"In the beginning, There was darkness," "And then, bang," "Giving birth to an endless," "Expanding existence" "Of time, space and matter." "Every day, new discoveries" "Are unlocking the mysterious," "The mind-blowing," "The deadly secrets of a place" "We call the universe." "This cosmic world" "Is unlike anything" "You've ever seen" "Or learned about." "Our galactic neighborhood" "Is home to seven of the most" "Mesmerizing, violent," "And otherworldly phenomena" "In the universe:" "A stunning planet" "Whose iconic rings" "Contain mountain ranges" "That rival the alps," "A shimmering moon" "Where massive geysers" "Of water and ice" "Spew from its surface." "Scale a mega volcano," "Then zigzag through a family" "Of asteroids" "Before diving into the eye" "Of a super-sized hurricane." "Experience the newest," "Most mind-blowing discoveries" "Revolving around our sun" "As we venture" "To the seven wonders" "Of our solar system." "The Universe - 5x01 August 29, 2010" "If you think" "Science has already uncovered" "Every dangerous, strange" "And extraordinary phenomenon" "Under the sun, think again." "We are right now" "In the midst of the greatest era" "Of space discovery," "And many of the weird" "And wondrous things" "Are happening right here" "In our own cosmic backyard." "Our solar system" "Is a really fantastic place." "You know, we've now found" "Other planetary systems," "And we've not yet found" "Anything quite" "Like our solar system." "You've joined us" "On a magical journey" "Through the seven wonders" "Of our solar system." "We first head" "For the orbit of Saturn." "Number seven..." "It's midnight, November 2, 2009." "NASA's Cassini spacecraft" "Orbits the planet Saturn." "Its cameras capture" "Something bizarre" "On one of its outer moons" "Named Enceladus." "Most of the solar system's moons" "Are geologically dead," "And looking at the glistening," "Icy surface of its South pole," "Enceladus seems" "Like a peaceful world." "Then suddenly, without warning," "Gargantuan geysers" "Of wer and ice" "Eject from cracks" "On its surface." "Enceladus is a fantastic moon" "Of Saturn." "Though it's relatively small," "Enceladus is different" "From the volcanism" "That's here on earth" "Where hot magma," "Which is basically molten rock," "Comes out from" "Underneath earth's surface." "Enceladus has water," "Basically, liquid water" "Coming out and freezing" "And so it's called" "Cryovolcanism." "The Cassini spacecraft" "Flies directly" "Through the energetic plumes" "That blast hundreds of miles" "Into space" "At 1,400 miles per hour." "Enceladus has really" "Caught our imagination recently" "Because we see geysers" "Coming out of the South pole." "We haven't seen" "Anything like that" "On any of the icy moons" "In the outer solar system." "So something is going on" "In enceladus," "And it's active" "And we want to know why." "Scientists have counted" "At least 30 geyser jets" "Spouting from narrow" "Geological fractures" "Called tiger stripes" "Located along enceladus'" "South polar region." "A new infrared map of the area" "Reveals warm" "Surface temperatures." "The heat emanating" "From the tiger stripes" "May be due to the upwelling" "Of water vapor" "That propels the jets." "One of the few other places" "To witness" "This truly fascinating wonder..." "Is on earth..." "At a freshly groomed ski slope" "Or on a movie set." "Wow." "Look at this snowmaking machine." "It's like a geyser" "From enceladus." "All these ice particles" "And water droplets freeze" "When they encounter" "That outside air," "And the expanding gases" "Also help cool the dropls" "And freeze them." "In the case of enceladus," "Heated liquid water" "In a cauldron below the surface" "Goes squirting out" "Through some vents" "In the South polar region." "And when that water comes out" "And encounters" "The cold surrounding space" "It freezes, forming snowflakes" "And ice particles," "Much like the ones coming out" "Of this snowmaking machine." "So wow, I might as well be" "On enceladus right now." "Scientists think" "There must be two" "Internal heat sources" "Driving this icy volcanism" "On enceladus." "One source could be" "Radioactive elements" "That decay and heat up" "The interior," "Thereby keeping the water" "In a liquid state." "The second could be" "Tidal heating." "Suppose enceladus is like" "This squishy balloon." "Now enceladus orbits Saturn" "In a slightly elliptical," "Eccentric orbit." "So sometimes" "It's closer to Saturn," "Sometimes it's farther away." "When it's close to