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The observable universe is a spherical region of the universe consisting of all matter that can be observed from Earth or its space-based telescopes and exploratory probes at the present time; the electromagnetic radiation from these objects has had time to reach the Solar System and Earth since the beginning of the cosmological expansion.
Parts-per-million chart of the relative mass distribution of the Solar System, each cubelet denoting 2 × 10 24 kg. This article includes a list of the most massive known objects of the Solar System and partial lists of smaller objects by observed mean radius. These lists can be sorted according to an object's radius and mass and, for the most ...
NASA's Parker Solar Probe is intended to approach the Sun to a distance of approximately 9.5 solar radii to investigate coronal heating and the origin of the solar wind. It was successfully launched on August 12, 2018 [ 36 ] and by late 2022 had completed the first 13 of more than 20 planned close approaches to the Sun. [ 37 ]
Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System, with more than twice the mass of all the other planets combined. [5] Consideration of sending a probe to Jupiter began as early as 1959. [6] NASA's Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) for Outer Solar System Missions considered the requirements for Jupiter orbiters and atmospheric probes.
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was an American robotic space probe developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. MGS was a global mapping mission that examined the entire planet, from the ionosphere down through the atmosphere to the surface. [1]
Helios 2 set a maximum speed record among spacecraft at about 247,000 kilometers per hour (153,000 mph) relative to the Sun (68.6 kilometers per second (42.6 mi/s) or 0.000229c). [24] The Helios space probes completed their primary missions by the early 1980s, but they continued to send data up to 1985.
If the Solar System were such a binary system, the outer limits of the resulting circumstellar habitable zone could extend as far as 2.4 AU. [ 79 ] [ 80 ] With regard to spectral types, Zoltán Balog proposes that O-type stars cannot form planets due to the photoevaporation caused by their strong ultraviolet emissions. [ 81 ]
The Voyager probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, refined measurements of its size, while Galileo discovered its underground ocean and magnetic field. The next planned mission to the Jovian system is the European Space Agency 's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), which was launched in 2023. [ 29 ]