Editing 1547: Solar System Questions

{{comic
| number    = 1547
| date      = July 6, 2015
| title     = Solar System Questions
| image     = solar_system_questions.png
| titletext = My country's World Cup win was exciting and all, but c'mon, what if the players wore nylon wings and COULD LITERALLY FLY?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - single answer then added by a human.}}

This comic is a list of questions which [[Randall]] has about the Solar System, which at first glance may appear to be things that Randall would like to learn about.
In actual fact most of the questions have not been satisfactorily answered or proven by anyone in the {{w|List_of_unsolved_problems_in_physics#Astronomy_and_astrophysics|scientific community}}.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Question given
! Answer given by Randall (in Red)
! Comments
|-
| Why is the the Moon so blotchy?
| Lava
| The {{w|Moon}} is in synchronous rotation with Earth, which means that we always can see only one half of the surface of the Moon. And on that side we can see large {{w|lunar mare}} formed by lava from big volcanoes. This surface is very different to all other celestial bodies we know in our Solar system. The double "the the" could be a Randallism — intended or unintended.
|-
| Why are all the blotches on the near side?
| ...
| The nearside of the Moon is dominated by the blotchy 'seas' or maria, the far side by craters. {{w|Far_side_of_the_Moon#Differences|Several explanations}} for this have been proposed, including an overabundance of impacts obliterating the blotches on the more exposed far side, different compositions of heat-producing elements, large collisions, or heat produced by the still-cooling Earth.
|-
| Did Mars have seas?
| Yes (briefly?)
| Recent explorations have confirmed there was once standing (and also flowing) water.  Many rovers and orbiters on Mars give us the evidence on this early development of that planet, but it is still unknown how long such conditions existed in it's history.
|-
| Was there life on Mars?
| ...
| One of the big mysteries, not yet answered.
|-
| What's Titan like?
| Cold, yellow, lakes + rivers (methane)
| The {{w|Cassini–Huygens}} mission confirmed the presence of {{w|Lakes_of_Titan|lakes and rivers}} on Titan. The {{w|Huygens_(spacecraft)#Findings|Huygens}} lander itself returned some very yellow images of a dry lake bed from Titan's surface.
|-
| What was Earth like during the Hadean?
| ...
| The {{w|Hadean}} was the first geologic era on earth, the planet had just formed and not much is known of that period of Earth.
|-
| Is the Oort Cloud a real thing?
| ...
| The {{w|Oort Cloud}} is a theoretical spherical cloud of icy planetesimal, maybe dust, and also larger objects at a distance of up to around 100,000 {{w|Astronomical units|AU}} to our Sun. We can see similar clouds at other stars, but there is still no evidence that this cloud exists in our Solar System.
|-
| Why is the Sun's corona so hot?
| Something about magnets?
| The {{w|corona}} of the sun is hotter than it theoretically should be. The looping magnetic fields in this area could be responsible.
|-
| What are comets like?
| Precipitous
| The {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|Philae lander}} is next to a cliff...
|-
| Where's Philae, exactly?
| ...
| ...but we're not sure ''which'' cliff.
|-
| What's Pluto like?
| rowspan="2" | [Soon!]
| rowspan="2" | The probe {{w|New Horizons}} may be about to answer both of these questions.
|-
| What's Charon like?
|-
| Why don't we have in-between-sized planets?
| ...
| There is a size-gap between the rocky planets up to Earth size and the gas giants much larger than Earth.
|-
| What's Ceres like?
| [Working on it!]
| The {{w|Dawn (spacecraft)|Dawn probe}} is currently exploring the Dwarf Planet {{w|Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres}} and reveals unseen surface features.
|-
| Why is Europa so weird-looking and pretty?
| Ice over a water ocean
| {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}} is a moon of Jupiter and the surface is basically thick pack ice covered in {{w|lineae}}.
|-
| Why is Io so weird-looking?
| Sulfur volcanoes (? in the wrong places?)
| The moon {{w|Io (moon)|Io}} is also orbiting Jupiter and is close enough that tidal forces make it the most volcanic object in the solar system. The bright red color comes from {{w|sulfur}} which is ejected by the volcanoes.
|-
| Why are so many Kuiper Belt objects red?
| ...
| Many objects in the {{w|Kuiper Belt}} have a reddish hue. A possible explanation is that they are [http://www.space.com/9418-icy-red-objects-solar-system-edge-point-life-building-blocks.html| covered in organic molecules] formed by the irradiation of their surface ices. The {{w|New Horizons}} probe might also shed light on this.
|-
| What are those spots on Ceres?
| ...
| The {{w|Dawn probe}} found some misterious spots on the dwarf planet {{w|Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres}}. These [http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA19568.jpg white spots] are still not understood, but the mission is still running and we hopefully  will figure out the source of that glowing white features.
|-
| What's in the seas under Europa's ice?
| ...
| The European {{w|ESA}} selected the mission {{w|Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer|Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE)}} to Jupiter. The moon {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}} is one target for that mission. But we have to wait, it's launch target is 2022 and the arrival at Jupiter is planned for 2030. But that's not uncommon for missions like this, {{w|New Horizons}} or {{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}} did also travel approx. ten years to reach their target. And before such a mission can start many preparations have to be done.
|-
| Which of the other moons have seas?
| Several
| Depending on the definition of 'sea', other less obviously 'frozen water world' moons such as Ganymede may have {{w|Ganymede (moon)#Subsurface oceans|subsurface}} [http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27151-aurora-reveals-jupiter-moons-secret-subsurface-sea.html oceans] of liquid water.
|-
| What are the big white things in Titan's Lakes?
| ...
| {{w|Lakes of Titan}}
|-
| What do Jupiter's clouds look like up close?
| ...
| 
|-
| What's all that red stuff in the Great Red Spot?
| ...
| {{w|Great Red Spot}}
|-
| What's pushing the Pioneer Probes?
| Heat from the RTG
| Discussed as the {{w|Pioneer anomaly}}. RTG stands for {{w|Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator}}.
|-
| What pushes spacecraft slightly during flybys?
| ...
| Several spacecraft experienced unexplained speed increases during Earth flybys. This is called the {{w|flyby anomaly}}.
|-
| Where are all the Sun's Neutrinos?
| Oscillating
| {{w|Solar neutrino problem}}
|-
| Why is there so much air on Titan?
| ...
| Titan has an atmospheric pressure 1.45 times that of Earth, but 1/7th of the surface gravity (that's less than Earth's own, practically airless, Moon).  Hence the confusion.  In fact, Titan actually has almost 20% more atmosphere (by mass) than Earth, and ''seven times'' more atmosphere across a given surface area!
Less influence from the more distant Sun probably helps retain more of the atmosphere's gasses (mostly nitrogen), and {{w|cryovolcanoes}} may replenish the methane fraction (which should by now have ''all'' been converted into the other hydrocarbons present) from subsurface reservoirs.  But further studies are required to properly answer this question.
|-
| Why does the Kuiper Belt Stop?
| ...
| A reference to the {{w|Kuiper Cliff}}.
|-
| Why is Iapetus weird-colored?
| ...
| {{w|Iapetus (moon)}} is a moon of Saturn and has a white side and a dark side.
|-
| Why does Iapetus have a belt?
| ...
| {{w|Iapetus (moon)|Iapetus}} has a 13 km high ridge around most of the equator, and a number of 10 km high mountains where the ridge is interrupted.
|-
| What's the deal with Miranda?
| ...
| {{w|Miranda_(moon)|Miranda}} is the smallest of Uranus's five round satellites, and it's {{w|Verona Rupes|a bit rough around the edges}}. Also possibly a [[Firefly|''Firefly'' reference]] since {{w|List of Firefly planets and moons#Miranda|Miranda}} is the name of a planet in {{w|Serenity (film)|''Serenity''}}, a film in the {{w|Firefly (TV series)|''Firefly''}} series.
|-
| Did Uranus and Neptune change places?
| ...
| The {{w|Nice model}} is a theory of how our solar system formed, which suggested the possibility of Uranus and Neptune having swapped places before reaching their current positions. Work by Professor S. Desch [http://dusty.la.asu.edu/~desch/publications/2007/Desch2007.pdf| also came to this result].
|-
| Did the Late Heavy Bombardment happen?
| ...
| {{w|Late Heavy Bombardment}}
|-
| Did life start before it?
| ...
| For some speculation on this topic, see [http://www.livescience.com/5426-life-survived-earth-early-bombardment.html].
|-
| Is Europa covered in Ice Spikes?
| ...
| 
|-
| Why haven't we built a big inflatable Extreme Sports Complex on The Moon?
| ...
| See, e.g., ''{{w|The Menace From Earth}}'', a 1957 short story by Robert Heinlein.
|}

