The Earth, the solar system, the Milky Way and possibly other galaxies - advances in manned and unmanned space travel have opened up new horizons for science. What we know so far about the planets in our solar system and what researchers plan to do in the future.
1969, 1975, 2000: Since the middle of the 20th century, space exploration has shaped important moments in human history. In almost every manned and unmanned space flight, we cheer on the lift-off from afar and feel a collective sense of triumph when the mission successfully breaches Earth's atmosphere
Driven by the knowledge drive to learn more about the universe, researchers have collected vast amounts of data, images, and audio recordings from the planets in our solar system. These findings provide clues to learn even more about our planetary neighbors, the composition of the universe, and extraterrestrial life.
Mercury: Inside the solar system
The innermost planet in our solar system is Mercury. The space body is only 58 million kilometers away from the sun and takes about 59 Earth days to rotate once on its own axis. As a result, extreme temperatures prevail on Mercury's surface: on its sunny side, it can reach temperatures of up to 430 degrees Celsius, while on the opposite side the temperature drops to minus 170 degrees.
The inner structure and the magnetic field of Mercury are of particular interest to astronomers. To examine these more closely, the European space agency ESA launched its " BepiColombo " probe in 2018. The preparations have lasted 20 years, and now the mission is scheduled to arrive in 2025. It would only be the third mission to reach Mercury. In the 1970s, NASA's "Mariner 10" flew to a small rocky planet, and in the 2010s, the US space agency sent the " Messenger " spacecraft back to the planet.
Venus, our morning and evening star
Along with the Sun and the Moon, it appears as the brightest object in the sky: Venus. The reason for this is their dense cloud cover, which reflects a large part of the sunlight. The inner neighbor of the earth is clearly visible, especially in the morning and evening, which is why it is called the morning star and evening star, among other things.
However, cloud cover also has a serious disadvantage. Although Venus is in the habitable zone of the solar system, extraterrestrial life does not seem possible on it. Because the veil of clouds and the atmosphere of carbon dioxide, monoxide, oxygen and water vapor create a greenhouse effect that heats the surface temperature of Venus to almost 500 degrees Celsius.
NASA wants to find out how the “ inferno-like world ” came about with two unmanned missions by 2030 at the latest. While "DaVinci+" will analyze the atmosphere of Venus, "Veritas" will map the planet's surface.
The red planet Mars
After Mercury, Venus and Earth come to our outer neighbor Mars. Together, the space bodies mentioned are among the four rocky planets in our solar system. These have solid surfaces and, as the name suggests, consist mainly of rock.
Because of its proximity, Mars is an exciting target for unmanned spaceflight. In 2003, NASA launched its Mars Rover mission to gather knowledge about the geology of the red planet. A year later, the first two rovers landed, " Spirit " and " Opportunity ". They should be looking for formerly water-bearing areas on the planet.
The Curiosity rover followed in the summer of 2012. Researchers wanted to use the collected data to determine whether life would have been possible on Mars today or in the past.
Since the beginning of 2021, " Perseverance " has also been circulating on our neighboring planet. The special thing about the latest Mars missions is the mini-helicopter " Ingenuity ", with which audio samples could be taken from the surface of Mars for the first time.
Jupiter: The oldest planet in the solar system
Among the planets, Jupiter enjoys a certain prominence: next to the sun, it is not only the largest space body in our solar system, but also has the fastest autorotation of any planet. Jupiter is said to have played a central role in the formation of the planets. Astronomers from Munich proved just a few years ago that the gas giant was the first to form.
Especially the surface of Jupiter is of great relevance for researchers. Bands of clouds move along it and hurricanes rage, such as the " Great Red Spot ", which was discovered as early as the 17th century. Scientists today use computer programs and large telescopes to study these phenomena in more detail. In August 2020, the " Hubble " space telescope took new photos of a previously unknown, bright-white cyclone. It is assumed that this is a long-term weather event like the " Great Red Spot ".
Saturn and its rings
Anyone who looks at an image of our solar system will immediately recognize Saturn by one characteristic feature: its ring system. From the mission of the " Cassini " probe, we know that the rings differ in their composition as well as in their colors and temperatures. Essentially, however, they consist of rocks, ice crystals, and smaller particles.
Also like Jupiter, Saturn is an old gas giant that must have formed before the primordial cloud dissolved. The precise nature of the planet and its numerous moons is the focus of space science. In a current research approach, scientists are analyzing, for example, whether the methane-containing jets of water vapor and ice on Saturn's moon Enceladus are formed by extremophile microbes.
Uranus & Neptune: Ice giants at the edge of the planetary system
The light blue one Uranus and the deep blue Neptune form the counterpart to the red planet Mars. The first of the two space giants was discovered by the German-British astronomer Wilhelm Herschel in 1781, and the second by the German scientist Johann Gottfried Galle in 1846.
Both Neptune and Uranus belong to the group of ice giants. These are planets that have massive atmospheres and are made up of volatile chemical compounds. With the versatile postulated " Planet Nine " - a hypothetical planetary body in the outer solar system - researchers assume another ice giant.
Due to the extreme distance, only one mission has so far reached the seventh and eighth planets. Launched in 1977, Voyager 2 passed Uranus in 1986 and Neptune three years later. Since then, further missions have been proposed but not carried out. That could change in the next decade, however : in 2015, Nasa commissioned an orbiter for Neptune and Uranus that could be ready for launch in the late 2020s or early 2030s.
The dwarf planet Pluto
" ( Planet ) to be or not to be ": There is no space object with as much drama as Pluto. Until the 1990s, the body was considered the ninth planet in our solar system. However, in 2006 it was reclassified by the International Astronomical Union. The main reason for this was the small size of Pluto. In the orbit of the space object, there are other bodies whose total mass exceeds its mass. However, Pluto did not have to give up its planetary status entirely: Astronomers reclassified it as a “ dwarf planet ”.
Today, researchers are looking for other dwarf planets in the Milky Way. Farout, the most distant space object discovered so far, is also suspected to be a dwarf planet. In addition, a possible landing on Pluto is controlled. Based on the data and images collected by NASA's " New Horizons " probe in 2015, such a mission could be possible in the future.
Is there life on other planets?
Outside the solar system, however, there are other planets in the Milky Way that orbit stars other than the sun. Based on the data from NASA's " Kepler " mission, which was completed in 2018, astronomers assume that there must be billions of such so-called exoplanets . The search for them is the focus of many astronomers, because extraterrestrial life could even be possible on some exoplanets.
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