MOONS OF THE PLANETS

This page lists the 198 known moons of all the planets in our solar system. Every so
often new moons are discovered for the outer dwarf planets.
Mercury Moons = 0
Mercury is too close to the Sun to hold on to a moon.
Venus Moons = 0
Venus may have had a moon in the distant past, which collided with another object and
then impacted Venus.
Earth Moons = 1
Earth also has several quasi-satellites, asteroid 2016 HO3 being the closest with the most
stable orbit.
Mars Moons = 2, Jupiter Moons = 79 ,Saturn Moons = 62, Uranus Moons = 27, Neptune
Moons = 14

Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf, these stars have less than half the mass of our sun.
At 4.2 light years away Proxima Centauri is the nearest star to the sun, but as it is so
small and dim it cannot be viewed with the naked eye.
The star can be found in the Centaurus constellation, a centaur is a Greek mythological
half man half horse creature, proxima is Latin for next or nearest.
The red dwarf Proxima Centauri is part of the three star Alpha Centauri system, the other
two stars, Alpha Centauri A and B, are similar to our own sun.
Proxima Centauri is extremely distant from its two companions, orbiting them at a
distance of around 1.2 trillion miles (1.9 trillion km).
Stars like our sun exist for a few billion years, red dwarfs like Proxima Centauri burn their
fuel at a much lower rate and can therefore exist far longer.
In August 2016 it was announced that an Earth sized planet had been discovered orbiting
the habitable zone around Proxima Centauri, the planet named Proxima b could possibly
have liquid water on its surface.
Proxima b is the closest known planet outside our solar system.
The star Proxima Centauri was discovered in 1915 by the Scottish born astronomer
Robert Innes.
The red dwarf star Proxima Centauri can be seen in the center of this telescopic image.
Proxima Centauri Radius
Proxima Centauri is a very small red dwarf with a radius of around 60,000 miles (97,000
km), which is around 14% the size of our sun.
Proxima Centauri Mass
Proxima Centauri is estimated to have a mass of around 12% of that of the sun.
Proxima Centauri Temperature
Proxima Centauri is estimated to have surface temperatures of around 3000C (5400F),
around 55% as hot as the sun.
Proxima Centauri Luminosity (energy emitted)
Red dwarfs emit far less energy than larger stars, its luminosity is less than one percent
of that of our sun.
Proxima Centauri Statistics
Also Known As: Alpha Centauri C , Distance From Earth: 4.2 light years, Constellation:
Centaurus
Star Type: Red Dwarf - M Class , Mass: 12% of the Sun, Luminosity: 0.17% of the Sun
Diameter: 120,000 miles (193,000 km) - 14% of the Sun ,Temperature: Approx 3,000C
(5,400F)
Age: Approx 5 billion years old , Rotation Period: 84 days

This is how many people we’d have to send to Proxima Centauri to make sure someone
actually arrives
Since it would take at least 6,300 years to reach the closest star to our sun, enough men
and women to produce many genetically healthy generations would need to make the
trip.
If humans are ever to colonize the galaxy, we will need to make the trip to a nearby star
with a habitable planet. Last year, astronomers raised the possibility that our nearest
neighbor, Proxima Centauri, has several potentially habitable exoplanets that could fit
the bill.
Proxima Centauri is 4.2 light-years from Earth, a distance that would take about 6,300
years to travel using current technology. Such a trip would take many generations.
Indeed, most of the humans involved would never see Earth or its exoplanet counterpart.
These humans would need to reproduce with each other throughout the journey in a way
that guarantees arrival of a healthy crew at Proxima Centauri.
And that raises an interesting question. What is the smallest crew that could maintain a
genetically healthy population over that time frame?
Today, we get an answer thanks to the work of Frédéric Marin at the University of
Strasbourg and Camille Beluffi at the research company Casc4de, both in France. They
have calculated the likelihood of survival for various-sized missions and the breeding
rules that will be required to achieve success.
First, some background. Space scientists and engineers have studied various ways of
reaching nearby stars. The problem, of course, is the vast distances involved and the
comparatively sedate speeds that human spacecraft can manage.
Apollo 11 travelled at around 40,000 kilometers per hour, a speed that would take it to
Proxima Centauri in over 100,000 years. But spacecraft have since become faster. The
Parker Solar Probe, to be launched this year, will travel at more than 700,000 kilometers
per hour, about 0.067 percent the seed of light.

Global warming , also referred to as climate change, is the observed century-scale rise in
the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects. Multiple
lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming. [1][2][3] Many of the
observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature
record , which extends back to the mid-19th century, and in paleoclimate proxy records
of climate change over thousands of years. [4] The phenomenon is sometimes called "
anthropogenic global warming" or "anthropogenic climate change" in view of the
dominant role of human activity as its cause.

