The Color Of The Planets
Three planets of our solar system have been associated with colors
. The Earth, for example, has been called a blue planet mainly because of the presence of water. Earth is the only planet, at least in our solar system, to hold water in its three states: liquid, ice, and vapor. The planet is 70.8 percent water, which is one main reason, scientists believe, that makes it very hospitable to life. There is about 330 million cubic miles of water contained in all the planet's seas and has the potential to sink the entire globe to a depth of 12,460 feet, or 3,798 meters.
In another description, some literatures call Earth the blue-and-white, again, because of water. The swirls of white, seen on photographs of Earth taken by satellites up in space, are indications of clouds: atmospheric depressions where warm air meets the cold of the polar regions. Clouds are clusters of tiny droplets of water or ice crystals in the air.
Closer to the sun, about 40 million kilometers away from the Earth, is Venus, a planet that was once associated with the color green. Artistic renditions of Venus from the 1950's to the 1970's used a bright yellow-green hue and somehow made it appear more gaseous than solid, like Mars or Earth's moon. The name Venus even compelled artists to render the planet somewhat elegantly feminine in tribute to the Roman goddess of love and beauty. And true enough, Venus visibly glows in a lovely sight as a small moon above the Earth, either in the morning or in the evening.
The idea of the green Venus may have come from the planet's ability to trap the sun's heat within its atmosphere: a phenomenon known to us on Earth as a greenhouse effect. The fact, however, is that instead of green, Venus is described more of having a dazzling cloak of, not green, but white cloud. Unlike the clouds of the blue Earth which largely appear torn and in swirls, the Venusian cloud layer is so thick it completely covers the planet's surface. And unlike the Earth's, which is mainly made up of water, salt, and dust, Venus' consists of tiny drops of sulphuric acid, churning in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide. The surface temperature of Venus is a searing 483 degrees Centigrade (900 degrees Fahrenheit), with winds blowing over 320 kilometers per hour.
Behind Earth, about 78 million kilometers away, is red-colored planet, appropriately named after the Roman god of war and bloodshed: Mars. It is smaller than the Earth, 4,200 miles across the equator. Unlike Venus, Mars' hottest day merely reaches -30 degrees Centigrade, and its coldest at -100 degrees. While Earth is covered in white and blue because of its clouds and seas, and Venus white with its clouds that cause a greenhouse effect on its surface, Mars is commonly seen in its crimson-colored glow because of the red sandstorms that sweep its surface. The large patches of reddish-ochre deserts lying across Mars' landscape are the reason for the tons of red dust swirling around the planet during its months-long windstorms.
Mars' polar regions have also been seen as white. While it is known today to hold no water in its liquid form, it is believed that the planet once did as allegedly bared by trenches that crisscross the surface. Presently, Mars is in the middle of a glacial period. The stages of water change directly from vapor to ice and vice-versa, skipping the liquid phase.
by: Brian Jones
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