"Why do the planets orbit the Sun on a flat plane rather than different paths or levels, much the way electrons orbit the nucleus of an atom?"
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Question
Besides Earth, is there any other planet that contains oxygen?
Oxygen is one of the most common elements in all the planets, but it is almost entirely in chemical combination with other elements. In our own solar system, Earth is the only planet with more than a trace of molecular oxygen in the atmosphere. In the other planets (such as Mars) with a tiny bit of oxygen in their atmospheres, the oxygen is produced primarily from the destruction of water (H2O) by ultraviolet light, with subsequent escape of the hydrogen. In the case of planets around other stars, we do not yet have powerful enough telescopes to measure the gases in their atmospheres.
October 28, 2002
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