Saturn," "Saturn's gravitational pull" "Creates a greater" "Tidal stretching of enceladus" "Than when enceladus" "Is farther away." "That leads to a rubbing" "Of the interior materials" "And a release of energy." "This tidal friction," "As it's called," "Helps melt the interior" "Of enceladus and keep the water" "In this molten" "Or partly molten state." "One mystery is," "How much water actually exists" "Beneath the surface." "Could the miniature moon" "Be hiding an underground ocean?" "We infer" "That there is a liquid ocean" "Because there needs to be" "A source of water" "To power these geysers." "The ocean may not extend" "Under the entire" "Globe of enceladus." "It may be just" "Beneath these regions" "Where the geysers are going off," "But there has to be" "A significant reservoir" "Of liquid water" "Beneath the surface" "Of enceladus." "If liquid water exists" "Beneath the surface," "It could be teeming" "With organic molecules." "These, along with" "Relatively warm temperatures," "Are the essential ingredients" "For creating life." "It would be incredible" "If we were to find life," "Primitive life," "Underneath the surface" "Of enceladus." "We don't expect" "Complex creatures" "Such as ourselves" "Or rabbits or turtles," "But even primitive" "Bacterial or microbial life," "Independent of life on earth" "Would be one of the greatest" "Discoveries ever." "Enceladus actually orbits" "Within another wonder" "Of the solar system." "Number six..." "The rings," "Named in alphabetical order" "As they were discovered," "Are among the most dazzling" "Sights in the sky." "The voyager spacecraft" "First visited Saturn" "Quite a while ago," "And now with the new images" "Provided by Cassini," "It's like putting" "On a pair of 3d glasses" "For the first time" "To be able to see" "With great detail" "What's inside Saturn's rings." "Among the seven main rings," "It's estimated" "That the gaseous planet" "Has thousands of ringlets" "Comprised of 35" "Trillion-trillion tons" "Of ice and dust," "Containing roughly 26 million times" "The amount of water on earth." "Yet their origin" "Has eluded scientists" "For centuries." "We really don't know" "Their origin." "They may consist of material" "That never had a chance" "To form into a moon" "Because of" "Gravitational influences" "Of Saturn itself." "Or maybe, they're a moon" "That wandered" "Too close to Saturn" "And got broken up," "Shattered by the tidal" "Gravitational effects of Saturn." "Or possibly even, a comet" "Came in too close to Saturn" "And got tidally disrupted" "By Saturn's immense" "Gravitational field." "What's even more remarkable" "Is that scientists have counted 62 moons" "Embedded in Saturn's rings." "New images indicate" "That these tiny satellites" "Have taken the rings" "To new heights." "August 11, 2009." "A rare equinox photo of Saturn" "Shows her rings" ""edge on" to the sun." "The image unveils" "A shocking fact:" "The bright bands" "That once appeared" "To be solid and flat" "Actually contain ridges," "Spanning from a few feet" "To mountain ranges" "Taller than the alps." "When you look" "At Saturn's rings" "From a telescope on earth," "They look completely smooth" "And featureless." "But now we see" "That there are regions" "Where the ring particles" "Are piled up into," "What you could call mountains," "Which can be several miles high." "But how are these" "Mile-high mountains formed?" "NASA's Cassini mission" "Actually captured images" "Of embedded moons" "Sweeping through Saturn's rings" "Causing them to Twist and ripple" "Creating ever-changing patterns." "In Saturn's "a" ring," "The outermost" "Of the large bright rings," "The moon Daphnis" "Has carved a vertical peak," "Which is over 2 1/2 miles high." "The moons are interacting" "With Saturn's rings" "In such a way" "As to either pull material" "Slightly above the ring" "Or below the ring" "As the moon goes round" "Because s orbit" "Doesn't quite match that" "Of the ring itself." "The ring system" "Surrounding Saturn" "Is a spectacular sight." "But on a neighboring planet," "There's a very different scene," "One almost too monstrous" "To believe." "It's number five" "In our countdown" "Of the seven amazing wonders," "A raging storm" "That's nearly three times" "The size of earth." "As we continue our countdown" "Of the seven wonders" "Of our solar system," "We leave behind number seven:" "Enceladus and number six:" "The rings of Saturn." "We now blast off to number five:" "Jupiter's great red spot." "This mother of all storms" "Is about three