The Andromeda Galaxy, named after the mythological Princess Andromeda, also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224, is a spiral galaxy.

Andromeda was born 10 billion years ago out of the merger of many smaller protogalaxies and then, around 8 billion years ago, it ran head-on into another galaxy to form a giant that became the M31 galaxy we see today.

At just 2.5 million light years away, this large, bright galaxy is visible with the naked eye. On a clear night, with a very dark sky, it can be seen as a diffuse blur, with the central region clearly visible through a good pair of binoculars. Larger telescopes provide even more-spectacular views of this impressive galaxy.

Andromeda is over 2.5 times longer than the entire Milky Way and appears longer than the full Moon in the night sky.

Andromeda galaxy also contains around twice the number of stars as our own galaxy, according to observations made by the Spitzer Space Telescope.

Andromeda is blue-shifted, meaning it’s moving towards us. Both the Milky Way and Andromeda are moving towards each other at a rate of 120 kilometres (75 miles) a second, putting them on course for a galactic smash- up in around 4 billion years.

The first photographs of Andromeda were taken in 1887, by Isaac Roberts.

Source: www.spaceanswers.com
Image Credit: http://www.sci-news.com

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A comet is a very small solar system body made mostly of ices mixed with smaller amounts of dust and rock. Most comets are no larger than a few kilometres across. The main body of the comet is called the nucleus, and it can contain water, methane, nitrogen and other ices.

When a comet is heated by the Sun, its ices begin to sublimate (similar to the way dry ice “fizzes” when you leave it in sunlight). The mixture of ice crystals and dust blows away from the comet nucleus in the solar wind, creating a pair of tails. The dust tail is what we normally see when we view comets from Earth.
(Source: www.space-facts.com)

• Facts:
  Sometimes comets are referred to as “dirty snowballs” or “cosmic snowballs”. This is because they are composed mostly of ice, rock, gas and dust.
• A comet has four components: a nucleus, a coma, a dust tail and an ion tail.
• Comets are believed to originate in one of two regions – the theorized Oort Cloud, or the Kuiper Belt found beyond the orbit of Neptune and the dwarf planet Pluto.
• The most famous comet is Halley’s Comet. It has been observed since at least 240 B.C. Its orbit makes it visible from Earth every 76 years. It was named after the British astronomer Edmond Halley.
• Notable comets include Comet Hale-Bopp, which was discovered in 1995 and Comet Hyakutake, discovered in 1996.
• There are over 3,000 currently known comets. Scientists believe that there be up to one billion comets in our solar system.
• A great comet is one which is bright enough to be visible from Earth without the need for a telescope. Approximately one great comet happens every ten years.
  (Source: www.theplanets.org)

Image Credit: www.space.com

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The Helix Nebula, also known as The Helix, NGC 7293, is a large planetary nebula (PN) located in the constellation Aquarius. Discovered by Karl Ludwig Harding, probably before 1824, this object is one of the closest to the Earth of all the bright planetary nebulae.

The estimated distance is about 215 parsecs (700 light-years). Discovered in the 18th century, these colorful beauties were named for their resemblance to gas-giant planets like Jupiter.

Despite their name, planetary nebulas have nothing to do with planets. Rather, the term refers to their superficial resemblance to giant planets, when observed through early telescopes.

The Helix Nebula has sometimes been referred to as the “Eye of God” in pop culture, as well as the “Eye of Sauron”.

Source: www.en.wikipedia.org
Image Credit: www.jpl.nasa.gov

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The Milky Way Galaxy is our home galaxy in the universe. Milky Way is a Galaxy that comprises of our solar system.

The Milky Way began forming around 12 billion years ago and is part of a group of about 50 galaxies called the Local Group.

A galaxy is a huge bunch of stars clustered together in space. Our solar system—which includes the sun, Earth, and seven other planets—is part of this galaxy

All the stars and planets you can see are part of the Milky Way galaxy. Our galaxy is called the Milky Way because it appears as a milky band of light in the sky when you see it in a really dark area.

The descriptive “milky” is derived from the appearance from Earth of the galaxy – a band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye.

Milky Way Galaxy, large spiral system is estimated to contain 100–400 billion stars.

There are probably at least 100 billion planets in the Milky Way.

There are billions of other galaxies in the Universe. Only three galaxies outside our own Milky Way Galaxy can be seen without a telescope, and appear as fuzzy patches in the sky with the naked eye.

