Curated playlist
Planetary science
- Solar SystemThe Sun holds 99.86% of all the mass in the Solar System. Every planet, moon and comet together add up to under 0.002%.
- HED meteoriteHED meteorites are pieces of crust from the asteroid Vesta. They crystallized 4.43 to 4.55 billion years ago.
- GeomorphologyWhy does a river cut a V-shaped valley while a glacier carves a U? Geomorphology studies how Earth's surface took shape.
- PlanetFor centuries, Earth was not counted as a planet. The word first meant a wandering point of light.
- Formation and evolution of the Solar SystemOur Solar System began about 4.6 billion years ago, when a piece of a giant gas cloud collapsed.
- Magnetosphere of JupiterJupiter's magnetosphere is so vast that the Sun would fit inside it.
- Planetary differentiationUranium is extremely dense, yet it stays in Earth's crust instead of sinking. Its chemistry overrules its weight.
- Definition of planetIn 2006, 424 astronomers in Prague voted to demote Pluto. They created a new class called dwarf planet.
- EjectaEjecta are particles thrown out of an area, and their absence once helped settle a debate about a feature on Mars called Eden Patera. In the 2010s, scientists began to suspect that Eden Patera was a collapsed volcanic caldera and not an…
- Frost line (astrophysics)Around a young star, an invisible line decides where water turns to ice. Beyond it, giant planets can form.
- Earth massEarth loses mass every year as hydrogen and helium leak into space. Dust falling in adds some back.