Ask an Alien! - Earth - Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System

ASK AN ALIEN ABOUT EARTH

Questions and answers about other objects
- The Sun - Mercury - Venus - Earth - The Moon - Mars - Jupiter - Saturn - Uranus - Neptune - Pluto & Dwarf Planets - Asteroids & Comets - Stars & Galaxies - Solar System (general) & Space Exploration -

IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION THAT YOU WOULD LIKE ANSWERING, PLEASE SEND IT TO: askanalien@bobthealien.co.uk

SENDER	QUESTION	ANSWER
Chris from Staffordshire in the United Kingdom 2nd February 2006	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!
7th January 2006	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
7th December 2005	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.
Chris Evans from Australia 21st December 2004	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.