Monday, March 21, 2011

Seasons in all planets

Seasons in all planets:
1.Mercury: This orb is an oddball when it comes to seasons. Its highly elliptical orbit and the fact that the planet rotates three times about its axis during two of its years mean at some longitudes the sun would appear to rise and then gradually increase in apparent size as it slowly moves toward the zenith, according to NASA. Then the sun would take a pause, briefly reverse its path and then resume its trek toward the horizon and as such appearing gradually smaller. That makes it difficult to identify when one season ends and the next begins.
2.Venus: The planet has relatively constant weather, albeit burning hot enough to melt lead due to its runaway greenhouse effect. Tilted just 3 degrees on its axis and with a small orbit around the sun, Venus seasons last just 55 to 58 days with just slight temperature variations.
3.Mars: The red planet's distance from the sun varies between 1.64 and 1.36 astronomical units, where 1 AU is the distance between the sun and Earth. That large variation, along with its tilt as Mars spins on its axis, means some extreme seasonal shifts. When closest to the sun, Mars' north pole experiences winter, plunging to bone-chilling temperatures so icy that carbon dioxide the primary chemical in the Martian atmosphere freezes and falls to the ground.
4.Jupiter: This planet also has a 3-degree axial tilt and shows basically no difference in temperature between seasons. Due to its long distance from the sun, Jupiter has lengthy seasons lasting about three years.
5.Saturn: Residing in the outer reaches of the solar system, this gas giant has seasons that last seven years.
6:Uranus: Though orbiting the sun in a relatively circular orbit, Uranus tilts a whopping 82 degrees on its axis, leading to extreme seasons that last about 20 years. So for about a quarter of a Uranian year, which equals 84 Earth years, the sun shines directly over one of the poles. That leaves the other half of the planet in complete darkness.
7.Neptune: The farthest gas giant from the sun doesn't experience strong seasonal changes, though seasons there last 40 years.

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