Six Educational GIFs About The Planets

Space is an interesting place, but it can be hard to wrap your head around some of those out-of-this-world concepts. So what better way to learn facts about space than with GIFs? Here are six interesting and educational GIFs made from videos by Dr James O'Donoghue, a planetary scientist based at the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Enjoy learning, space cadets. Want to learn more? Check out this article about how the new Mac Pro isn't good at grating cheese.

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01

The scale of Saturn's polar hexagon, which may be made from a jet stream made of atmospheric gases.

Via Giphy
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02

The tilts and spins of the planets in the solar system.

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03

How many Saturn's rings fit inside our Moon? Saturn's rings are 1,000 times the surface area of our Moon, but 5,000 of them are needed to fill up the Moon. That is because they are incredibly thin - most of them are under 10 meters thick.

Via Giphy
04

Relative rotations of the planets shown moving to relative scale.

Via Giphy
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05

The eight planets (and two dwarf planets) to scale, and their rotations, tilts and sidereal day lengths.

Via Giphy
06

Planets don't twinkle - stars do.

Via Giphy