times" "The size of earth." "We don't know exactly" "How the red spot formed." "It's been there" "As long as we've been looking," "As far back as the 165os." "So it was there" "Before we started" "Really paying attention." "The great red spot" "Is actually an ancient storm" "That's been spinning wildly" "For centuries." "The super-sized vortex" "Towers five miles" "Above the planet's cloud tops" "And dwarfs any storm system" "On earth." "The 400-mile-an-hour winds" "Measured in Jupiter's" "Great red spot" "Are faster than" "Some of the most powerful winds" "Measured in tornadoes" "Here on earth." "Yet, tornadoes on earth" "Only last," "Maybe a few tens of minutes" "Or at most a couple of hours," "Whereas Jupiter's" "Great red spot's" "Been going strong" "For at least 400 years," "And it's three times" "The size of earth." "Now that's one storm" "You don't want to get caught in." "Most tropical storms" "In earth's Southern hemisphere" "Spin clockwise" "As our planet rotates." "But on Jupiter," "The great red spot" "Follows an unearthly path." "The great red spot," "Which is in Jupiter's" "Southern hemisphere," "Rotates counterclockwise." "It's anticyclonic," "And that's because" "It's a high pressure system," "Unlike the low pressure systems" "Here on earth," "Associated with storms." "So when you have" "A high-pressure system," "The airflow is naturally" "The opposite to that" "Of a low-pressure system." "The origin of this" "Long-lived storm" "Has baffled astronomers." "But now, science may be" "On the verge of unraveling" "Its stormy secrets." "The Hubble space telescope" "Recently snapped images" "Of three smaller storms" "On Jupiter called white spots." "Within three years," "The three white spots merged" "To form one earth-size storm." "Then, the unexpected happened." "Over the course" "Of only about a week," "The storm turned" "From white to bright red." "It's now known as oval Ba" "Or sometimes red junior." "Why it turned red" "And exactly how that happened" "Is still a mystery." "Astronomers now suspect" "A similar merger" "May have also created" "The great red spot." "And like red junior," "The ferocious storm" "May have originally been white." "But as its speed grew faster," "It began dredging up material" "From deep" "In Jupiter's atmosphere." "One of the compounds" "Could actually be" "A form of sulfur." "We don't fully understand" "Why the red spot" "Has its characteristic" "Brick red color, but probably" "There are chemical compounds" "Which are reacting" "With the sunlight" "And are giving it this color." "Astronomers have been" "Closely monitoring" "The great red spot," "And in the last decade" "They have detected" "An astonishing change." "We've been watching" "The great red spot shrink," "And actually become rounder" "For some time now." "Who knows" "If it's going to persist" "For another 400 years" "Or maybe disappear entirely." "The great r spot is by far" "The biggest storm" "In our solar system." "But after leaving Jupiter," "We head about 200 million miles" "In the direction of the sun," "And have a close encounter" "With another" "Barely believable wonder." "Number four:" "Scientists want to know more" "About the origin" "Of this cosmic junkyard" "Of wayward debris," "Which is left over" "From the formation" "Of the solar system." "For a long time" "We thought that, maybe," "There had been a planet there" "That got pulverized," "And we were just" "Seeing the debris" "Of some major catastrophe." "But we pretty much now realize" "That a planet" "Never was able to form there." "E gravitational pull" "From Jupiter" "And the other planets" "Just made it impossible" "For material to coalesce" "Into a planet." "We traverse through 100 million miles of rocks," "Some as small as several feet," "Others bigger than cities." "The belt probably contains" "Millions of rocky pieces." "Yet, if all the asteroids" "Were condensed into one boulder" "It would be smaller" "Than our moon." "We can start to learn more" "About the history" "Of our solar system" "By studying the small bodies" "In our solar system:" "The asteroids." "We'd like to know" "How they moved around," "How were they affected" "By the giant planets," "And what is their ultimate fate?" "What will happen to them?" "Meteorite!" "Popular movies have portrayed" "The asteroid belt" "As a cosmic obstacle course," "A place where spaceships" "Dodge enormous boulders" "That constantly collide" "And jostle for position" "Before hurtling down from space" "To destroy planet earth." "But has Hollywood" "Gotten