Can we live on other planets?

 

Can we live on other planets?

A planet needs the perfect ingredients and conditions for

life to survive. Ingredients include liquid water, oxygen gas, and food. Conditions include the right temperature, protection from harmful rays, and the right amount of gravity. An atmosphere is a layer of gases around a planet.

 

Mercury: Hot and cold

Mercury is too hot for life on the side that faces the sun and too cold the other side. It has no atmosphere.

 

Venus: Too hot

The thick, toxic atmosphere on Venus has trapped a lot of heat, making this the hottest planet in the solar system.

 

Earth: Perfect conditions

Earth has an atmosphere, liquid water, and the right level of gravity. It’s in the “Goldilocks zone,” which means it’s not too hot and not too cold, but just right for life.

 

Mars: The red planet

Mars has very little atmosphere so the sun’s heat isn’t trapped by gases. Instead, it just bounces back into space, making Mars too cold for life.

 

Jupiter: Gas giants

The four outer planets are made from gas so they don’t have a solid surface. They are so massive that their gravity would squash us.

 

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

 

Can distant planets support life?

 

Kepler 186f

This Earthlike planet has a rocky surface and may have water on it. But it would take 500 years to get to Kepler 186f, even if we could travel at the speed of light.

 

Kepler 452b

This planet is close in size to Earth and orbits a star similar to our sun. It is in the “Goldilocks zone” of its solar system, but scientists do not yet know if it has water.

 

Quick quiz

1. Which planet used to be similar to Earth?

2. Why don’t we travel to planets outside of our solar system?

3. What are planets from outside our own solar system called?