"Solar System in fiction The Solar System and its various bodies (planets, asteroids, moons, etc.) were the earliest objects to be treated as fictional locations in works of science fiction. Among these, imaginary voyages to and explorations of Earth's Moon are found in seventeenth century literature. By the early twentieth century, following the increase in scientific and technological development spurred by the Industrial Revolution, fictional journeys to (or from) the Solar System's other planets had become common in fiction. Early literature regarding the Solar System, following scientific speculations dating back to the 17th century, assumed that every planet hosted its"
"no confirmation has been made of the presence of liquid water there. While other objects orbit partly within this zone, including comets, Ceres is the only one of planetary mass. A combination of low mass and an inability to mitigate evaporation and atmosphere loss against the solar wind make it impossible for these bodies to sustain liquid water on their surface. Despite this, studies are strongly suggestive of past liquid water on the surface Venus, Mars, Vesta and Ceres, suggesting a more common phenomena than previously thought. Since sustainable liquid water is thought to be essential to support complex life,"
"""Goldilocks"" position. Earth is the only planet in the universe confirmed to possess large bodies of surface water. Venus is on the hot side of the zone while Mars is on the cold side. Neither are known to have persistent surface water, though evidence exists that Mars did have in its ancient past, and it is speculated that the same was the case for Venus. Thus extrasolar planets (or moons) in the Goldilocks position with substantial atmospheres may possess oceans and water clouds like those on Earth. In addition to surface water, a true Earth analog would require a mix"
"restricted to the surfaces of planets. The three most likely candidates for life in the Solar System are the planet Mars, the Jovian moon Europa, and Saturn's moons Titan, and Enceladus. Mars, Enceladus and Europa are considered likely candidates in the search for life primarily because they may have underground liquid water, a molecule essential for life as we know it for its use as a solvent in cells. Water on Mars is found frozen in its polar ice caps, and newly carved gullies recently observed on Mars suggest that liquid water may exist, at least transiently, on the planet's"
"liquid water. In addition to its orbit, a planetary mass object must have the potential for sufficient atmospheric pressure to support liquid water and a sufficient supply of hydrogen and oxygen at or near its surface. The Gliese 581 planetary system contains multiple planets that may be candidates for surface water, including Gliese 581c, Gliese 581d, might be warm enough for oceans if a greenhouse effect was operating, and Gliese 581e. Gliese 667 C has three of them are in the habitable zone including Gliese 667 Cc is estimated to have surface temperatures similar to Earth and a strong chance"
"a freshwater lake. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea states that all of the ocean is ""sea"". Earth is the only known planet with seas of liquid water on its surface, although Mars possesses ice caps and similar planets in other solar systems may have oceans. It is still unclear where Earth's water came from, but, seen from space, our planet appears as a ""blue marble"" of its various forms: oceans, ice caps, clouds. Earth's of sea contain about 97.2 percent of its known water and cover more than 70 percent of its surface. Another 2.15%"
"Ocean planet An ocean planet, ocean world, water world, aquaplanet or panthalassic planet is a type of terrestrial planet that contains a substantial amount of water either at its surface or subsurface. The term ""ocean world"" is also used sometimes for astronomical bodies with an ocean composed of a different fluid, such as lava (the case of Io) or ammonia (the case of Titan's inner ocean). Earth is the only known astronomical object to have bodies of ""liquid"" water on its surface, although several exoplanets have been found with the right conditions to support liquid water. For exoplanets, current technology"
"to at which water can only exist as vapour. The entire orbits of the Moon, Mars, and numerous asteroids also lie within various estimates of the habitable zone. Only at Mars' lowest elevations (less than 30% of the planet's surface) is atmospheric pressure and temperature sufficient for water to, if present, exist in liquid form for short periods. At Hellas Basin, for example, atmospheric pressures can reach 1,115 Pa and temperatures above zero Celsius (about the triple point for water) for 70 days in the Martian year. Despite indirect evidence in the form of seasonal flows on warm Martian slopes,"
"helium (c. 0.05%). Water planets could result from inward planetary migration and originate as protoplanets that formed from volatile ice-rich material beyond the snow-line but that never attained masses sufficient to accrete large amounts of H/He nebular gas. Because of the varying pressure at depth, models of a water world include ""steam, liquid, superfluid, high-pressure ices, and plasma phases"" of water. Some of the solid-phase water could be in the form of ice VII. Gliese 1214 b Gliese 1214 b (often shortened to GJ 1214 b) is an exoplanet that orbits the star Gliese 1214, and was discovered in December"
