The Moon

Official Name: Earth

Other Names: Aarde, Terra, Gaia, Tellus, Jorden, Nchi, and Bumi

Size: The Earth has a radius of 6,371 kilometers (3,959 miles).

Distance from Sun: Earth is exactly one astronomical unit (AU) away from the sun. An AU is 150 million kilometers (93 million miles).

Mass: The Earth has a mass of 5.9735 X 10 24 kilograms. That is equivalent to 5.9 sextillion tons.

Interior Physical Properties: There are four main layers to Earth. It starts with the inner core. The inner core is encased by the outer core, mantle, and finally the crust. The inner core is a solid sphere made of iron and nickel. The outer core surrounds the inner core and is made of molten iron and nickel fluids. The thickest layer of Earth is the mantle. This layer is made of a hot, viscous mixture of molten rock. It is said to have the same consistency of caramel. Lastly, the outermost layer is the crust. The crust goes an average of 30 kilometers (19 miles) deep on land; however, at the bottom of the ocean the crust is thinner is about 5 kilometers (3 miles) away from the mantle. The crust that is we see on land is called “continental crust” and the ocean floor crust is called “oceanic crust”.

Geology: The crust is not a solid a piece of rock. It is actually broken up into huge chunks called “tectonic plates”. These tectonic plates are made of solid rock composed of mostly basalt and granite. The flowing rock in the mantle causes these plates to move around and create new geological structures. In the weaker parts of the crust, magma from the mantle push up through cracks and make their way onto the surface of the crust, forming volcanoes.

Atmosphere: Earth’s atmosphere consists of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.97% argon and carbon dioxide, and 0.04% of other gases and water vapor. The atmosphere can be divided into six layers: the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, exosphere, and ionosphere. The troposphere is the lowest and starts at the ground level of the Earth. The stratosphere is where the ozone layer exists. The mesosphere is the layer where most meteors that enter Earth’s atmosphere burn up. Above the mesosphere is the thermosphere. Here, this is the layer that the northern and southern lights are located. The exosphere is considered the final frontier of the gases that make up Earth’s atmosphere. Finally, the ionosphere is parts of the mesosphere and thermosphere drifting into space. This is the layer interacts with charged particles from solar winds first.

Myth: In Greek mythology, Chaos came before everything else. Chase was made of Void, Mass, and Darkness. Then, in the form of Gaea, Earth came into existence. Gaea, also known as Mother Earth, created the starry heavens In the form of the sky god Uranus. Along with her existence, she brought the mountains, plains, seas and rivers that make up the Earth. Gaea was the great goddess of the early Greeks. She created the universe and gave birth to both the first race of gods and the first humans.

Mission Overview: On March 24, 1992, NASA launched a the first of many shuttles into Earth’s atmosphere. This shuttle was called Atlas-1. The launch of Atlas-1 started the Atlas program. Atlas is an acronym for Atmospheric Laboratory of Applications and Science. Atlas-1 was the first of many to study the Earth’s atmosphere and the sun’s influence on it over a 11-year solar cycle. The science mission for Atlas-1 focused on four disciples: atmospheric science, solar science, space plasma physics, and astronomy. This mission allowed scientists to understanding the links between the magnetic fields and plasma that are between the sun and Earth. Also, since the Atlas-1 contained an astronomical telescope on it, scientists were able to learn more about the stages of a star’s life by examining the sources of ultraviolet radiation in the galaxy.