Author: hazelspacelab

I currently work as an Explainer at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester. I deliver science shows to the public and schools, explaining and exciting numerous visitors about STEM and industry and it's impact on our lives. I also work at the Crystal Maze Manchester, helping make visitors get the most out of the Crystal Maze experience, making dreams become reality. I have always loved science, particularly space and astrophysics, ever since I can remember. It took me till University to discover my passion for sharing this knowledge with people and seeing their excitement getting to grips with a difficult concept or learning something entirely new! That's where this blog came in. I loved sharing and I wanted to share with a wider audience and really get stuck into discussing more in depth and specific topics that I personally find interesting. And if I help any of you along the way, I have done my job well! Follow on Twitter too: https://twitter.com/spacelabh

The Planets – Uranus

The Planets

The Solar System. Image credit: NASA/CXC/SAO

Over the next few posts, I plan on doing something a little different. We shall be having a look at various planets, starting with those in our solar system, but instead of me writing loads of stuff for you, I shall be making some little factfile cards to share!

Continuing on our trip around the Solar System, we reach the planet which is my personal favourite, Uranus!

Uranus

Uranus is my favourite planet in the solar system because of how weird it goes around the sun. I’ve written it as my fun fact for this card because it is so cool. Uranus really does roll around the sun whilst all the other planets spin! It’s very strange and we can only guess at why it does this. Best guess is that a big object hit it a long time ago and forced it to roll over onto it’s side.

Unfortunately, Uranus lives a long way from Earth and it’s really hard to send missions to the planet, so we don’t know a lot about it. Only one mission, Voyager 2, has visited and that was just a quick flyby in 1986. Everything else we know about the planet is from observations here on Earth. However, there are a few proposed missions to Uranus in the future, although it would take a very long time for them to reach the planet.

Thank you to everybody who has visited these cards. Feel free to follow me on Twitter @spacelabh so you get updates on every time I post something. Again, if anyone has any questions or ideas, feel free to leave me a comment! I love reading the comments you guys leave, so don’t be afraid to leave one!

All the best,

The Planets – Saturn

The Planets

Next planet! Many people’s favourite due to how unique it is, it’s Saturn!!

Saturn

Saturn is an amazing planet. It also has many moons, not as many as Jupiter, but just as varied. In fact, scientists believe that one of Saturn’s moons, Titan, may be the best candidate for life outside of Earth.

There are some fantastic images of Saturn, but one of my favourites is the last photo Cassini ever took. It shows Earth through the rings of Saturn. A small dot in the distance, making Saturn seem really close and really far at the same time.

This view from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows planet Earth as a point of light between the icy rings of Saturn. Image credit: NASA

An extra little pic for you, because why not! Let me know what you think Saturn in the comments!

All the best,

The Planets – Jupiter

The Planets

Moving further down the line of planets, we reach the biggest planet and the start of the gas planets, Jupiter. Enjoy reading about this giant!

Jupiter

Another card to add to your collection. My, isn’t it growing! I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoy writing them. Makes isolation a little less isolating.

Not many planets left to go, at least in our solar system. Also got some plans for the future, so keep watching this space (pun intended)!

All the best,

The Planets – Mars

The Planets

For our next planet, we skip Earth (I’m hoping you know a few things about Earth and maybe we shall visit Earth later) and head straight to the red planet, Mars.

Mars

More cards! Gotta do something with all this extra time most of us seem to have now. There is so much information on Mars that I couldn’t possibly put it all into one card for you; that would be information overload!

Fun extra fact for you: the picture at the top of my website is actually a solar eclipse from Mars! One of Mars’s moons, Phobos passed across the Sun and the Curiosity Rover snapped those images. It’s one of my favourite sets of photos because I always loved solar eclipses, and the first time I realised other planets had them too made space feel a little bit closer.

Hopefully you are all doing ok in this time of unrest. I’ve got plenty more time now, so updates and content will be coming at you quicker than normal. If anyone needs to talk about anything, whether it be space, current climate, or if you’re just feeling down, don’t hesitate to reach out. We all need each other in this tumultuous time.

All the best,

The Planets – Venus

The Planets

Next planet from the Sun is Venus, so let’s take a closer look at this mysterious planet!

Venus

A second card for you to add to the collection. I am currently wokring on making “backs” of these cards with more details and more numbers for those interested in things like aphelion and azimuths!

All the best,