it wrong?" "How congested" "Is the asteroid belt?" "That's what one viewer" "Wanted to ask the universe." "So Joel t." "From Kansas City, Missouri" "Texted us..." "Thanks for the question," "Joel." "I know this is a bit shocking," "But the asteroid belt" "Hasn't always been portrayed" "Terribly accurately" "In most blockbuster movies." "If you were orbiting an asteroid" "Inside our solar system's" "Asteroid belt," "You wouldn't be able to see" "Big cratered surfaces" "Of other asteroids" "Flying right next to you." "In fact, they probably look" "Just like distant points" "Of light." "That's because" "The average separations" "Between most asteroids" "In the asteroid belt" "Are much larger" "Than their actual sizes." "So they'd really just look" "Like dots." "In fact, an average distance" "Between two asteroids" "Can be one million miles." "However, among this spacious sea" "Of odd-shaped rocks," "Exists a round ball." "Ceres is the biggest asteroid" "In the solar system." "The awesome 600-mile wide rock" "Contains a fourth" "Of the entire mass" "Of the asteroid belt." "Most asteroids" "In the asteroid belt" "Are lumpy shaped," "Kind of like potatoes," "But Ceres is different." "It's actually big enough" "To have enough mass," "To have enough gravity," "To crush itself" "Into a round shape." "Because of its" "Spherical shape," "Ceres was upgraded." "Scientists recently listed it" "As a dwarf planet," "The same designation" "Given to Pluto." "The modern view of Ceres" "Is that it's not big enough" "To be called a genuine planet," "But it is big enough" "For it to have formed" "A roughly spherical shape," "But not big enough" "To be a true planet." "This fourth wonder" "Not only holds unique artifacts" "From the formation" "Of our solar system," "It also harbors" "Potential weapons" "Of mass destruction." "Many asteroids have escaped" "The confin" "Of the asteroid belt." "And at any moment," "One of these rogue space rocks" "Could repeat history," "And no one will live" "To talk about it." "So far, our journey" "Through the seven wonders" "Of the solar system" "Has taken us" "To the geysers of enceladus," "The rings of Saturn" "And the great red spot" "On Jupiter." "Now, we continue to travel" "Through the fourth" "Of our wonders," "The asteroid belt." "This band of leftover debris" "Has even made it" "To the big screen," "And the rocks Hollywood" "Is obsessed with the most" "Are those that escape" "The asteroid belt" "And head for planet earth." "Near-earth objects or neos" "Are cosmic rocks" "Like asteroids or comets," "Which strike earth" "Almost every day." "We're really very interested" "In near-earth objects," "Objects that pass" "Across the orbit of the earth" "Around the sun" "Because occasionally they can" "And do collide with the earth," "And if they're big enough" "They can cause vast destruction" "Here on earth." "On April 14, 2010," "Cameras caught sight" "Of a 3-foot fiery asteroid" "Streaming over the Midwestern" "United States." "Fortunately, the cosmic rock" "Broke into tiny pieces" "Before hitting the ground." "But in the past," "Large asteroid impacts" "Have created gigantic craters," "And even triggered" "Mass extinction events" "Like the chicxulub asteroid" "That killed off the dinosaurs." "Over the last" "Billions of years," "Earth has been hit many times" "By asteroids of various sizes." "The impact that occurred" "Roughly 65 million years ago" "That perhaps wiped out" "The dinosaurs" "Was an example of something" "That was about six miles across" "That slammed into," "What is now Mexico," "And caused huge" "Global ramifications" "For the earth." "A number of new space surveys" "Are currently tracking" "All near-earth objects" "That are large enough" "To destroy a modern city," "Or even worse," "Ignite a global catastrophe." "We know of most" "Of the objects" "That are larger than a mile" "That can intersect" "The earth's orbit," "And so the effort now" "Is going in to finding" "These sort of stadium-sized" "Objects," "That while not" "Completely devastating" "To the entire earth," "Would be a huge deal" "If they hit the earth." "As we leave behind" "The asteroid belt," "We chart a course to the next" "Of our seven wonders," "Number three..." "The largest volcano" "In the solar system." "As we approach the planet mars," "We immediately catch sight" "Of this mammoth mountain." "The base of it is about" "Almost 350 miles across," "That's, as though, the base" "Of the mountain" "Were from Los Angeles" "To San Francisco." "So even though it's so