"Water as a compound is cosmically abundant, although much of it is in the form of vapour or ice. Subsurface liquid water is considered likely or possible on several of the outer moons: Enceladus (where geysers have been observed), Europa, Titan, and Ganymede. Earth and Titan are the only worlds currently known to have stable bodies of liquid on their surfaces. Not all properties of water are necessarily advantageous for life, however. For instance, water ice has a high albedo, meaning that it reflects a significant quantity of light and heat from the Sun. During ice ages, as reflective ice"
"water, and insolation. In particular, the planet Venus has been intensely studied due to its general physical similarities to Earth yet completely different geodynamic regime. Proposed explanations include a lack of surface water, the lack of a magnetic geodynamo, or large-scale evacuation of interior heat shortly after planetary coalescence. Another source of insight within our solar system is the history of the planet Earth, which may have had several episodes of stagnant lid geodynamics during its history. These stagnant-lid periods were not necessarily planet-wide; when supercontinents such as Gondwanaland existed, their presence may have shut off plate motion over large"
"source for chemical abundance, despite their rareness (only five have been recovered on Earth). The planets of the Solar System are divided into two groups: the four inner planets are the terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars), with relatively small sizes and rocky surfaces. The four outer planets are the giant planets, which are dominated by hydrogen and helium and have lower mean densities. These can be further subdivided into the gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn) and the ice giants (Uranus and Neptune) that have large icy cores. Most of our direct information on the composition of the giant"
"research concerns the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan, which is, according to NASA, ""a model for what the early Earth might have been like."" Titan has a thick, nitrogen-dominated atmosphere and is the only world in the solar system other than Earth known to possess stable liquid on its surface."" (Titan's seas are not water, however, but methane and ethane.) In 2015, Anderson reported her discovery of a chemically new, high-altitude ice cloud residing in Titan's south polar stratosphere during Titan's early southern winter season, chemically consistent with co-condensed hydrogen cyanide and benzene. During her 12-year tenure on the Cassini"
"most abundant gas is inert nitrogen. The reactions probably include the deterioration of silicates by carbon dioxide to produce carbonates and quartz, as well as the deterioration of silicates by sulfur dioxide to produce anhydrate calcium sulfate and carbon dioxide. NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and others have postulated that Venus may have had a shallow ocean in the past for up to 2 billion years, with as much water as Earth. Depending on the parameters used in their theoretical model, the last liquid water could have evaporated as recently as 715 million years ago. Currently, the only known"
"Jupiter's. On 3 December 2013, scientists working with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) reported detecting water in the atmosphere of the exoplanet. In July 2014, NASA announced finding very dry atmospheres on three exoplanets (HD 189733b, HD 209458b, WASP-12b) orbiting sun-like stars. In September 2017, researchers, working on the HST, announced that WASP-12b absorbs, instead of reflects, at least 94% of the light that shines on its surface. As a result, the exoplanet has been described as ""black as asphalt"", and as a ""pitch black"" and is a type of planet known as a hot Jupiter. The planet is so"
"Jupiter and Saturn, are thought to have surface layers composed of liquid hydrogen rather than solid land; however, their planetary geology is not well understood. The possibility of Uranus and Neptune (the ice giants) possessing hot, highly compressed, supercritical water under their thick atmospheres has been hypothesised. While their composition is still not fully understood, a 2006 study by Wiktorowicz et al. ruled out the possibility of such a water ""ocean"" existing on Neptune, though some studies have suggested that exotic oceans of liquid diamond are possible. The entire surface of a rocky planet or moon is considered land, even"
"Jupiter and Saturn. They have become known as ""ice giants"". Their constituent compounds were solids when they were primarily incorporated into the planets during their formation, either directly in the form of ices or trapped in water ice. Today, very little of the water in Uranus and Neptune remains in the form of ice. Instead, water primarily exists as supercritical fluid at the temperatures and pressures within them. Ice giants consist of only about 20% hydrogen and helium in mass, as opposed to the Solar System's gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, which are both more than 90% hydrogen and helium"
