Earth, Solar System , Planets –Important Points
The Sun is 330,330 times larger than the earth.
The order of the planets, starting closest to the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
There are 1040 islands around Britain, one of which is the smallest island in the world: Bishop’s Rock.
The crawler, the machine that takes the Space Shuttle to the launching pad moves at 3km/h (2 mph).
The Sahara desert expands at about 1km per month.
Earth is not round; it is slightly pear-shaped.
The North Pole radius is 44mm longer than the South Pole radius.
The ozone layer averages about 3 millimeters (1/8 inch) thick.
More than 70% of earth’s dryland is affected by desertification.
The largest iceberg ever recorded was 335km (208 miles) long and 97km (60 miles) wide.
Oceanography, the study of oceans, is a mixture of biology, physics, geology and chemistry.
Winds that blow toward the equator curve west.
The US has one of the highest fire death rates in the industrialized world, with more than 2 million fires reported each year.
Luke Howard used Latin words to categorize clouds in 1803.
The tallest waterfalls in the world are Angel Falls in Venezuela. At 979 m (3,212 ft), they are 19 times taller than the Niagara Falls, or 3 times taller than the Empire State Building.
Planets, meaning wanderers, are named after Roman deities: Mercury, messenger of the gods; Venus, the god of love and beauty; Mars, the god of war; Jupiter, king of the gods; and Saturn, father of Jupiter and god of agriculture; Neptune, god of the sea.
Organist William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus in 1781 with the first reflecting telescope that he built. He named it Georgium Sidium in honour of King George III of England but in 1850 it was renamed Uranus in accordance with the tradition of naming planets for Roman gods.
During a total solar eclipse the temperature can drop by 6 degrees Celsius (about 20 degrees Fahrenheit).
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