Top 5 Mysteries of the Solar System

[chmee]

I have listed 5 issues that I see are the greatest unsolved mysteries in astronomy concerning our solar system. Would anyone like to shed some light on these mysteries? Do you have some mystery of the solar system that has been bugging you that you would like to share?<br /><br /><br />1. Origin of Life on Earth<br />It seems that life appeared on Earth almost as early as conditions allowed 4 billion years ago. Did life originate on Earth (and if so how?) or was it seeded from somewhere else? If so from where?<br /><br />2. Origin of Mars' moons<br />Deimos and Phobos are the very small moons of Mars that appear at first glance to be of asteroidic origin. However, spectra have indicated that they resemble different asteroid classes on their leading and trailing sides. Both the accretion theory (that they were formed along with Mars) and capture theory (that they were pulled into orbit) have problems.<br /><br />3. Retrograde Rotation of Venus<br />Nearly all the planets have fairly fast prograde rotations (same direction as their orbit), except for Venus. Venus completes one rotation in 243 days, which is longer than its year of 225 days, and in the opposite direction of all other planets. Why is this? Did a large, off center collision occur late in Venus' formation to slow its rotation? There is no evidence at this time.<br /><br />4. Saturn's Rings<br />The rings of Saturn are very large and much more complex (by orders of magnitude) than any other rings in the Solar System. While there is now more evidence of how they are sustained in the long term (shepherding moons keep the rings from dispersing) their origin and replenishment are still mysteries. Are the rings left over from the formation of Saturn? Result of a breakup of a large moon?<br /><br />5. Triton<br />The very large moon of Neptune revolves around the planet in a retrograde fashion and will one day collide with the planet. Therefore, this very large moon was certainly not formed along with Neptune in the

 

[Saiph]

Saturns rings aren't that big of a mystery. There is evidence that it's the break up of a moon that orbited to close to saturn. Their orbit is slowly decaying, and should finish falling to saturn in the next few hundred thousand years.<br /><br />You forgot a real big one: Uranus. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[chmee]

While there are several jokes I could make about Uranus being a mystery, I will show some self restraint <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />Anyway, I did not include Uranus' extreme tilt since I thought there is evidence that there was a collision with an Earth sized body, so it is not really a "mystery" anymore.

 

[chmee]

Hey I also favor the Earth orgin theory for life, but pansporia is not out there with ESP. Yes, naked, exposed proteins and DNA would quickly degrade in space, but you did not consider that life can hitchhike deep inside a rock or other materials which would protect it from degradation. <br /><br />Live bacteria was found to have survived several years within the Surveyor camera (which had been in hard vacuum and exposed to severe radiation on the Moon's surface) that Apollo astronauts brought back with them in the 60's. It is not in the relm of ESP to propose something similar can occur when a large asteroid strikes a life bearing planet and bedrock gets flung deep into space. <br /><br />Again, i am not a big fan of this theory, but it is certainly not a denial of facts.!

 

[Saiph]

no evidence that I know of, though I'd like to see some.<br /><br />The theory goes it was whacked by an earth sized body. Cause that's about the only thing that'll do it.<br /><br />It's also the likely cuase for venus's lack of rotation (and slight retrograde).<br /><br />But any evidence other than their odd rotation (the thing we're trying to explain) is lacking.<br /><br />Unless something new has arisen. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[thalion]