"of water in the form of vapor in the planet's atmosphere, but only in the rare case of a planet with an orbit aligned so as to transit its star, which Gliese 581c is not known to do. Theoretical models predict that volatile compounds such as water and carbon dioxide, if present, might evaporate in the scorching heat of the sunward side, migrate to the cooler night side, and condense to form ice caps. Over time, the entire atmosphere might freeze into ice caps on the night side of the planet. However, it remains unknown if water and/or carbon dioxide"
"also some gas, plasma and dust, and small meteors. Additionally, there are signs of human life in outer space today, such as material left over from previous manned and unmanned launches which are a potential hazard to spacecraft. Some of this debris re-enters the atmosphere periodically. Although the Earth is the only body within the solar system known to support life, evidence suggests that in the distant past the planet Mars possessed bodies of liquid water on the surface. For a brief period in Mars' history, it may have also been capable of forming life. At present though, most of"
"the poles and is lower than the surface gravity of Earth. However, the equatorial escape velocity of nearly is much higher than that for Earth. Saturn is the only planet of the Solar System that is less dense than water—about 30% less. Although Saturn's core is considerably denser than water, the average specific density of the planet is due to the atmosphere. Jupiter has 318 times Earth's mass, and Saturn is 95 times Earth's mass. Together, Jupiter and Saturn hold 92% of the total planetary mass in the Solar System. Despite consisting mostly of hydrogen and helium, most of Saturn's"
"this state of matter is actually the least common in the known universe, because liquids require a relatively narrow temperature/pressure range to exist. Most known matter in the universe is in gaseous form (with traces of detectable solid matter) as interstellar clouds or in plasma form within stars. Liquid is one of the four primary states of matter, with the others being solid, gas and plasma. A liquid is a fluid. Unlike a solid, the molecules in a liquid have a much greater freedom to move. The forces that bind the molecules together in a solid are only temporary in"
"first extrasolar asteroid is detected around white dwarf star GD 61. It is also the first detected extrasolar body which contains water in liquid or solid form. In July 14, with the successful encounter of Pluto by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, the United States became the first nation to explore all of 9 major planets recognized in 1981. Later in September 14, LIGO was the first to directly detect gravitational waves. Exoplanet Proxima Centauri b is discovered around Proxima Centauri by the European Southern Observatory, making it the closest known exoplanet to the Solar System as of 2016. In August"
"July 2015, Astronomy & Astrophysics said they found a planetary system with three super-Earths orbiting a bright, dwarf star. The four-planet system, dubbed HD 219134, had been found 21 light years from Earth in the M-shaped northern hemisphere of constellation Cassiopeia, but it is not in the habitable zone of its star. The planet with the shortest orbit is HD 219134 b, and is Earth's closest known rocky, and transiting, exoplanet. In February 2016, it was announced that NASA Hubble Space Telescope had detected hydrogen and helium (and suggestions of hydrogen cyanide), but no water vapor, in the atmosphere of"
"and the water in the deeper layers may be in the form of ionic water in which the molecules break down into a soup of hydrogen and oxygen ions, and deeper still as superionic water in which the oxygen crystallises but the hydrogen ions float about freely within the oxygen lattice. The existence of liquid water, and to a lesser extent its gaseous and solid forms, on Earth are vital to the existence of life on Earth as we know it. The Earth is located in the habitable zone of the solar system; if it were slightly closer to or"
"habitability, taphonomy (related to fossils), and organic carbon on Mars is now a primary NASA objective. Ceres, the only dwarf planet in the asteroid belt, has a thin water-vapor atmosphere. Frost on the surface may also have been detected in the form of bright spots. The presence of water on Ceres has led to speculation that life may be possible there. Carl Sagan and others in the 1960s and 1970s computed conditions for hypothetical microorganisms living in the atmosphere of Jupiter. The intense radiation and other conditions, however, do not appear to permit encapsulation and molecular biochemistry, so life there"
"vapour and could be indicators of liquid water deeper down. It could also be just ice. In June 2009, evidence was put forward for salty subterranean oceans on Enceladus. On April 3, 2014, NASA reported that evidence for a large underground ocean of liquid water on Enceladus, moon of planet Saturn, had been found by the Cassini spacecraft. According to the scientists, evidence of an underground ocean suggests that Enceladus is one of the most likely places in the solar system to ""host microbial life"". Emissions of water vapor have been detected from several regions of the dwarf planet Ceres."
