PLANET EARTH FACTS ATMOSPHERE SIZE TECH SCIENCE ASTRONOMY SEARCH VIDEO ECLIPSE CHARLES NASA THE THIRD PLANET THE ONLY FREE OCEANS LIQUID WATER EARTH FIFTH LARGEST THE PLANETS THE SOLAR SYSTEM SMALLER THAN GAS GIANTS ROCKY PLANETS DIAMETER MILES ROUND GRAVITY PULLS MATTER WHOSE SPIN CAUSES SQUASHED POLES THE EQUATOR PERCENT OF EARTH SURFACE MADE UP SCIENTISTS OUR PLANET CENTURIES LEARNED RECENT DECADES PICTURES ORBITAL SPINS IMAGINARY LINE AXIS RUNS THE NORTH POLE THE SOUTH POLE ORBITING TAKES HOURS COMPLETE ROTATION DAYS ORBIT AROUND THE SUN AXIS OF ROTATION RELATION ECLIPTIC PLANE IMAGINARY MEANS NORTHERN SOUTHERN HEMISPHERES SOMETIMES POINT TOWARD AWAY FROM THE SUN AMOUNT LIGHT CAUSING PERFECT CIRCLE RATHER ORBITS THE OTHER BIT CLOSER THE SUN FARTHER AWAY VARIATION SMALLER HEATING AND COOLING CAUSED TILT LIE TEMPERATURES JUST RIGHT STATISTICS AVERAGE DISTANCE PERIHELION APPROACH APHELION DISTANCE LENGTH SOLAR REVOLUTION EQUATORIAL INCLINATION TO FORMATION EVOLUTION THINK SAME TIME OTHER PLANETS BILLION YEARS ROTATING CLOUD GAS DUST SOLAR NEBULA NEBULA SPUN FASTER THE MATERIAL PULLED THE CENTER PARTICLES THE DISK STUCK SOLAR WIND POWERFUL AWAY LIGHTER HYDROGEN RENDERING SIBLINGS WATERLESS RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS THE ROCK INCREASING PRESSURE DEEP THE EARTH ENOUGH HEAT MELT CHEMICALS RISE THE SURFACE GASES THE ATMOSPHERE EVIDENCE SUGGESTS CRUST MILLION YEARS THE PLANET TAKEN THE HISTORY OF EARTH DIVIDED EONS HADEAN PROTEROZOIC PHANEROZOIC LASTED NEARLY ARCHAEAN THREE ERAS PALEOZOIC CENOZOIC PALEOZOIC ERA SAW DEVELOPMENT OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS IN ON LAND MESOZOIC ERA THE AGE CENOZOIC ERA WE ARE SEEN ROCKS INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS MOLLUSKS TRILOBITES FISH MILLION YEARS AGO AMPHIBIANS APPEAR FORESTS SWAMPS REPTILES PERIOD MESOZOIC ASCENDENCE MAMMALS THE FOSSIL RECORD FLOWERING PLANTS DOMINANT PLANT GROUP CONTINUE SO TODAY THE END COSMIC LAND ANIMALS COMPOSITION STRUCTURE TRACE AMOUNTS CARBON DIOXIDE NOWHERE ELSE FIND LOADED PROVED VITAL UNIQUE FEATURES THINNER 100 MILES ABOVE THIN SATELLITES LITTLE TRACES HIGH LAYER THE TROPOSPHERE SUNLIGHT WARM AIR AIR PRESSURE COOL AIR DENSER SURROUNDINGS ONCE AGAIN THE STRATOSPHERE THE OZONE LAYER ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT OXYGEN ATOMS BIND OZONE HARMFUL ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION REACHING WATER TRAP PROBABLY COLD RUNAWAY GREENHOUSE EFFECT HELLISH CONDITIONS UPPER ACTUALLY THE DAY CONTRACTS AT NIGHT MAGNETIC FIELD THE NORTHERN LIGHTS INTERACTIONS BETWEEN MAGNETIC WORK IN INFOGRAPHIC CURRENTS