Source: www.en.wikipedia.org / www.imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov / www.kids.nationalgeographic.com
Image Credit: www.kids.nationalgeographic.com

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A galaxy is a huge collection of gas, dust, and billions of stars and their solar systems. A galaxy is held together by gravity. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, also has a super massive black hole in the middle.

Examples of galaxies range from dwarfs with as few as ten million stars to giants with a hundred trillion stars or more, each orbiting through their galaxy. There are probably more than 170 billion galaxies in the observable universe.

Some galaxies are spiral-shaped like ours. They have curved arms that make it look like a pinwheel. Other galaxies are smooth and oval shaped. They’re called elliptical galaxies. And there are also galaxies that aren’t spirals or ovals. They have irregular shapes and look like blobs. The light that we see from each of these galaxies comes from the stars inside it.

Source: www.spaceplace.nasa.gov
Image Credit: www.en.wikipedia.or

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***In 2006, the planet Pluto got demoted from planet to dwarf planet by The International Astronomical Union (IAU), the body that is responsible for naming and classifying objects in the cosmos. Over a decade later, this error was finally corrected by IAU and announced that Pluto has been reclassified as a major planet. So, once again, the solar system has nine planets. ***

Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 and was originally considered to be the ninth planet from the Sun.

Pluto is a dwarf planet. A dwarf planet travels around, or orbits, the sun just like other planets. But it is much smaller.

Pluto is in an area of space called the Kuiper (KY-per) Belt. Thousands of small, icy objects like Pluto but smaller are in the Kuiper Belt.

Pluto was named by Venetia Burney, an eleven year old girl from England.

Pluto takes 248 Earth years to go around the sun. If you lived on Pluto, you would have to wait 248 Earth years to celebrate your first birthday. One day on Pluto is about 6 1/2 days on Earth.

Pluto is very, very cold. It is much colder than Antarctica. It is so cold that Earth’s air would freeze into a kind of snow there.

Pluto has less gravity than Earth. This means a person would weigh much less on Pluto than on Earth.

Pluto has five moons. Its largest moon is named Charon (KAIR-ən). Charon is about half the size of Pluto. Pluto’s four other moons are named Kerberos, Styx, Nix and Hydra.

On July 14, 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft became the first spacecraft to fly by Pluto. During its brief flyby, New Horizons made detailed measurements and observations of Pluto and its moons.

Source: www.en.wikipedia.org / www.space.com
Image Credit: www.futurism.com

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Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun in the Solar System. Neptune is not visible to the naked eye. It was first observed through a telescope on September 23, 1846.

Neptune was the first planet located through mathematical predictions rather than through regular observations of the sky.

It was named after the Roman god of the sea.

Neptune, like Uranus, is an ice giant. It’s similar to a gas giant. It is made of thick soup of water, ammonia and methane flowing over a solid core about the size of Earth.

Neptune goes around the sun once roughly every 165 Earth years, and completed its first orbit, since being discovered, in 2011.

Neptune takes 18 hours to make one rotation. This is because Neptune is not solid body.

Neptune is encircled by six rings, but they are very hard to see. Neptune is dark, cold, and very windy. One of the largest storms ever seen was recorded in 1989. Neptune’s winds can reach up to 1,500 mph (2,400 km/h), the fastest detected yet in the solar system.

Neptune has a storm similar the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. It is commonly known as the Great Dark Spot and is roughly the size of Earth.

Neptune has 13 known moons and one unconfirmed moon. The largest Neptunian moon, Triton which is extremely cold with temperatures on its surface reaching about minus 391 degrees F (minus 235 degrees C), making it one of the coldest places in the solar system.Triton was discovered just 17 days after Neptune itself was discovered.

The atmosphere of Neptune is made of hydrogen and helium, with some methane.The methane absorbs red light, which makes the planet appear a lovely blue. But the cause of Neptune’s bluish tinge remains a mystery.

Only one spacecraft, the Voyager 2, has flown past Neptune. It happened in 1989 and captured the first close-up images of the Neptunian system. It took 246 minutes – four hours and six minutes – for signals from Voyager 2 to reach back to Earth.

Source: www.spacefacts.com/www.spaceplace.nasa.gov/www.theplanets.org
Image Credit: www.en.wikipedia.org

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Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It is the third largest planet by diameter but smaller in mass than Neptune.

Uranus is the only planet whose name is derived from a figure from Greek mythology. It was named for Uranus, the Greek god of the sky.

