Welcome to the Great BLUE MARBLE - Our Solar System & Space Exploration featuring animated planets and astronauts with tons of facts. Welcome to the Great BLUE MARBLE - Our Solar System & Space Exploration featuring animated planets and astronauts with tons of facts.
Great BLUE MARBLE - Our Solar System & Space Exploration
A female Russian dog named Laika was the first animal in space, sent on Sputnik II on November 3, 1957. The First Animal In Space
The first animal in space was a female dog named
"Laika", which means barker in Russian. Laika went into
space in Sputnik II on November 3, 1957. Korabl or
Sputnik 5, was launched On August 19, 1960, and on
board were the dogs "Belka" (squirrel) and "Strelka"
(little arrow). Also on board were 40 mice, 2 rats, and a
variety of plants. The USA sent a 44 month old
chimpanzee named "Ham" on board Mercury Capsule
No. 5 on January 31, 1961 from Cape Canaveral for
a sub-orbital flight. On October 18, 1963 "Felix", a
black and white tomcat reported as being from the
streets of Paris, became the first cat in space when
he was launched on board an AGI Rocket by France.
Laika prior to her space flight.
Our Solar System
Our solar system has nine planets.
Our Sun is a star located at
the center of our Solar
System. Our Solar System is
located on the outside edge
of our Galaxy. Our Galaxy is
called the Milky Way.
There are billions of other
stars in our Galaxy, and
there are billions of
galaxies in the Universe.
Most of the stars and
galaxies we see at night
are so far away that it takes
hundreds, even thousands,
of years for their light to
reach Earth.		 Our Sun
& Closest Star		 Distances in the
Universe are measured by
Light Years. The Sun is
93,000,000 miles away
from our Earth, and it takes
more than eight minutes
for the Sun's light to reach
Earth. The next nearest
star, Proxima Centauri,
is about 270,000 times
farther away, and it takes
more than four years for
this star's light to reach
Earth. Sunspots have a
pattern of energy release,
that follow an 11 year cycle.
Great Blue Marble has space animations, including an animated Sun.
Click on this solar flare image for a larger view.This is an image of the largest ever recorded solar flare on April 21, 2001. © NASA This is a NASA image of the largest ever recorded solar flare on April 21, 2001. © NASA
Click on the NASA
image above for a
larger image.		 This is a NASA image of the
largest ever recorded solar
flare on April 21, 2001.© NASA
The Earth is roughly 4 times
larger than our Moon. The
Earth and the Moon
are exerting gravitational
pulls on each other.

 The image below shows how we
see the moon's phases from earth.

