Adler Planetarium

This post is all about the planets. I will cover every Planet except the Sun and Pluto. I learned all the information in this post from the Adler Planetarium in Chicago Illinois. My favorite planet is Saturn or Neptune. I wish Earth had more moons for us to explore and populate. I believe there are probably other life forms in other Galaxies or on other planets in our galaxy. I think it is really cool that we landed people on the moon but I think it is about time that we take another series of trips. I am Exited for you to read all about the planets and I hope you learn at least Five Fun Facts about each one! 🙂

Earth

Earth is the Planet we live on. (Duh) It is Blue and Green, these colors make up the ocen and gorgeous land. It is currently the only planet that can sustain humane life. The Earth’s health is rapidly declining and we should work to keep it alive and more healthy. If we don’t, start imagining living on the other planets, you will learn about them and their harsh conditions soon. First we are going to learn Five Fun Facts about earth. Along with a Fact that links earth to another planet.

  • 3rd Planet From the Sun
  • Has Four inner Zones, Crust, Mantle, Outer Core, Inner Core.
  • The core is 800 miles in diamiter
  • The Crust is 5-25 miles Thick
  • 93,000,000 Miles from the Sun

Our Relational Planet Fact for earth is….. Earth and one other planet have polar Ice caps. Please Guesse wich other planet before.

Mars

Mars also known as the red planet, is (true to its name) Red. Humans have been exploring it for years and have discover there was once water on this barren planet. Just to clear up any confusion, humans have been exploring it by employing robots and droids to do the work; not exploring it using themselves. Now for the Five Fun Facts about Mars.

  • Mars has two moons
  • Mars’ atmosphere is so impecably thin that water cant exist as a liquid
  • Mars is 142,000,000 miles from the sun
  • Fourth planet from the sun
  • Mars has four Zones, Crust, Mantel, Liquid outer core, Solid Inner Core

The Planet Relational Fact is, Mars has the Same inner zones as…

Venus

Venus looks like a swirl of Red, Orange, and Yellow and in my opinion looks like marbled doughnuts. There is not a-lot to say about Venus exept that it is big and a planet. Now the Five Fun Facts

  • 67,108,000 miles from the sun
  • 6 robots or droids have been sent to explore, none have returned alive. Of course they have not, there stuck there for the rest or there electrical lives!
  • Venus’ atmosphere is the thickest of all the inner planets
  • Venus’ has a dry, dessert like surface
  • Venus’ Volcanos are 10-100 times bigger than Earth’s Volcanos

The Planet Relational fact is , Venus and another planet same the same color range. The other planet is…..

Saturn

Saturn looks like a perfectly blended painted ball with rings around it. It is my favorite planet because of the rings ,and if you compare it with earth, imagine a watermelon next to a blueberry. The rings around Saturn are made mainly of Ice. The chunks of Ice range from the size of a house, a grain of sand thick. If you stood on the top side of the rings you could dig a hole through the rings to the southern hemisphere of Saturn! Now for the Five Fun Facts.

  • 885,000,000 miles from the sun
  • This planet had no crust! It is only Atmosphere
  • 6th Planet From the Sun
  • Its Rings are only 30 Ft tall
  • Earth is minuscule compared to Saturn. Compare a pillow to a blueberry.

The Planet Relational Fact is, Saturn is a Gas Gient just like……

Jupeter

Jupiter is also a gas giant and when I say giant I mean giant. It is 460.43 Million miles from the sun! It has rings but not rings like Saturn. Its rings are stripes of color on the planet itself. It is tan and red-ish in color and sits next to Mars and Saturn. Now for the Five Fun Facts.

  • 5th Planet from the Sun
  • Larges planet (besids the sun) in our solar system.
  • It only had three zones! Atmosphere, Mantle, and Core
  • Had huge Aurora Borealis
  • Has five moons and one Giant Red Spot( a big storm)

The Planet Relational Fact is, Jupiter shares the sam amount of zones as….

Neptune

Neptune is very, very Blue. It had some lighter and darker spots wich are probably clouds. Neptune in my opinion is not a very interesting planet. It had atmosphere, mantle and core as its three zones. One interesting fact is that diamonds are forming and as those diamonds go closer to the core they melt into oceans. Humans probably cant live on a planet without crust so we probably cant live here despite the water. Now for the Five Fun Facts.

  • Has 14 moons
  • 2,800,000,000 miles from the sun
  • Farthest planet from the sun
  • One Neptune year is 165 Earth years
  • Neptunes gravity is almost Earth like

The Planet Relational Fact is, Neptune is warmer than one other planet despite it being the farthest from the sun. The other planet is….

Uranus

This planet might be most peoples favorite planet for obvious reasons. I don’t know who choose the name but they were definitely not thinking about all the little kids who would laugh at the name. Despite all the pictures of Uranus being white it is actually light blue or turquoise. It has small white rings. 13 rings in all and you probably can’t see them without a very strong telescope. Now for the Five Fun Facts.

  • 1,790,000,000 miles from the sun
  • Coldest Planet
  • Three zones, Atmosphere, Mantle and core.
  • Has 27 moons
  • One planet year is 84 Earth years

The Planet Relational Fact is, Uranus and another planet have three zones. That planet is….

Mercury

Mercury looks like our moon, but a-lot bigger. This planet is pretty uninteresting. It sits between the Sun and Mars. Its core is liquid, and now lets read the Five Fun Facts.

  • Has 0 Moons
  • Is much much smaller than Earth
  • Three zones, Crust Mantle and Liquid Core.
  • Closest to the Sun
  • Has no Atmoshpere

This is the last planet in our learning journey so I will link it back to our first planet, Earth. The Planet Relational Fact is, Earth and Mercury both have a crust.

Touring the Cullinan Diamond Mine in South Africa

We toured the Cullinan Diamond mine!  We did not get to go down into the mine but we did get to see the outside machinery.  We had to wear hard hats and reflective vests and we had to blow into a machine that tested our breath for alcohol.  The diamond mine was very loud.  The diamonds are found in a rock called Kimberlite.  The miners bring out 11,000 tons of Kimberlite from below the surface and get only a handful of diamonds each day! 

They have 3 shafts but only two of them are in use.  Shaft one is used to bring up the kimberlite and shaft 3 is used to bring down and up people.  The shaft used for people has a giant elevator that can carry up to 103 people in one trip! One fact I learned that I found very interesting was that if a machine can’t fit in the elevator they will dismantle the machine, and re-build it below the surface! The kimberlite is brought to the surface via shaft one, then dumped onto a conveyor belt that goes to two more conveyor belts that go to the plant where the diamonds are harvested.

Overall I really enjoyed learning how diamonds go from sitting in a rock to in a ring or necklace.  I would highly recommend touring or just visiting.