"of liquid water. Kepler-22b one of the first 54 candidates found by the Kepler telescope and reported is 2.4 times the size of the Earth, with an estimated temperature of 22 °C. It is described as having the potential for surface water, though its composition is currently unknown. Among the 1,235 possible extrasolar planet candidates detected by NASA's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope during its first four months of operation, 54 are orbiting in the parent star's habitable 'Goldilocks' zone where liquid water could exist. Five of these are near Earth-size. On 6 January 2015, NASA announced further observations conducted from"
"as small as Vesta; hydration in general has been observed. If fluids include groundwater and vapor, the list of bodies with hydrological modification includes Earth, Mars, and Enceladus, to a lesser extent comets and some asteroids, likely Europa and Triton, and possibly Ceres, Titan, and Pluto. Venus may have had hydrology in its early history, which would since have been erased. Fluid modification and mineral deposition on Mars, as observed by the MER and MSL rovers, is studied in light of Earth features and minerals. Minerals observed from orbiters and landers indicates formation in aqueous conditions; morphologies indicate fluid action"
"room temperature. Water is the only substance that occurs naturally as a solid in the form of ice, a liquid and a gas which is in the form of water vapor. Water covers 71% of the entire Earth surface. The amount of water in this world isn't diminishing, but the demand is steadily increasing. Scientists believe that the world's population, will double by 2050. In addition to this, the amount of fresh water that is clean and safe to drink is steadily decreasing because of pollutants. So, people are in need of drinking water in its purest form. There are"
"and liquid water conceivably could exist when atmospheric temperatures are as low as . However, a warming of is much less than thought necessary in order to produce liquid water. The novel series by Kim Stanley Robinson known as the ""Mars trilogy"" chronicles the colonization and terraforming of Mars. The novels are titled according to the dominant color in the stage of terraforming achieved in each volume: ""Red Mars"" (1992), when Mars is still in its natural state; ""Green Mars"" (1993), when plants are able to grow in the atmosphere; and ""Blue Mars"" (1996), when the atmospheric pressure and temperature"
"that this is only true under constant pressure, so e.g. water and ice in a closed, strong container might reach an equilibrium where both phases coexist. For the opposite transition from solid to liquid, see melting. The phase diagram explains why liquids do not exist in space or any other vacuum. Since the pressure is zero (except on surfaces or interiors of planets and moons) water and other liquids exposed to space will either immediately boil or freeze depending on the temperature. In regions of space near the earth, water will freeze if the sun is not shining directly on"
"water on Venus is in the form of a tiny amount of atmospheric vapor (20 ppm). Hydrogen, a component of water, is still being lost to space nowadays as detected by ESA's Venus Express spacecraft. Geology of Venus Venus is a planet with striking geology. Of all the other planets in the Solar System, it is the one nearest to Earth and most like it in terms of mass, but has no magnetic field or recognizable plate tectonic system. Much of the ground surface is exposed volcanic bedrock, some with thin and patchy layers of soil covering, in marked contrast"
"liquid water somewhere on their surface. Depending on definition, up to six could be in the optimistic habitable zone (c, d, e, f, g, h), with estimated equilibrium temperatures of . In November 2018, researchers determined that one of the exoplanets, TRAPPIST-1e, is the most likely Earth-like ocean world and ""would be an excellent choice for further study with habitability in mind."" The star at the center of the system was discovered in 1999 during the Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS). It was entered in the subsequent catalog with the designation ""2MASS J23062928-0502285"". The numbers refer to the right ascension"