The title text refers to the {{w|2015 FIFA Women's World Cup}} which was won by USA a day before. The nylon wings and flying may be a reference to two passages from 3001: The Final Odyssey, one where Frank Poole tries out various wings while in an extremely low gravity environment, and one where he remarks while watching Swan Lake that Tchaikovsky could never have imagined a performance where the dancers were actually flying (due to aforementioned low gravity).

==Transcript==
:'''Questions I have'''
:'''about the solar system'''
:(some answered)

:{| class="wikitable" style="border: 0px;"
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is the the Moon so blotchy?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Lava
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why are all the blotches on the near side?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did Mars have seas?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Yes (briefly?)
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Was there life on Mars?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Titan like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Cold, yellow, lakes + rivers (methane)
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What was Earth like during the Hadean?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Is the Oort Cloud a real thing?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is the Sun's corona so hot?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Something about magnets?
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are comets like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Precipitous
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Where's Philae, exactly?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Pluto like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" rowspan="2" | [Soon!]
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Charon like?
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why don't we have in-between-sized planets?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Ceres like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | [Working on it!]
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Europa so wierd-looking and pretty?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Ice over a water ocean
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Io so weird-looking?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Sulfur volcanoes (? in the wrong places?)
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why are so many Kuiper Belt objects red?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are those spots on Ceres?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's in the seas under Europa's ice?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Which of the other moons have seas?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Several
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are the big white things in Titan's Lakes?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What do Jupiter's clouds look like up close?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's all that red stuff in the Great Red Spot?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's pushing the Pioneer Probes?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Heat from the RTG
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What pushes spacecraft slightly during flybys?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Where are all the Sun's Neutrinos?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Oscillating
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is there so much air on Titan?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why does the Kuiper Belt Stop?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Iapetus weird-colored?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why does Iapetus have a belt?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's the deal with Miranda?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did Uranus and Neptune change places?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did the Late Heavy Bombardment happen?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did life start before it?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Is Europa covered in ice spikes?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why haven't we built a big inflatable<br> extreme sports complex on the moon?
| style="border: 0px;" | 
|}


{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Firefly]]