Great Blue Marble has space animations, including an animated moon phase chart.		 Earth & Moon The side of Earth that is
nearer the Moon has a
stronger pull from the
Moon than Earth's far side.
This unequal force stretches
earth in the Moon's direction.
Our solid Earth does not
stretch much, less than a foot,
however the oceans are
lifted up towards the moon
by about two feet. The rotating
Earth brings the resulting bulge
past any given coastline
twice a day, thus causing
the world's tides.
Great Blue Marble has space animations, including an animated Moon.
Great Blue Marble has space animations, including an animated Earth.
Great Blue Marble has planet animations, including an animated Mercury. Great Blue Marble has planet animations, including an animated Venus. Great Blue Marble has planet animations, including an animated Earth. Great Blue Marble has planet animations, including an animated Mars.
Mercury Venus Earth Mars
There are nine planets revolving around our Sun.
The four planets closest to the Sun are referred to as the terrestrial (Earth-like) planets.
In order of proximity to the Sun, they are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
Mercury is the smallest inner planet, about 1/3 the size of Earth's diameter.
The surface of Mercury that faces the Sun reaches over 700ºF or about 400ºC,
and the side away from the Sun drops to -274ºF or -170ºC.
Venus is about the same size as Earth, and Mars is about 1/2 Earth's diameter.
Great Blue Marble has planet animations, including an animated Jupiter. Great Blue Marble has planet animations, including an animated Earth. Great Blue Marble has planet animations, including an animated Saturn.
Jupiter Earth Saturn
Jupiter and Saturn are Jovian or giant gas planets.
Jupiter is 11.2 times larger than Earth, and has a mass 318 times that of Earth.
Jupiter is more massive than all the other planets combined.
Saturn is 9.5 times larger than Earth. Saturn has a large moon called Titan.
For comparison, see how tiny the Earth   Great Blue Marble has planet animations, including Earth animations.  is when put between the two giants.
Jupiter has at least 16 satellites ( moons ), and four of them are larger than Pluto.
Great Blue Marble has planet animations, including an animated uranus. Great Blue Marble has planet animations, including an animated Neptune. Great Blue Marble has planet animations, including an animated Pluto.
Uranus Neptune Pluto
The most distant planets are Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
Uranus and Neptune are both about four times larger than Earth's diameter.
Like Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are Jovian or gas giants.
Pluto, discovered in 1930, is the smallest and most distant planet.
Many astronomers consider Pluto to be a comet and not a planet.
Pluto is actually closer to Earth than Neptune for 20 years
of its 248-year orbit around the Sun.
A Black Hole is a region in the universe
which has enormous density. So enormous
that nothing can escape its intense
gravitational pull. Not even light can
escape the immense gravity
of a Black Hole. 		Black Holes
Great Blue Marble has space animations, including an animated Black Hole.
Comets, Meteors, and Shooting Stars
Comets and meteors have appeared in ancient Egypt. Great Blue Marble has space animations, including animated shooting stars, animated comets, and animated asteroids. Great Blue Marble has space animations, including animated shooting stars, animated comets, and animated asteroids. A meteor is often reffered to as a falling star. Great Blue Marble has space animations, including animated shooting stars, animated comets, and animated asteroids.
Great Blue Marble has space animations, including animated shooting stars, animated comets, and animated asteroids.
A Comet is a large chunk of ice and rock that can
leave a tail of dust debris over 50 million miles long.
From ancient times to the present day many comets, such
as Haley's Comet, have returned to appear in our night sky.
Meteors are more common than comets. Meteors are often referred to
as falling stars, and appear as a flash of light as they enter Earth's atmosphere.
Meteors are particles as small as dust, generally coming from comet debris,
and are called meteorites when they strike Earth. In July, 1994, 22 fragments of
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacted Jupiter over a six day period.
This was the first time we have witnessed a collision in our Solar System.
Great Blue Marble has space animations, including animated astronauts. Man on the Moon
Man lands on the Moon with Apollo 11. Great Blue Marble has space animations, including animated astronauts. Great Blue Marble has space animations, including animated astronauts. Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon. Great Blue Marble In Space has alien animations, alien cartoons, and animated alien spacecraft.
Apollo 11 landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, and Neil Armstrong
became the first human to walk on a solid surface beyond earth.
This was perhaps the greatest scientific achievement in the history of mankind.
The Asteroid belt is between Mars and Jupiter. Great Blue Marble In Space has alien animations, alien cartoons, and animated alien spacecraft.
Location of Asteroid Belt within Our Solar System		 Click on the international space station above California for a larger image.
Photo of  International Space Station taken by Atlantis
crew Feb 2001. Click on the image for a larger view.
Links to NASA & Earth/Moon Viewer
Click here to go to NASA.

Do you want to see your
country from space?
Click on the earth image for a close-up.
Click here to go to NASA kids.
Great Blue Marble In Space has alien animations, alien cartoons, and animated alien spacecraft. Great Blue Marble In Space has alien animations, alien cartoons, and animated alien spacecraft. Great Blue Marble In Space has alien animations, alien cartoons, and animated alien spacecraft.
Proverbs
to Live By
The sky is
the daily bread
of the eyes.

Emerson		 Click here to order The Solar Sysem chart poster, or to view other space charts.
Space Charts
The Solar System Poster
The Planets Poster 		Click here to order The Planets chart poster, or to view other space charts. Proverbs
to Live By

One can see
the heavens
through a
needle's eye.
Japanese Proverb
Thank you Zambia. Zambia
.zm		 Great Blue Marble thanks the people
of the world who have visited us.		 Kazakhstan
.kz		 Thank you Kazakhstan.
Please click on the Alien Family to go to Amazing Space Images. Great Blue Marble In Space has alien animations, alien cartoons, and animated alien spacecraft.
Great Blue Marble In Space has alien animations, alien cartoons, and animated alien spacecraft. Please click on the Alien Family to go to Amazing Space Images. Great Blue Marble In Space has alien animations, alien cartoons, and animated alien spacecraft.
Please click on the Alien Animation to go to Amazing Space Images & Space Facts.
Getting
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