Our Address in the Cosmos

Adventures in Astrobiology
SETI Institute ASSET Program
Cathrine Prenot Fox

Our home in the universe, this solar system, is located in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy.  From ancient times, astronomers have charted the skies, discovering planets that seemed to move through the sky (hence the name 'planets' from the Greek "asteres" for "wandering stars"), comets that appeared magically with one, two, or even a rare five tails, and Supernovae charted from 185AD.  

Our sun, a giant ball of hydrogen and helium burning at about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit, creates a gravitational force that harnesses objects nearly a light year away.  Great coronal loops thirty times the diameter of planet earth can be seen spiraling away from the surface, and sunspots on an eleven year cycle impact temperatures on our planet.  

Venus Transit of the Sun from here.

Coronal Loops from here.

As for the "wandering stars" orbiting our sun, why don't you take a little trip through our solar system and read Our Address in the Cosmos (Cartoon citation 1)? 

Adventures in Astrobiology.  Cathrine Prenot Fox, 2012.

After almost 2000 years of documented data collection, our solar system is home to eight planets (to the despair of many Pluto aficionados), five dwarf planets, 169 moons, 590,450 asteroids, and 3,160 comets.  I know I learned many catchy ways to memorize the main bodies (My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas), made obsolete by Pluto's banishment to the 'dwarf planet' category, but I think it is important to take a tour through our very own Address in the Cosmos.  

Until our next adventure, 
Cat

"Comet Cooking" with the SETI Institute.  Comets originate in the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud region of our solar system.

(An excellent primer to the names and discovers of the bodies of our solar system exists at the Gazetteer of Planetary Discovery.  I won't regale you with all the descriptions and etymology here, but suffice to say the site bears exploration.)