Uranus became the first planet discovered with the use of a telescope. It was discovered by Sir William Herschel in 1781.

It rotates at a nearly 90-degree angle from the plane of its orbit. This unique tilt makes Uranus appear to spin on its side, orbiting the sun like a rolling ball.

Uranus has 13 known rings and 27 moons.

One day on Uranus takes about 17 hours (the time it takes for Uranus to rotate or spin once). And Uranus makes a complete orbit around the sun (a year in Uranian time) in about 84 Earth years (30,687 Earth days).

Uranus is often referred to as an “ice giant” planet. It is the coldest temperatures in the solar system with minimum atmospheric temperature of -224°C.

Uranus wind speeds can reach up to 900 km per hour. This is roughly 560 miles per hour.

Uranus is the second least dense planet in the solar system, after Saturn.

The Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have flown by Uranus. On January 24 1986, the spacecraft swept past the planet at a distance of 81,500 km. It returned the first close-up images of the planet, its moons, and rings.

Image Credit: www.spaceplace.nasa.gov

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Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter.

Saturn is named after the Roman god of agriculture. Saturn was the Roman name for Cronus, the lord of the Titans in Greek mythology. Saturn is the root of the English word “Saturday.”

Galileo was the first to observe it with a telescope in 1610.

Saturn is visible to the naked eye but its rings can be seen through a telescope.

Saturn is 886 million miles, or 1426 million kilometres, from the Sun.

Saturn is the flattest planet.

Saturn With thousands of beautiful ringlets is unique among the planets.

Saturn is a gas giant made up mostly of hydrogen and helium.

Saturn orbits the Sun once every 29.4 Earth years. One day on Saturn is 10.5 hours

Saturn spins faster than any other planet except Jupiter, completing a rotation roughly every 10-and-a-half hours.

Saturn has at least 62 moons. The largest moons are Titan and Rhea.

Four spacecraft have visited Saturn:
Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and 2, and the Cassini-Huygens mission have all studied the planet. Cassini continues to orbit Saturn, sending back a wealth of data about the planet, its moons, and rings.

Saturn’s environment is not favourable to life as the temperatures, pressures, radiation levels and materials that characterize this planet are most likely too extreme and fluctuating for organisms to adapt to.

Its slow movement against the backdrop of stars earned it the nickname of “Lubadsagush” from the ancient Assyrians. The name means “oldest of the old”.

Source: www.space.com / www.space-facts.com
Image Credit: www.nasa.gov

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Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System.

Jupiter is named for the king of ancient Roman gods. To the Greeks, it represented Zeus, the god of thunder. The Mesopotamians saw Jupiter as the god Marduk and patron of the city of Babylon. Germanic tribes saw this planet as Donar, or Thor.

Jupiter is called a gas giant planet as it is primarily made up of hydrogen gas and helium gas, like the sun. The planet is covered in thick red, brown, yellow and white clouds. The clouds make the planet look like it has stripes.

It is one of five planets visible to the naked eye from Earth.

Jupiter is so large that all of the other planets in the solar system could fit inside it. More than 1,300 Earths would fit inside Jupiter.

One of Jupiter’s most famous features is the Great Red Spot. It is a giant spinning storm, resembling a hurricane.

Jupiter rotates, or spins, faster than any other planet. One rotation equals one day. It turns on its axis once every 9 hours and 55 minutes. Jupiter orbits the Sun once every 11.8 Earth years.

The temperature in the clouds of Jupiter is about minus 145 degrees Celsius (minus 234 degrees Fahrenheit). The temperature near the planet’s center is much, much hotter. The core temperature may be about 24,000 degrees Celsius (43,000 degrees Fahrenheit). That’s hotter than the surface of the sun.

Jupiter has 53 confirmed moons, as well as 14 provisional ones — for a possible total of 67 moons. These newly discovered, provisional moons are reported by astronomers and acknowledged with a temporary designation by the International Astronomical Union. Once their orbits are confirmed, they are included in Jupiter’s confirmed moon count.

So far eight spacecraft have visited Jupiter.  Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, Galileo, Cassini, Ulysses, and New Horizons missions. The Juno mission is its way to Jupiter and will arrive in July 2016. Other future missions may focus on the Jovian moons Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, and their subsurface oceans.

Source: www.nasa.gov / www.space-facts.com
Image Credit: www.pics-about-space.com

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