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photo credits: Wikimedia Commons
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being a water world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all of Earth's water is contained in its global ocean, covering 70.8% of Earth's crust. The remaining 29.2% of Earth's crust is land, most of which is located in the form of continental landmasses within one hemisphere, Earth's land hemisphere. Most of Earth's land is somewhat humid and covered by vegetation, while large sheets of ice at Earth's polar deserts retain more water than Earth's groundwater, lakes, rivers and atmospheric water combined. Earth's crust consists of slowly moving tectonic plates, which interact to produce mountain ranges, volcanoes, and earthquakes. Earth has a liquid outer core that generates a magnetosphere capable of deflecting most of the destructive solar winds and cosmic radiation. Earth has a dynamic atmosphere, which sustains Earth's surface conditions and protects it from most meteoroids and UV-light at entry. It has a composition of primarily nitrogen and oxygen. Water vapor is widely present in the atmosphere, forming clouds that cover most of the planet. The water vapor acts as a greenhouse gas and, together with other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2), creates the conditions for both liquid surface water and water vapor to persist via the capturing of energy from the Sun's light. This process maintains the current average surface temperature of 14.76 °C, at which water is liquid under atmospheric pressure. Differences in the amount of captured energy between geographic regions (as with the equatorial region receiving more sunlight than the polar regions) drive atmospheric and ocean currents, producing a global climate system with different climate regions, and a range of weather phenomena such as precipitation, allowing components such as nitrogen to cycle. Earth is rounded into an ellipsoid with a circumference of about 40,000 km. It is the densest planet in the Solar System. Of the four rocky planets, it is the largest and most massive. Earth is about eight light-minutes away from the Sun and orbits it, taking a year (about 365.25 days) to complete one revolution. Earth rotates around its own axis in slightly less than a day (in about 23 hours and 56 minutes). Earth's axis of rotation is tilted with respect to the perpendicular to its orbital plane around the Sun, producing seasons. Earth is orbited by one permanent natural satellite, the Moon, which orbits Earth at 384,400 km (1.28 light seconds) and is roughly a quarter as wide as Earth. The Moon’s gravity helps stabilize Earth's axis, and also causes tides which gradually slow Earth's rotation. As a result of tidal locking, the same side of the Moon always faces Earth. Earth, like most other bodies in the Solar System, formed 4.5 billion years ago from gas in the early Solar System. During the first billion years of Earth's history, the ocean formed and then life developed within it. Life spread globally and has been altering Earth's atmosphere and surface, leading to the Great Oxidation Event two billion years ago. Humans emerged 300,000 years ago in Africa and have spread across every continent on Earth with the exception of Antarctica. Humans depend on Earth's biosphere and natural resources for their survival, but have increasingly impacted the planet's environment. Humanity's current impact on Earth's climate and biosphere is unsustainable, threatening the livelihood of humans and many other forms of life, and causing widespread extinctions. Source: Wikipedia (en)
Narratives set in Earth 41
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Seveneves
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Le Maléfice de l'améthyste
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La Servante de Lucifer
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Aliens
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Memorias de Idhún I: La Resistencia
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La Pagode des brumes
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Aliens
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Le Dragon de Hong Kong
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The Beast of Heaven
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Battlefield Earth
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Life, the Universe and Everything
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Golem XIV
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The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
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The Neverending Story
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Web of Everywhere
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La Forge de Vulcain
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A Wrinkle in Time
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Wolfbane
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Stepsons of Terra
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Empire of the Atom
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...SOS... Fliegende Untertassen
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The Martian Chronicles
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Final Blackout
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Le Trio de l'étrange
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Brane Zéro
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Le Monde d'Arkadi
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Les Petits Riens
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Agent Stitch
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Aventures électroniques
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La Spirale du temps
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La Proie et l'ombre
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Message for Eternity
Works based on Earth 1
Works about Earth 21
- Workshop on the Early Earth, the Interval from Accretion to the Older Archean
- Abstracts Presented to the Topical Conference Origin of the Earth
- Comparative Tectonics and Geodynamics of Venus, Earth, and Rocky Exoplanets
- Origin of the Earth and Moon: Monterey, California, December 1-3, 1998
- Workshop on Modern Analytical Methods Applied to Earth, Planetary and Material Sciences
- Workshop on Mountain Belts on Venus and Earth
- Papers Presented to the Conference on the Ancient Sun Fossil Record in the Earth, Moon and Meteorites: A Lunar and Planetary Institute Topical Conference Boulder, Colorado 15 - 19 October 1979
- Papers Presented to Conference on Deep Earth and Planetary Volatiles: Held at Pasadena, California, September 21-23, 1994
- Application of Remote Sensing Techniques to the Study of the Earth: Special Session Abstracts, Eleventh Lunar and Planetary Science Conference March 17, 1980
- Earth as Art
- Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth
- In Light-Years There's No Hurry
- Pale Blue Dot
- Biography of the earth / George Gamow
- The earth
- Das Blinzeln der Erdfrau
- Zauber und Schönheit unserer Erde
- Geburt eines Ozeans
- La terre, mon univers
- Großer Weltatlas
- The Enzyclopedia of World Geography
Subject - wd:Q2