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APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
All the Water on Planet Earth
Explanation: How much of planet Earth is made of water? Very little, actually. Although oceans of water cover about 70 percent of Earth's surface, these oceans are shallow compared to the Earth's radius. The above illustration shows what would happen if all of the water on or near the surface of the Earth were bunched up into a ball . The radius of this ball would be only about 700 kilometers, less than half the radius of the Earth's Moon , but slightly larger than Saturn's moon Rhea which, like many moons in our outer Solar System, is mostly water ice. How even this much water came to be on the Earth and whether any significant amount is trapped far beneath Earth 's surface remain topics of research.
Poll: Have you seen today's APOD image before?
| Date | May 15, 2012 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Illustration Credit & Copyright: Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution , Howard Perlman, USGS |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |