Page 13 - INSIDE ACCESS JANUARY-2021 3RD EDITION

FUN FACTS
Interesting Facts aboutPlanets
Mercury is hot, but not too hot for ice. The closest planet to the Sun does indeed have ice on its surface.
No one knows how old Saturn's rings are. There's a field of ice and rock debris circling Saturn that from afar, appear as rings.
You can see Earth's magnetic field at work during light shows. We have a magnetic field surrounding our planet that protects us from the blasts of radiation and particles the Sun sends our way.
Uranus is tilted on its side. Uranus appears to be a featureless blue ball upon first glance, but this gas giant of the outer solar system is pretty weird upon closer inspection. First, the planet rotates on its side for reasons scientists haven't quite figured out.
If you thought the Grand Canyon was big, that's nothing compared to Valles Marineris. Valles Marineris is about as long as the United States!
Venus doesn't have any moons, and we aren't sure why. Both Mercury and Venus have no moons, which can be considered a surprise given there are dozens of other ones around the Solar System. Saturn has over 60, for example.
Neptune has supersonic winds. While on Earth we are concerned about hurricanes, the strength of these storms is nowhere near what you would find on Neptune.
Jupiter is a great comet catcher. The most massive planet in the Solar System probably had a huge influence on its history. At 318 times the mass of Earth, you can imagine that any passing asteroid or comet going near Jupiter has a big chance of being caught or diverted.
Mars has the biggest volcano (that we know of). This includes Olympus Mons, the biggest volcano ever discovered in the solar system. At 374 miles (602 km) across, the volcano is comparable to the size of Arizona. It's 16 miles (25 kilometers) high, or triple the height of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth.
There could be life in the solar system, somewhere. So far, scientists have found no evidence that life exists elsewhere in the solar system. But as we learn more about how "extreme" microbes live in underwater volcanic vents or in frozen environments, more possibilities open up for where they could live on other planets.
PAGE 13 INSIDE ACCESS | JANUARY 2021 3RD EDITION