We live in a mysterious neighbourhood. Even without Vogons.

Some answers.

1. Why do we see those 250-mile-high plumes coming from Jupiter's moon Io? One word: volcanoes.
2. Can you find water on other planets in our solar system? Yes. It's all over the place, from comets to Mercury, Europa, Enceladus, and Ceres.
3. Have we visited all the planets in our solar system? We don't know about you, but Earth's space probes have, yes.
4. Are all the planets stable tectonically? (Except for Earth, of course.) Nope. Mercury is shrinking.
5. What is Jupiter's Red Spot? A very big storm. It's getting smaller, though.
6. What does our solar system have roughly 3100 of? Comets.
7. What is the Oort Cloud? A spherical region of the solar system that contains many comets.
8. How did Ann Hodges form a particularly close relationship with the solar system in 1954? She was hit by a meteorite. In her house. On her sofa. We call that close. A 'scientific' study claims that this happens, on average, once every 180 years, but Ann Hodges is the only confirmed meteorite victim, so we have our doubts.
9. Why are asteroids lumpy and funny-shaped, and not nice and round like planets? They aren't big enough. They don't have the gravity to become round.
10. What is the Saros Cycle, and do we need to tell Starfleet about it? It's the weird fact that similar eclipses repeat after 18 years and 11 days. In spite of all those screaming Youtubes, it doesn't mean the end of the world.

Harder than you thought? Click the picture for answers.

Can I thumb a ride to Io?

Dmitri Gheorgheni

11.06.18 Front Page

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