Superstitions about the Comets Some people think that comets are messengers of disasters, such as wars, epidemics and floods. But theseare all myths and superstitions. Appearance of a comet is a natural phenomenon. We have no reason to be afraid of it
Many comets are known to appear periodically. One such comet is Halley’s comet, which appears after nearly every 76 years. It was last seen in 1986.
CometsComets are also members of our solar system. They revolve around the Sun in highly elliptical orbits. However, their period of revolution round the Sun is usually very long. A Comet appears generally as a bright head with a long tail. The length of the tail grows in size as it approaches the sun. The …
AsteroidsThere is a large gap in between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter . This gap is occupied by a large number of small objects that revolve around the Sun. These are called asteroids. Asteroids can only be seen through large telescopes.
The planets outside the orbit of Mars, namely Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are much farther off than the inner planets. They are called the outer planets. They have a ring system around them. The outer planets have large number of moons.
The first four planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are much nearer the Sun than the other four planets. They are called the inner planets. Theinner planets have very few moons.
Uranus and NeptuneThese are the outermost planets of the solar system. They can be seen only with the help of large telescopes. Like Venus, Uranus also rotates from east to west. The most remarkable feature of Uranus is that it has highly tilted rotational axis
Saturn (Shani)Beyond Jupiter is Saturn which appears yellowish in colour. What makes it unique in the solar system is its beautiful rings. These rings are notvisible with the naked eye. You can observe them with a small telescope. Saturn also has a large number of satellites One interesting thing about Saturn is that it is …
The plane of the equator is called the equatorial plane . The plane in which the Earth revolves round the Sun is called the orbital plane of the Earth .These two planes are inclined to each other at an angle of 23.5º. This means that the axis of the Earth is inclined to its orbital …
What is an equatorial plane and the orbital plane of the Earth ? Read More »
. The plane in which the Earth revolves round the Sun is called the orbital plane of the Earth.