high," "The slope is very gradual." "You would barely know" "You were climbing a mountain." "It's not like a steep volcano," "It's just..." "It's a smooth, low slope," "But it just goes on forever." "Olympus Mons is located" "In the tharsis bulge," "A region on the red planet" "That's home to other" "Massive volcanoes." "If you climb the 13 miles" "To its summit," "You could take in a view" "Of the very edge" "Of the Martian atmosphere." "Olympus Mons" "Is several times higher" "Than the highest" "Mountains on earth," "And its base" "Is hundreds of miles across." "And it's been formed" "Over the last billions of years" "By eruption after eruption" "After eruption," "Which has slowly surfaced it" "With successive layers of lava." "100 million years ago," "Hot lava rivers poured down" "From its peak to cover" "Millions of square miles" "Of the red planet." "Today Olympus Mons" "Is 100 times the volume" "Of earth's largest volcano," "Mauna Loa," "Located on the big island" "Of Hawaii." "Olympus Mons got" "So much larger" "Than anything here," "For, well, a number of reasons." "One is certainly," "There was just" "A lot of volcanic activity." "A second is that" "Mare's gravity is much lower." "You weigh a lot less on mars." "So as the mountain built up," "It didn't compact back down." "It was able to build up" "To a pretty huge volcano" "Without collapsing." "The third and perhaps" "Most important reason" "Why Olympus Mons is so huge" "Is that mars doesn't have" "Plate tectonics," "The movement of crustal plates" "That rest on top" "Of the molten interior" "Of bodies, such as earth." "Olympus Mons grew" "To such a big size" "Because of the lack" "Of tectonic motions on mars." "The hot spot" "From which the lava, the magma," "Emerged remained" "At one location," "Allowing more and more material" "To build up and create" "A super mountain," "A super volcano." "Mars is now presumed" "To be geologically inactive." "But is the volcanic beast" "Really dead" "Or merely a sleeping giant?" "The European space agency's" "Mars express mission" "Recently captured" "The highest resolution images" "Ever taken" "Of the planet's lava flows." "Some flows date back 115 million years," "But others are only 2 million years old," "And on geologic time scales" "That's very recent," "Which suggests" "There still may be some" "Volcanic activity." "If we look at the surface" "Of Olympus Mons," "We see especially" "That there are lava flows," "Which have very few" "Craters on them." "And so, we know that" "Those lava flows are perhaps 10s-20 million years old" "At the oldest." "But the eruptive activity" "Has been going on" "Until the relatively" "Recent past," "If not right up" "Until the present day." "Olympus Mons may have" "Once produced" "Vast amounts of lava," "But its hellish heat" "Paled in comparison" "To the current temperatures" "Of number two on our countdown" "Of the seven incredible wonders" "Of our solar system." "This may look like" "A ball of flames," "But its surface is an ocean" "Of 10,000-degree plasma" "With waves, winds" "And massive eruptions" "As explosive" "As a billion tons of TNT." "Our next wonder" "Of the solar system has been" "Earth's best friend and foe." "It's bathed our planet" "With heat and energy," "But it's also blasted us" "With potentially deadly" "Highly energetic" "Particles and waves." "We now navigate" "Around number two:" "The sizzling surface of the sun." "The surface of the sun" "Is really quite chaotic." "It's always boiling" "And bubbling." "In particular," "There are hot cells of gas" "That come out" "From the interior up," "Radiate their energy, cool," "And then, come back down." "So this convection," "As it's called," "This boiling motion," "Similar to what you see" "In a boiling pot of water," "Is occurring near the surface." "We have never been able" "To look at the sun's surface" "Up close until now." "At this very moment," "A new collection of satellites" "Is capturing images" "Of our home star." "These unprecedented movies" "Make you feel like" "You're an arm's distance away" "From touching the sun's" "Visible surface" "Called the photosphere." "This is where solar storms" "And other" "Violent phenomena occur." "The surface of the sun," "If you were somehow" "Able to go there" "And protect yourself," "Is an incredibly noisy, hot" "And violent place." "There are temperatures" "Thousands of degrees," "There are continuous" "Magnetic storms" "That create huge," "Basically thunder-like sounds." "In this new movie, NASA's" "Solar dynamic