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The Universe: Mercury and Venus, the Inner Planets

44 minutes 5 seconds

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Meteor on fire traveling downwards. Caption: Venus has been hit hard with meteors…

Scorched by their proximity to the sun, Mercury and Venus are hostile worlds. One is gouged with craters from cosmic collisions, and the other is a vortex of sulfur, carbon dioxide, and acid rain. Prime examples of planets gone awry, do they serve as a warning for ominous scenarios that might someday threaten Earth? Cutting-edge computer graphics are used to show what life would be on other planets and to imagine what kind of life forms might evolve in alien atmospheres.

Media Details

Runtime: 44 minutes 5 seconds

Bubbling hot plasma. Caption: superheated into a plasma that burns at millions of degrees.
The Universe
Season 1 / Ep 1
44 minutes 8 seconds
Grade Level: 8 - 12
Earth and Mars passing each other in space. Caption: Mars and the Earth had been passing each other
The Universe
Season 1 / Ep 2
44 minutes 8 seconds
Grade Level: 9 - 12
Illustration of Jupiter's radiation. Caption: Its electromagnetic radiation is intense.
The Universe
Season 1 / Ep 4
44 minutes 16 seconds
Grade Level: 9 - 12
Two red orange planets in space. Caption: coalesced to shape our moon.
The Universe
Season 1 / Ep 6
44 minutes 6 seconds
Grade Level: 9 - 12
Meteor on fire traveling downwards. Caption: Venus has been hit hard with meteors…
The Universe
Season 1 / Ep 7
44 minutes 5 seconds
Grade Level: 9 - 12
Close up view of Neptune in space. Caption: What happened to Neptune's great dark spot?
The Universe
Season 2 / Ep 1
44 minutes 27 seconds
Grade Level: 9 - 12
View of Saturn in space. Caption: "Saturn: Lord of the Rings."
The Universe
Season 2 / Ep 2
44 minutes 9 seconds
Grade Level: 9 - 12
Six planets orbiting around the sun. Caption: (narrator) It is gravity that holds our solar system together.
The Universe
Season 2 / Ep 17
44 minutes 29 seconds
Grade Level: 8 - 12
Illustration of Mars in space. Caption: (narrator) How could life have first formed on Mars?
The Universe
Season 5 / Ep 2
44 minutes
Grade Level: 9 - 12
Image of the sun from above Earth. Caption: And the clock is ticking toward magnetic apocalypse.
The Universe
Season 5 / Ep 3
44 minutes 3 seconds
Grade Level: 9 - 12