Why some moons rotate differently than other moons.

Published on 18 Sep 2011 at 12:00 am. Comments Off.
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Many celestial bodies, including moons, are known to rotate, or spin on an axis. Different moons rotate in different directions and at different rates. The reason for these differences is that different forces are acting, and have acted in the past, on the different moons. Usually, properties of the planet that a moon orbits around have the greatest effect on the direction and rate of the rotation of that moon.

Nearly every moon in our solar system rotates roughly in the same direction of the planet (more…)

Top three best times to watch meteorites.

Published on 17 Sep 2011 at 12:00 am. Comments Off.
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Meteorites are actually meteors, or shooting stars, that have fallen to earth. The best time to watch meteors are during a moonless night where there-s very little light pollution. The observer will probably see a meteor streak across the sky every ten minutes. It-s best to watch with the naked eye, as binoculars or telescopes will simply limit what the viewer can see.

Several times a year the earth passes through meteor showers, (more…)

Can comets actually cause gravitational pull on planets?

Published on 14 Sep 2011 at 12:00 am. Comments Off.
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What happens when a comet passes close to a planet? Can it exert a gravitational pull on that planet? We would hope not, because there are over four thousand known comets, and over a trillion comet like bodies in the solar system. Comets are of such insignificant size and mass that they cannot pull a planet out of course, much to the chagrin of science fiction doomsday fans.

Comets are made up of icy volatile gases and organic compounds. As the comet is exposed to solar radiation its volatile gases vaporize. It is thought that these vaporizing plumes of volatile (more…)

Reasons why sun spots are so interesting to watch.

Published on 11 Sep 2011 at 12:00 am. Comments Off.
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Sunspots are interesting to watch because they only come around every eleven years or so. Why eleven years? No one really knows.

A sunspot is found on the surface of the sun, or the photosphere. They-re dark because they-re cooler than the area around them. Their magnetic field is also extremely strong, about 3,000 times stronger than the rest of the sun. They even have magnetic poles. Though they look tiny on the sun-s surface, they (more…)