Global warming is the current increase in temperature of the Earth's surface (both land
and water) as well as it's atmosphere. Average temperatures around the world have risen
by 0.75°C (1.4°F) over the last 100 years about two thirds of this increase has occurred
since 1975. In the past, when the Earth experienced increases in temperature it was the
result of natural causes but today it is being caused by the accumulation of greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere produced by human activities.
The natural greenhouse effect maintains the Earth's temperature at a safe level making it
possible for humans and many other lifeforms to exist. However, since the Industrial
Revolution human activities have significantly enhanced the greenhouse effect causing
the Earth's average temperature to rise by almost 1°C. This is creating the global
warming we see today. To put this increase in perspective it is important to understand
that during the last ice age, a period of massive climate change, the average temperature
change around the globe was only about 5°C.
El Niño
El Niño means The Little Boy , or Christ Child in Spanish. El Niño was originally
recognized by fishermen off the coast of South America in the 1600s, with the
appearance of unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean. The name was chosen based
on the time of year (around December) during which these warm waters events tended to
occur.
The term El Niño refers to the large-scale ocean-atmosphere climate interaction linked to
a periodic warming in sea surface temperatures across the central and east-central
Equatorial Pacific.
Typical El Niño effects are likely to develop over North America during the upcoming
winter season. Those include warmer-than-average temperatures over western and
central Canada, and over the western and northern United States. Wetter-than-average
conditions are likely over portions of the U.S. Gulf Coast and Florida, while drier-than-
average conditions can be expected in the Ohio Valley and the Pacific Northwest. The
presence of El Niño can significantly influence weather patterns, ocean conditions, and
marine fisheries across large portions of the globe for an extended period of time.
La Niña
La Niña means The Little Girl in Spanish. La Niña is also sometimes called El Viejo , anti-
El Niño , or simply "a cold event. "
La Niña episodes represent periods of below-average sea surface temperatures across
the east-central Equatorial Pacific. Global climate La Niña impacts tend to be opposite
those of El Niño impacts. In the tropics, ocean temperature variations in La Niña also
tend to be opposite those of El Niño.
During a La Niña year, winter temperatures are warmer than normal in the Southeast and
cooler than normal in the Northwest.

Mars Exploration
The Mars Exploration Program is a science-driven program that seeks to understand
whether Mars was, is, or can be, a habitable world. To find out, we need to understand
how geologic, climatic, and other processes have worked to shape Mars and its
environment over time, as well as how they interact today.
Four Science Goals for Mars Exploration
The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be
found in the four broad, overarching goals for Mars Exploration:
Goal 1: Determine if Life ever arose on Mars.
Goal 2: Characterize the Climate of Mars.
Goal 3: Characterize the Geology of Mars.
Goal 4: Prepare for Human Exploration of Mars.
Our Exploration Strategy: Follow the Water!
To discover the possibilities for life on Mars--past, present or our own in the future--the
Mars Program has developed an exploration strategy known as "Follow the Water."
Following the water begins with an understanding of the current environment on Mars.
We want to explore observed features like dry riverbeds, ice in the polar caps and rock
types that only form when water is present. We want to look for hot springs,
hydrothermal vents or subsurface water reserves. We want to understand if ancient Mars
once held a vast ocean in the northern hemisphere as some scientists believe and how
Mars may have transitioned from a more watery environment to the dry and dusty climate
it has today. Searching for these answers means delving into the planet's geologic and
climate history to find out how, when and why Mars underwent dramatic changes to
become the forbidding, yet promising, planet we observe today.
Future Missions
To pursue these goals, all of our future missions will be driven by rigorous scientific
questions that will continuously evolve as we make new discoveries.
Brand new technologies will enable us to explore Mars in ways we never have before,
resulting in higher-resolution images, precision landings, longer-ranging surface
mobility and even the return of Martian soil and rock samples for studies in laboratories
here on Earth.

Phoning Home: Communicating from Mars

Communications With Earth
The NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) is an international network of antennas that
provide the communication links between the scientists and engineers on Earth to the
missions in space and on Mars.
The DSN consists of three deep-space communications facilities placed approximately
120 degrees apart around the world: at Goldstone, in California's Mojave Desert; near
Madrid, Spain; and near Canberra, Australia. This strategic placement permits constant
observation of spacecraft as the Earth rotates on its own axis.
Learn more about:
the size and strength of the DSN Antennas
how the DSN prevents "busy signals"
how the DSN helps engineers navigate the spacecraft during cruise
special signal tones the DSN received during entry, descent, and landing
how the rover can communicate through Mars-orbiting spacecraft
X-band radio waves used by the rover to communicate
how fast and how much data the rover can send back