Numbers 1, 2, 4, and 5 are great choices.<br /><br />Here are mine:<br /><br />1.) Uranus's axis<br />This is a real problem, because all of its major moons orbit in its equatorial plane. Assuming its major moons formed along with it, the impact that (might have) tilted Uranus must have happened very early in the planet's history. But what massive object could have done that to a planet the size of Uranus? How could such a chaotic orbit have come to pass that far from the Sun? If an impactor didn't tilt Uranus, what did?<br /><br />2.) The formation of Jupiter<br />In recent years, the classic core-accretion model has faced some theoretical challenges from other models suggesting that Jupiter could have formed from direct gravitational collapse of part of the solar nebula. Both models have significant repercussions for giant planet formation outside the Solar System, especially as it relates to stellar metallicity.<br /><br />3.) Europa's possible ocean<br />Needless to say, the undisputed discovery of a Europan ocean would have tremendous implications for the possible existence of life, besides the fact that it would give science a whole new hydrosphere to learn about. Still, the questions over how much of Europa's crust is frozen, the composition of its ice and water, whether there is hydrothermal or submarine volcanic activity, and of course whether there is life are wide open.<br /><br />4.) Mercury's magnetic field<br />This has been a major headache for theoreticians. It seems unlikely that its field is a "frozen" remnant embedded in its iron core, yet the planet is probably too small to have much of a molten core left, and it's probably rotating too slowly for much of a dynamo effect either. MESSENGER should answer these questions in the next decade.<br /><br />5.) Ice at the Moon's poles<br />This has been one of the most controversial topics over the last several years, with Lunar Prospector and terrestrial observatories giving contradictory results. The implic

 

[tony873004]

I've heard that Venus always points the same face towards Earth at inferior conjunction. This means that Venus' rotation has a resonance with Earth's period. If true, that too is weird, since intuitively it would seem that Earth is too distant for its gravity to have any significant effect on Venus.

 

[silylene old]

welcome to the forums chmee !<br /><br />You all had some good items on this list of mysteries.<br /><br />I would add:<br /><br />1. Earth: The formation of Earth's moon. Yes, I am well aware that we have a great collision model....but no concrete proof. Did the collision formation of the moon strip enough of our atmosphere to prevent a Venusian hothouse, and did the collision strip off enough crust to enable continental drift (as opposed to a Venusian stability)?<br /><br />2. Mars: Did Mars lose its water and atmosphere gradually, or suddenly as a result of a few large meteorite collisions?<br /><br />3. Mars: Why was Mars apparently so much warmer in the distant past (1-3B years ago), while Earth was not proportionally that much warmer?<br /><br />4. Sun: What controls the longer term sunspot cycles and solar irradiance variations (per the recent Nature paper)?<br /><br />5. Iapetus: It's strange colored hemispheres.<br /><br />6. Sedna: How did it form and how did it get it's strange orbit?<br /><br />7. Phoebe: How exactly did it come to be, circling Saturn? Is it a KBO?<br /><br />8. Uranian rings: How did they form?<br /><br />9. Chiron: How did it form / get captured?<br /><br />10. Pluto: How did it get into the orbit it currently occupies...<i>while not losing Chiron</i> ? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[dark_energy]

The answer to all questions are : Aliens did it. <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[dark_energy]

How about the question of why the Great Red Spot is still as lively as it was 300 years ago? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[odysseus145]

silylene, did you mean Charon? Chiron, I believe, is an asteroid orbiting somewhere beyond Saturn. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[silylene old]

yea, Charon. My booboo. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[chmee]

stevehw33,<br /><br />You need to look a little harder before calling any strike outs:<br />Here is one link (among many) about the bacteria found on Surveyor III, which was retrieved by the Apollo 12 astronauts in 1969:<br /><br />http://www.lpi.usra.edu/expmoon/Apollo12/A12_Experiments_III.html <br /><br />Why do you think NASA takes great pains to biologically sterilize spacecraft that go to other worlds? To avoid the (admittedly) remote possibility of cross contamination of another planet. Even the Galileo spacecraft was purposely crashed into Jupiter to avoid it colliding with Europa and contaminating it.<br /><br />Also, DNA and proteins can last millions of years under the right conditions. Here is an article about 20 million year old DNA extracted out of bacteria from amber at California Polytechnic State University:<br /><br />http://www.apsnet.org/education/feature/ancientdna/<br /><br />So there you have specifics. While this is not certainly proof of panspermia, it sure is evidence that it may be in the realm of possibility. While I personally do not favor that theory (I prefer Earth origin myself), it is definitely not in the realm of ESP and other junk science.<br /><br />Looks like YOU struck out. Here is a link to Google where you can research effective counter arguments before making any more bad calls:<br /><br />www.google.com <br />