FLOWING OUTER CORE ALWAYS ON THE MAGNETIC NORTH POLE RECENTLY NORTHWARD MOTION NORTH AMERICA SIBERIA CHANGING CHANGES MILD COMPARED TO WHAT DONE THE PAST THE FIELD THE NORTH THE SOUTH SWAPPING CHARGED PARTICLES TRAPPED SMASH MOLECULES PHENOMENON SOUTHERN LIGHTS CHEMICAL COMPOSITION ABUNDANT ELEMENT 47 PERCENT THE WEIGHT SILICON AT 27 ALUMINUM AT 8 IRON CALCIUM AT 4 MAGNESIUM CORE NICKEL POTENTIALLY ELEMENTS SULFUR THE MANTLE SILICATE COMBINATION MINERALS SILICA SILICATE MINERALS INTERNAL HALF THE CORE INNER CORE MOON FLOW FLOATS WOOD SLOW MOTION ROCK CONTINENTS THE FORMATION OF MOUNTAIN TWO KINDS THE DRY LAND GRANITE OCEAN DENSE VOLCANIC ROCK CONTINENTAL CRUST 25 MILES OCEANIC CRUST AREAS BASALT FILL OCEAN BASINS THE REST ONTO EDGES THE CONTINENTAL GETS AT THE BOTTOM REACH MILE DEGREE C BELOW GEOLOGISTS TEMPERATURE HOTTER PRESSURES KEEP IT KEPLER MISSION PLANETS COMMON THE MILKY WAY FOURTH STARS KEPLER HABITABLE MERCURY VENUS NONE OUR SOLAR SYSTEM LEADING EXPLANATION THE MOON GIANT IMPACT INGREDIENTS PRIMITIVE IMPACTOR THE MASS SPECIES OVERVIEW THE UNIVERSE RANGING FROM THE BOTTOM FIGURE 100 MILLION IDENTIFIED BODY HOST SUSPECT CANDIDATES MOON TITAN EUROPA THE POTENTIAL PRIMITIVE LIVING PRECISELY NAIL DOWN COMPLEX LIFE EVOLVED SOLUTION NEARBY PLANET MARS ONCE HABITABLE PLANET TRAVELED METEORITES THE RED REPORTING NOLA TAYLOR CLIMATE WEATHER SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION LEARN MARS ASTEROIDS JUPITER SATURN URANUS NEPTUNE PLUTO DWARF PLANETS COMETS KUIPER BELT AUTHOR CHOI WRITER LIVE SCIENCE COVERS ALL THINGS HUMAN ORIGINS GENERAL SCIENCE MASTER OF ARTS DEGREE THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM BACHELOR OF ARTS DEGREE THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CONTINENT DRINKING RANCID YAK BUTTER TEA SNORKELING SEA LIONS GALAPAGOS CLIMBING ICEBERG EXTREMOPHILE FREAKS OUTLIVE HUMANITY MAYBE MIGHT BE HERE HAPPY TODAY JULY FOURTH COMES SOUNDING ROCKET COLORFUL MORNING CLOUD SHOW PEW PEW PEW FIRED UP FUTURISTIC SPACE LASERS IF YOU SYSTEM WOULD YOU AMAZING TIM PEAKE THE OCEANS BRIGHT ARTIFICIAL CLOUDS ROCKET VISIBLE US EAST COAST BUDGET REQUEST MISSIONS BLOW PAST DANGEROUS THRESHOLD LESS THAN DECADE RIVERS REVEAL SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL RADIO BUBBLE SHIELDS RADIATION SPACE WEATHER GIANT INSIDE CAUSE FLIP CAPTURES SPECTACULAR RAW VIDEO ALIENS EXPECT HOLLYWOOD ENDING RIDLEY SCOTT WARNS INFO ABOUT US CONTACT ADVERTISE CONTENT LICENSING TERMS OF USE COPYRIGHT POLICY PRIVACY POLICY REVIEWS GUIDE LAPTOP HARDWARE BUSINESS NEWS DAILY IT PRO ACTIVE JUNKY SHOPSAVVY ANANDTECH FOLLOW US ALL RIGHTS RESERVED