observatory" "Recorded a prominence." "This is a relatively cool," "Dense cloud of plasma" "That sits suspended" "Above the solar surface," "Supported by magnec forces." "As seen here, prominences" "Can occasionally rip free" "And jet into space." "Our sun has an incredibly" "Powerful magnetic field." "But every now and again," "Those field lines" "Become connected to hot spots" "On the surface of the sun," "And as the gas and plasma" "Boils inside the sun," "Those magnetic field lines" "Can disconnect or break," "Releasing huge bursts of energy." "And these throw up" "Giant blasts of plasma" "That come out" "Along curious looking arcs," "But these are actually following" "The magnetic field lines" "Around the sun." "Eruptive prominences" "Can occur in tandem" "With another solar ejection" "That can deliver a double punch," "If directed at the earth." "NASA's solar" "And heliospheric observatory" "Or Soho," "Recently took dramatic movies" "Of coronal mass ejections" "Or cmes." "These massive bubbles" "Of hot ionized gas" "Contain up to 10 billion tons" "Of solar material." "They shoot out into space" "At speeds of several million" "Miles an hour." "Coronal mass ejections" "Are incredibly powerful storms." "They can be as massive" "As a billion h-bombs," "Just huge amounts of energy." "And sometimes those" "Big blobs of plasma" "Strike the earth" "And lead to beautiful" "Northern lights," "Aurorae displays." "They can also be very harmful" "To the earth." "When large coronal" "Mass ejections" "Are blasted toward earth" "They can trigger" "Geomagnetic storms." "These blobs of ionized particles" "Can damage or even" "Terminate satellites" "As well as fry" "Our electrical grids." "What's more," "They're extremely hazardous" "To astronauts" "When outside of the protection" "Of a spacecraft." "The cmes generate x-rays." "So, if you're out in space," "You would get" "Quite a dose of radiation," "If you were in one" "Of these cmes." "Luckily, our atmosphere" "Absorbs most of the x-rays," "And we don't experience" "The bad effects here" "On the surface of the earth." "If you're high up" "In an airplane," "Above most of the atmosphere," "Then you can get" "A larger dose of radiation" "If there's a large flare" "Hitting the earth." "These latest images" "Are chilling reminders" "That our sun's surface" "Is a force to reckon with," "And things may really heat up" "On our home star" "In the very near future." "Solar activity runs" "Through an 11-year cycle." "In 2013, our sun will be" "At the peak of this cycle" "Called the solar maximum." "At this time," "The surface of the sun" "Could create the perfect storm." "The sun has had in the past" "Big solar storms" "That have knocked out" "Power grids and our" "Communication satellites." "There will be more storms." "They might happen at any time" "Or they may not happen," "You know, in our lifetime" "Or even in the next millennium." "We just don't know." "That's one" "Of the exciting things" "About studying the sun" "Is trying to be able" "To understand" "And maybe even predict" "The storms" "That we see on the sun." "But one thing a solar storm" "Can't destroy is number one" "On our countdown" "Of the seven wonders" "Of our solar system:" "It's the fifth largest planet." "One tenth of its surface" "Is permanently covered with ice," "And its hot interior" "Has been churning up" "Enough magma" "To keep volcanoes erupting" "For billions of years." "The exploration of our" "Cosmic neighborhood climaxes" "With a touchdown on number one" "Of the seven wonders:..." "The earth, without a doubt," "Is the single greatest wonder" "In the solar system." "The earth is so perfect" "For our existence." "There's liquid water." "There's an atmosphere." "There's comfortable" "Temperatures." "It's just a great place." "Earth, the third planet" "From the sun, is brimming" "With breathtaking beauty." "Unlike any other body" "In the solar system," "Liquid water covers" "Nearly 2/3 of its surface." "Its continents inherited" "A diverse landscape," "And it's the only planet" "Confirmed to support life" "In all its amazing forms." "Earth has a number" "Of different features" "That make it truly unique" "In our solar system." "For one thing," "It's not boiling hot" "And nor is it freezing cold." "It's just at the right distance" "From the sun" "To be a very" "Moderate temperature" "That supports life." "For another thing," "It's not completely" "A water world" "Nor is it completely" "A dry desert either." "It's got just" "The right mix of land and ocean" "To support