science Data Center. (NSSDC).

PLANETS & MOONS
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
entire Web this site ...

A planet actually has two types of days: a sidereal day, which is its rotation with respect to the stars and a solar day, which is its rotation with respect to the Sun.

Red Planet renaissance
Recent discoveries paint Mars as an active planet with erupting volcanoes and underground rivers.
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Dwarf Planets and Small Solar-System Bodies
The words asteroid, minor planet and planetoid are (unofficial and) interchangable.

dwarf planet and largest known asteroid in the asteroid belt and the first asteroid to be discovered. Ceres was found, serendipitously, by the Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi of the Palermo Observatory on Jan. 1, 1801.

Every planet in the solar system has seasons. Most, like Earth, have four. They are called winter, spring, summer, and fall. Their names are about the only way the seasons are the same on different planets. On Venus, seasons are short.

Moon, Planets and Aurora, Oh My!
Abstract
A rare planetary conjunction, a more rare Aurora (a red one), film in the camera, a good tripod and a kid to share it with. A tale of my lucky Astronomical night.

NASA JPL Planets page
Space Telescope Science Institute's ExInEd program (download PlanetQuest)
Return to PLANET definition ...

Why Do The Planets Line Up With Each Other?
One of the most beautiful sights of the night sky is to see two or even more planets group together as if they were a cluster of jewels on a ring.

As a dwarf planet it fulfills most of the criteria for being a planet with the exception that it doesn't have the gravitational pull, because of its size, to clear space surrounding it of other celestial bodies.

[19.4] EXTRASOLAR PLANETS & PLANETARY EVOLUTION
[19.4] FUTURE EXTRASOLAR PLANET HUNTING EFFORTS
[19.5] COMMENTS, SOURCES, & REVISION HISTORY ...

Planets
The first great fact to be noticed is that the planets revolve around the sun in the same direction.

Planetary nebulae, or planetaries, are so called because many of them superficially resemble planets through telescopes.

Planets and Moons
All of the planets and moons in our solar system emit strongly in the infrared.

Planets and Interstellar Dust
Planets in our solar system and dust between stars both radiate as nearly perfect thermal sources.

Planetary Nebula PK164+31°.1 in Lynx
This is a very large and very faint (12 mag.) planetary nebula. Two brighter lobes can be noticed in a 10 inch and larger scopes 2°30' NW of 27 Lyncis (see finder chart below).

Planet
An object that orbits a star. Although smaller than stars, planets are relatively large and shine only by reflected light. Planets are made up mostly of rock or gas, with a small, solid core.

Planetesimal
A small body of rock and/or ice - under 10 kilometers (6 miles) across - formed during the early stages of the solar system. Planetesimals are the building blocks of planets, but many never combined to form large bodies.

Planet:
Large spherical object shining by a star. Our planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto (+Charon ?) ...

Planets
Details on all the known planets (and their satellites) of our Solar System
Constellations ...

Planetary nebula M 97
Galaxies: M 81, M 82, M 101, M 108 and M 109
Mulptiple Star System zeta UMa
Double Star: M 40
Meteor Showers: Alpha Ursa-Majoriden, Ursiden, Leoniden-Ursiden ...

Planet A body that orbits a star in a solar system and which shines only by reflected light. This image of Saturn is courtesy of NASA GSFC.
More about the planets...

Planet A Planetary Day (Rotational Period in Earth Day or Hours)
Mercury
58.65 days
Venus ...

planet: A spherical ball of rock and/or gas that orbits a star. The Earth is a planet. Our solar system has nine planets.

See also: Solar, Earth, Sun, Orbit, Light