[Geography] Planets and Satellites, Mercury, Venus, The Earth & Mars

Some Notable Facts About Various Planets and Satellites

Mercury, Venus,The Earth & Mars

Mercury

• Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun.

• It is extremely hot planet.

• The planet has no water on it.

• Mercury planet has no gases like CO₂, N₂, H₂, and O₂ which can act as building blocks of life.

• Mercury planet has no protective blanket like Ozone around it to prevent us from harmful radiations.

Venus

• Venus is the second planet in distance from the Sun. This planet is nearest to the Earth and is also the brightest planet.

• Venus is known as the “Evening Star” as well as “Morning Star”.

• Venus is surrounded by a thick cloud cover, hence known as the “Veiled Planet” veil ‘means unclear/cover).

• Venus is like the Earth in size and mass, and hence also known as the “Earth’s twin”.

• Venus is a very hot planet.

• Venus has no water on it.

• There is no sufficient oxygen on the Venus.

The Earth

• Earth is the largest of the inner planets.

• The Earth is 23 ½ ° tilted on its axis and thus makes 66 ½ ° angle.

• It takes 23 hours 56 minutes and 4.091 seconds to rotate on its axis.

• It takes 365 days, 5 hours and 48 minutes to revolve around the Sun.

• Earth is known as the “watery planet” or the “blue planet” due to the presence of huge amount of water on it.

• The Earth is the only known planet which provides sustenance or life it. It has a large quantity of oxygen which supports life.

• The earth has all the essential elements like carbon (in the form of CO₂) , hydrogen ( H₂), nitrogen ( N₂) an oxygen ( O₂) which act as building blocks for the origin of life.

• The earth is neither to hot nor too cold. It has ‘Goldilock Zone’.

• ‘Goldilock Zone’ is the habitable Zone of solar system where all conditions are available for life to sustain.

• The earth has a lot of water in the form of lakes, rivers and oceans for growth and survival of life.

• The earth has enough oxygen gas in its atmosphere for the survival of living beings through breathing.

• The earth has a protective blanket of ozone layer high up in its atmosphere to save life from the harmful ultraviolet radiations coming from the sun.

Mars

• Iron-rich red soil and pink sky of Mars give it the name, “Red Planet”.

• Phobos and Demos are two satellites of Mars.