a wide variety" "Of species." "Science is now getting closer" "To solving the mystery" "Of how life got started" "By retracing the steps" "Of our planet's formation." "4.6 billion years ago," "In the swirling disk of debris" "Left over from the formation" "Of our newborn sun," "Gas and dust particles" "Began to clump together." "They eventually formed" "Large boulders" "Made of rock and ice" "That we see today" "As asteroids and comets." "For millions of years," "These bodies collided" "And coalesced to form planets." "During this birthing process," "Earth acquired some" "Special properties." "One unique feature on earth" "Is abundant liquid water." "It is thought" "That the earliest volcanoes" "Spewed out" "Massive amounts of steam," "Which condensed into rain" "And supplied the planet" "With water." "But recently, new sources" "Of water have been suggested." "Some of that water" "Might have come from comets" "Or some of the water" "Might have come" "From an outer belt of asteroids" "That was rich in water." "In other words," "Some of the water" "Could have come from the rocks" "That made the earth" "Near the end of this era" "Of heavy bombardment." "And water appears" "To be a key component" "For the origin of life." "It was previously theorized" "That life began" "In a primordial soup," "A warm pond containing energy" "And atmospheric elements" "To make amino acids." "However, the most recent" "Pioneering research" "Makes a strong claim" "That the earth's own" "Chemical energy" "And rich proteins seeped up" "Through hydrothermal vents" "Deep under the ocean." "Over time, this mixture" "Jump-started life" "By producing living cells." "We know that liquid water" "Is essential to life," "And life probably got started" "In a water environment," "Whether it's in the deep ocean" "At the volcanic vents" "Or in a shallow pond," "We don't really know" "Where and how precisely" "Life got started here." "But it did." "And it's the only planet" "That we know" "Where life actually exists." "Regardless of how" "Life started," "A fortunate event" "Made it possible" "For complex creatures to evolve." "About 3 billion years ago," "Ancient underwater bacteria" "Began to use water," "Carbon dioxide" "And the sun's energy" "To produce carbohydrates" "In order to survive." "This process," "Called photosynthesis," "Injected vast amounts of oxygen" "Into seawater, and eventually," "Our atmosphere." "A huge step happened" "In evolution" "When the earth got polluted" "With oxygen." "We didn't start" "With a rich oxygen atmosphere.!" "But later, the oxygen atmosphere" "That developed on earth," "Basically from photosynthesis," "Allowed life to get" "A lot more complex." "After a few billion years" "Of planetary" "And biological evolution," "The first plants and animals" "Emerged from water on to land." "It's estimated" "That modern humans" "Came onto the scene" "A mere 200,000 years ago," "And with our evolution" "Came the technological" "Revolution of the planet." "From ancient man-made monuments" "To bustling metropolitan cities," "Human beings changed the way" "Earth looks on the ground" "And from space." "The earth's surface" "Has started to be modified" "Very significantly by cities," "By human activity." "We're part of the earth." "We've created all these changes" "On its surface." "And so, the earth's geology," "In some deep sense," "Has been radically altered" "By the appearances of cities," "By the appearances" "Of all the things" "That we do on the surface," "And that's something" "That's remarkable, and which," "As far as we know," "Is not happening anywhere else." "Certainly, it's not happening" "Anywhere else" "In our own solar system." "Our cosmic tour has taken us" "To seven wondrous sights:" "The icy geyser-laden moon," "Enceladus," "Saturn's sensational rings," "Jupiter's great red spot," "The largest volcano," "Olympus Mons," "The mysterious asteroid belt" "And our stormy sun." "But this unforgettable adventure" "Would not have been possible" "Without our home planet, earth," "A place with" "Endless possibilities." "Over the last century," "Humans have manufactured metals" "And other materials" "From our planet's crust" "To build spacecraft." "Our technology will enable us" "To blast off to explore" "The other wonders." "We'll be able to marvel" "At these distant domains," "And realize that we're part" "Of a much wider cosmic world." "These awe-inspiring phenomena" "Allow us to ponder who we are," "And why we're here" "In this magnificent place, we call The Universe."