Episode 1
Aired Jun 18, 2004
The Sun - Powerhouse of the Solar System
The sun is a nuclear reactor at the hub of Earth's solar system that loses 4 million tons of mass each second.
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Episode 2
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Inside Track - Mercury, closest planet to the Sun
Of the nine planets in Earth's solar system, Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. Baked and irradiated, Mercury is a cratered world, a record of the impacts that once rained from space during the early solar system.
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Episode 3
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Venus - Planet from Hell
Venus could once have been Earth's twin with oceans and continents, even simple life, but now it is a lifeless planet, home to a dense and choking atmosphere with temperatures hot enough to melt lead.
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Episode 4
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Earth - Home Planet
Earth is the largest inner planet and the first with a moon, at just the right distance from the sun, where life has evolved in the oceans and green plants have flourished to to produce breathable air for humankind.
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Episode 5
Aired Jun 18, 2004
The Moon - Our Partner in Space
The moon was most likely formed when a body the size of Mars hit early Earth twice; the first collision was a glancing blow, the second, two days later, was a major impact that threw enough material into orbit to form the moon.
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Episode 6
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Jaw-Drop - Eclipses and Aurorae
A total eclipse of the sun is one of the greatest spectacles in the solar system. It happens when the moon, which is 400 times smaller, completely obscures the sun, which is 400 times farther from Earth than the moon.
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Episode 7
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Mars - The Red Planet
The days on Mars are a comfortable 24-and-a-half hours, but the rest of the Red Planet is quite strange with worldwide dust storms, overnight temperatures of -100 degrees and regular daytime highs just above freezing.
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Episode 8
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Asteroids, Meteors and Impacts
Between Mars and Jupiter lies the asteroid belt, where collisions can send meteors hurtling toward the sun and planets.
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Episode 9
Aired Jun 18, 2004
King Planet - Jupiter
Jupiter, bigger than all the other planets combined, could swallow Earth 1,323 time, yet this giant ball of gas has no solid surface.
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Episode 10
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Lord Of The Rings - Saturn
Saturn, the second largest of the giant gas planets, is home to billions of moonlets forming a halo that would stretch from Earth to the moon.
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Episode 11
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Uranus & Neptune - Outer Gas Giants
In the cold and dark outer reaches of Earth's solar system orbit the giant gas planets of Uranus and Neptune; Uranus is twice as far from the sun as Saturn while Neptune is so distant it takes 165 years to orbit the sun.
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Episode 12
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Pluto - Farthest Planet from the Sun
The farthest planet from the sun, Pluto, is so remote and small that it was not found until 1930; the discovery was made by a farmer's son, 24-year-old Clyde Tombaugh.
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Episode 13
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Comet
Comets are the nomads of Earth's solar system as some might plunge into the sun while others like Halley's Comet make regular periodic appearances in the sky.
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Episode 14
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Night Sky
A beginner's guide to navigating the 88 constellations of the night sky like Orion, the Hunter; and Ursa Major, the Great Bear.
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Episode 15
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Discovery
Ancient contributions to astronomy are uncovered, from the Babylonians and ancient Chinese, the first astronomers, to the Egyptians who created the 365-day calendar.
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Episode 16
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Whither?
The story of manned spaceflight, with Werner von Braun launching American rocketry and Sergei Korolev masterminding the Soviet space program.
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Episode 17
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Orbit - Monitoring Earth from Space
A constellation of artificial satellites keeps an eye on Earth, helps humans predict the weather and identifies the threats of tornadoes, floods and droughts.
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Episode 18
Aired Jun 18, 2004
High Hopes - Snags with Shuttle & International Space Station
A review of ISS, the International Space Station currently being assembled, and its predecessors, most notably Mir, run by the Russians for 14 years.
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Episode 19
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Quest
Earth is temperate planet, neither too near nor too far from the sun; with Venus too close and Mars too distant, if they once had life, they most likely do not host it now.
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Episode 20
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Zero To Zillions
The Big Bang theory describes how the universe exploded from an infinitesimal speck to create matter, radiation, time and space.
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Episode 21
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Galaxy
Earth's galaxy, the Milky Way, is comprised of more than 200 billion stars; the stars form a spiral disc 100,000 light years wide and 20,000 thick and the nearest stellar neighbor is Alpha Centauri, 4.25 light years away.
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Episode 22
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Telescope
Free from the distortions of Earth's atmosphere, the Hubble Space Telescope has delivered breathtaking images of the cosmos with remarkable clarity for more than a decade.
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Episode 23
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Far Out - Cosmic Measurement & Structure
Distances are so vast in the universe they are described in light years: the distance light travels in a year. Nearby stars are measured by trigonometry, the technique of parallax.
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Episode 24
Aired Jun 18, 2004
X-Ray - Invisible Astronomy - Gamma Ray to Radio
Much of the cosmos cannot be seen through optical telescopes, however, its makeup can be detected in wavelengths of the electro-magnetic spectrum.
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Episode 25
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Black Hole
Black holes occur when a massive star dies, its outer layers cascade into space and the hole's core collapses until no longer visible.
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Episode 26
Aired Jun 18, 2004
Yonder To Infinity
Rather than slowing down, the expansion of the cosmos seems to be speeding up. The 50 billion galaxies thought to comprise the universe are moving farther and farther apart.
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