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ASK AN
ALIEN ABOUT VENUS |
Questions and
answers about other objects
- The Sun - Mercury -
Venus - Earth - The Moon -
Mars - Jupiter - Saturn -
Uranus - Neptune - Pluto
and Dwarf Planets -
- Asteroids and Comets -
Stars and Galaxies -
Website
IF YOU HAVE
A QUESTION THAT YOU WOULD LIKE ANSWERING, SEND AN EMAIL TO
ME USING THIS FORM AND I'LL ATTEMPT TO ANSWER IT.
TO SUBMIT A QUESTION, YOU NEED TO INCLUDE
YOUR NAME AND AN EMAIL ADDRESS. IF YOU WOULD LIKE THEM TO BE INCLUDED WITH
QUESTION, YOU CAN ALSO ADD YOUR AGE AND LOCATION IN THE QUESTION BOX.
| QUESTION |
ANSWER |
Chris
from Staffordshire in the United Kingdom asked:
I need help. I am doing a
project on the solar system. I need to know how the earth formed and what
are the effects of the big bang now and why are we still seeing the after
effects of it now and how long until it stops. |
The Earth formed from a huge
cloud of swirling dust and gasses (known as matter). Most of this matter was
attracted to the centre of the cloud and chemical reactions causing heat and
light resulted in the formation of the Sun. The rest of it (about 1%) made
up the planets and moons of the solar system. Basically the dust and gasses
joined together until they formed rocks, which then were attracted to other
rocks, and eventually they formed giant spheres, Earth being one of them. 4
of the planets were made up of gas which joined together, so these planets
don't have a solid surface like Earth.
The Big Bang caused the
entire Universe to form. The Sun is just one of billions of stars in
millions of galaxies which formed from a huge explosion of matter at the Big
Bang. The reason we can see the after effects of the Big Bang is that some
of the stars that we can see from the Earth are so far away that the light
from them has taken millions of years to reach Earth. The Sun is 8 light
minutes away from the Earth, so when you look at the Sun, you are seeing it
as it was 8 minutes ago. The next nearest star appears as it did just over 4
years ago. Other stars appear as they did billions of years ago because the
light takes that long to reach Earth. So, a theory exists that if we look
far enough, we might be able to see back to the beginning of the Big Bang.
Another after effect of the Big Bang is the continued formation of stars and
planets and the expansion of the Universe (it's getting bigger!). We will
probably never see the after effects of the Big Bang!
Hope that helps you with your
project!
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| Hi
Bob. Can you give me some facts about Earth, Sun and The Moon? |
You can find ten fascinating
facts and theories about each planet in the Solar System and the Sun in each
of their sections on this very website! Below are the links the the fact
pages for Earth, Sun and the Moon:
Earth:
http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/earthten.htm
The Sun: http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/sunten.htm
The Moon: http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/moonten.htm
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| How far is Venus away from
the sun compared to Earth?
|
Venus orbits
the Sun at an average distance of 108,160,000 kilometres (67,000,000
miles). Earth orbits the Sun at an average distance of 149,600,000
kilometres (92,960,000 miles). Although this means there is a distance of
over 4 million kilometres between the two planets, they are the two
closest planets in the Solar System.
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| Bob
I have heard that Earth could become another Venus in less that 300 years
if things go real bad. Is this possible? I got this story from an
astronomer. Thanks for an "astronomical" site.
|
Global warming, or the
"Greenhouse Effect" is a major concern for Earth today. Earth's
atmosphere is made up mainly of nitrogen and oxygen but contains a small
amount of carbon dioxide. Mainly through the burning of fossil fuels, this
amount of carbon dioxide has increased, resulting in a gradual rise of the
average surface temperature on Earth. Higher temperatures mean rising sea
levels (through the slow melting of polar ice caps) and extreme weather and
it is without doubt that if something isn't done soon, permanent damage
could be done to the planet. Venus is often seen as a planet with a runaway
greenhouse effect. Its atmosphere is so full of carbon dioxide that heat
received from the Sun simply cannot escape. Whereas it is possible that
Earth could one day become another Venus, it is unlikely to happen for many
thousands, if not millions, of years. It is important that Venus is studied
to try to find out how it got into its current state and to do this we need
to find out about the planet's history and whether Venus was ever like Earth
is now (did it ever have watery oceans and breathable atmosphere?). This is
difficult due to Venus being incredibly inhospitable. But, by researching
Venus, we may be able to find out what lies in store for Earth some day in
the distant future. This doesn't mean that we don't need to do anything to
prevent global warming now. Although it will be a long time before Earth
possibly becomes another Venus, other effects of global warming will be
experienced much sooner if people don't start to look after their planet.
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