Solar System

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Infp74	16th January 2000

Me and my friends were discussing the wonders of the solar system then one of them mentioned that she is suspicious of the fact that the American astronauts really landed on the moon on July 20,1969. She said that it was a conspiracy theory all part of the cold war between the U.S and ex Russia. She argued, later when the Soviets launched Luna 2 on September 12,1959 the Americans felt threatened by the Russians space advances, the Americans staged a spurious landing on the Moon. What's your opinion about this? Thank you. I have also heard this theory before, but I have to say that I think there is a lot of real evidence to show that the Moon landings really did happened. Firstly, the samples of lunar soil collected during the missions are like nothing you could find on Earth. They had never been exposed to water or free oxygen on the Moon, very different from anything of terrestrial origin. Also, laser reflectors were left on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts, which are still being used today to accurately measure the distance to the Moon to an accuracy of a few centimetres. So while no argument is completely water-tight and you could probably explain these facts with ever more complicated conspiracy theories, I honestly think there is far more reason to believe that we did go to the Moon than we didn't.
Heather Colon	16th January 2000

I am a third grade teacher and I am interested in any information you can send my students. Thank you! I'm afraid that I don't really have any information that I can send by post. However if you are looking for educational material in astronomy you might want to take a look at the International Astronomical Union education pages. They also produce a monthly newsletter which sometimes includes projects for students of varying abilities. Here is an example of a project to determine star magnitudes.
LOVELY80SSYLA	15th January 2000

I would like to know the gravity of all the moons in the solar system. The strength of the force of gravity is determined by the mass of an object. You can find the masses of most of the major moons in the solar system in the Datastore.
Lizzi Hart	15th January 2000

I think that you should have a quiz that a person can actually interact with; like one that a person can choose answers and later see if they're correct, not just something that they can guess at. Because of my Earth Science teacher, I am really into the solar system, and I thank him for that. When I noticed your website, I thought that it would be something interesting, something that I could learn things from. But now I know that you have to add facts, make it more interesting. I would like to commend you on the pictures, though. They are really good. They are the same as others but these have really good color to them. Your wish is my command! I have been working on a new version of the quiz and this question encouraged me to complete it. You can take the all new interactive quiz now!
Wmf89n	15th January 2000

My 5 year old son Kevin has several questions about Mercury: Does Mercury have volcanoes? If so, does lava come out? Thank you. Mercury doesn't have any volcanoes. In fact there hasn't been any geological activity on Mercury for a long time. We can tell this because it is covered in craters - if lava had erupted across the surface recently there would be smooth patches with less craters. Two places in the solar system that do have volcanoes are Mars and Io, one of Jupiter's moons.
Aslin	13th January 2000

How far is each planet from the Sun? How could this be displayed with the Sun let's say being about the size of a quarter? My scale model page gives a visual representation of the size of the solar system, with 1 pixel equal to 2000 kilometres. If you have a JavaScript enabled browser you can calculate the distances to the planets on the Build a solar system page. A quick check shows that if the Sun is around 2cm in radius, Pluto would orbit at a distance of 85 metres! Watch this space for a new feature coming soon to the Virtual Solar System. I am currently working on a datastore containing all the hard facts you might ever want to know about the solar system.
James Williams	10th January 2000

Hi great site. I'm 13 years old and I live in Birmingham, England. I was wondering whether you could recommend any astronomy magazines (if there are any!) and how much they are and where I can get them from. Thanx. One of the best (and most commonly available) magazines on astronomy is Sky & Telescope. It contains information for astronomers of all levels, and should be available from a good newsagent.
Charitha Herath	10th January 2000

This site really amazing. I'm also constructing a web page about the solar system for my school project and this page really inspired me. Thank you.
Candy	10th January 2000

Hi. I have a really hard science project due where I have to design a voyage to and a return trip from Earth to Saturn, I have to design a space vehicle that will take me there and I have to know the dimensions and weight of the space vehicle and also the launch day date and time, return date of the vehicle can you give me any tips?? Travelling to other planets is a tricky business (just ask the people in charge of the recent Mars probes). Fortunately for you there is a probe called Cassini which is on its way to Saturn right now. You can even see where it is on its journey right now. For further information on the perils of space, take a look at Nasa's Spaceflight workbook.
peace88815	10th January 2000

What time of year can you see Neptune in the sky at night by telescope or binoculars? I'm not really an expert at this kind of thing, but I suspect that it would be very difficult to observe Neptune with binoculars or a small telescope because it is so far away. For information on what you can see, try the Skywatching Centre for a new sight every day.

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