ASK AN ALIEN ABOUT THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND SPACE EXPLORATION

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 AND DATE OF QUESTION 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!

14th January 2006
Do u believe in aliens?
I don't believe in aliens (apart from myself!) existing in the Solar System, especially resembling the any of the species that we find on Earth. I believe that if life does get discovered in the Solar System, it will be in an extremely basic form, I strongly believe that life can exist in some parts of the Solar System (eg, Mars, or Jupiter's moon, Europa). I also believe that there are many other planets just like Earth beyond the Solar System in the rest of the universe. If they have the right conditions (the ideal distance from their host star giving them a moderate climate, plus the existence of water) then there is a chance that life could develop in a similar way to how it developed on Earth.

Emma

 11th January 2006
Did men really go into space?
Yes, men really went into space. In fact, there are probably men currently in space on the International Space Station! Yuri Gagarin, a Russian cosmonaut, was the first man to fly into space in April 1961.

Scott (aged14) from the United Kingdom

11th December 2005
I am doing a school project on space and the solar system and I was wondering if you could e-mail me some of the planets gravitational pulls. It would be much appreciated.

You may find this page useful for your school project; it lists each of the planets and compares them to each other, including comparing each planet’s gravitational pulls to Earth’s.

The address is: http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/table.htm

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
Chris Evans from Australia

21st December 2004

 BOB I HAVE HEARD THAT EARTH COULD BECOME ANOTHER VENUS IN LESS THAN 300 YEARS IF HINGS GO REAL BAD. IS THIS POSSIBLE? I GOT THIS STORY FROM AN ASTRONOMER THANKS FOR AN "ASTONOMICAL"SITE CHRIS EVANS AUSTRALIA (21/12/04)  
9th December 2004 Are planets dead stars? Are planets dead suns? Planets are formed from the same gas and dust particles that make up stars. The entire contents of a Solar System like yours is made up of a spinning cloud of dust and gas called a nebula. Most of this dust and gas (also known as matter) gathers together in the centre. The combined chemicals ignite into a massive ball of heat and light and form a star (such as the Sun). The rest of the matter clumps together over billions of years to form the planets, moons, and other objects. So, planets are not dead stars - they are simply the left-over matter from the formation of a star.
13th December 2004 What was the first space probe? The first space probe was Sputnik ("Little Moon") launched by the Soviet Union on 4th October 1957. After completing about 1400 orbits of Earth, it reentered the atmosphere on 3rd January 1958 and burned up.
4th January 2005 Is it true that a rocket will be fired up toward an asteroid that is heading to Earth? It is believed that life on Earth was almost wiped out when a comet/asteroid hit the planet 65 million years ago, leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs. It is also believed that the same could happen again. As far as scientists are aware though, there are no comets or asteroids on a collision course for Earth at the moment (although some do come quite close! An asteroid in 2028 may come within 30,000 km of Earth). However, this doesn't stop them coming up with ideas of what they would do if the situation came up. One of those ideas is to send a rocket, or rockets, to any possible asteroid to either deflect it (using bombs) or destroy it. Currently though, the only place to experience this kind of event would be in movies - both the films Deep Impact and Armageddon were about asteroids heading for Earth and the efforts to stop them.