Uranus and Neptune are known as the ice giants, huge blue planets located in the outer Solar System. They are similar to Jupiter and Saturn in that they are predominantly composed of gases and ice but differ in many key areas. While still dwarfing the inner planets the ice giants are smaller than the other gas giants. Due to their distance from Earth they were the last planets to be discovered, Uranus in 1781 and Neptune in 1846.
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and orbits between 3,004,419,704 km and 2,700,938,461 km from the star. It has 27 known moons as well as a faint ring system. Uranus takes 17 hours to complete a rotation and 84 Earth years to complete one orbit of the Sun. The planet is named after the Greek God of the sky, the father of Saturn and grandfather of Jupiter.
What makes Uranus different from any other planet in the Solar System is that the axis is tilted onto its side. The tilt of Uranus is 97.7 degrees, meaning that the pole is facing the Sun, making its day/night cycles and seasons entirely different to any of the other planets. Each pole of Uranus gets 42 years of light followed by 42 years of darkness. What caused this extreme tilt is not known for sure but is thought to be due to a large planetary body striking the ice giant.
Uranus is composed of three layers, a rocky core, an icy mantle and an outer layer of gaseous hydrogen and helium. Uranus is the coldest planet in the Solar System, despite being closer to the Sun than Neptune. The lowest temperature ever recorded on Uranus was -224 degrees C, just 49 Kelvin. Why Uranus doesn’t emit as much of its own internal heat as other planets is not known for sure, but it has been speculated that the internal structure of the planet blocks much of the heat from the core from reaching the surface.
Neptune is the second ice giant, the eighth planet from the Sun orbiting at a distance of around four billion km. Neptune takes 164 years to orbit the Sun and takes 16 hours to complete one rotation, giving the planet short days and extremely long years when compared to Earth. After Pluto’s demotion from planet status Neptune has become the furthest planet from the Sun.
The structure of Neptune is similar to Uranus with its atmosphere making up around 10 percent of its mass, slowly becoming more solid as you reach the core where temperatures sit at around 5000 Kelvin. The atmosphere is scattered with clouds that form in the upper layers, believed to made of ammonia, ammonium sulphide, hydrogen sulfide and water. Neptune has a ring system, but it is much less prominent than Saturn’s.
Neptune has a much more active weather system than Uranus with many clouds and storms. The planet exhibits many similar features to those found on Jupiter, including its own great dark spot. The winds are thought to even reach speeds of up to 600 m/s, near supersonic speeds. The great dark spot was discovered in 1989 by the Voyager 2 probe. There are many other similar but smaller storms present on Neptune.
The ice giant has many moons but only one is large enough to be spherical, Triton, which orbits in the opposite direction to Neptune’s orbit, a unique property among the moons of the Solar System. Because of this it is believed that Triton is a captured body from the Kupier belt, a huge asteroid belt surrounding the Solar System. Pluto is one of the largest objects in the belt, bodies present in the Kuiper belt are known as Plutinos.
The ice giants are the least explored planets in the Solar System, Voyager 2 visited in the late 80s gathering images and scientific data. Neither planet is considered a high priority for human visitation or colonisation due to their immense distances from Earth. Their moons do not lend themselves well to settlements and the Saturnian and Jovian moons have much more to offer.
Saturn is the most visually striking planet in the Solar System. It is the second largest gas giant behind Jupiter and is surrounded by a spectacular series of rings. Saturn is the sixth furthest planet from the Sun at 1,400 million km away and is named after the Roman God Saturnus. The rings are made from icy particles and dust, Saturn has around 60 moons as well as the only moon with a stable atmosphere, Titan.
Saturn has a small core made from ice and rock with the rest of the planet being chiefly hydrogen and helium. There are thought to be liquid metallic hydrogen and liquid hydrogen and helium layers surrounding the core before the gaseous outer layers. The inside of Saturn can reach extremely hot temperatures, with the interior temperature of 11,700 degrees C thought to be due to the Kelvin-Helmholtz mechanism of gravitational compression. The atmosphere of Saturn is not as strikingly active as the one on Jupiter, but it does display some of the same characteristics. The gases have a banded appearance and there is evidence of cloud layers and storms.
The rings of Saturn initially were a great source of confusion for early astronomers, lacking the high-powered telescopes to identify them. Galileo thought that Saturn was three bodies, but was lost for an explanation as to why the outer two would disappear only to reappear again later. It took until 1655 for Christiaan Huygens to correctly identify Saturn’s rings. The rings are mainly composed of water ice and they extend from 6,630km to 120,700km from the surface. The origin of the rings is not known for certain, with theories that they are the remnants of a moon ripped apart by tidal forces or a leftover material from Saturn’s formation both being considered.
Saturn has been visited by probes during the 80s and more recently in 2004. In 1980 and 1981 the Voyager probes, 1 and 2, both performed fly-bys of the gas giant on their way out of the Solar System. They provided high quality images of the planet and its rings. Voyager 1 flew close to Titan, obtaining more data about the atmosphere on the moon. The main probe to gather data about Saturn and its satellites was the Cassini-Huygens probe which reached the planet in July 2004. The probe gathered a lot of data on Titan including details of its lakes, coastlines and other geographical features. The craft then released the Huygens lander which became the first craft to land on a moon other than our own. Cassini would also go on to discover liquid water erupting from geysers on the surface of Enceladus, another of Saturn’s moons.
Titan dominates Saturn’s moons, making up 96% of their mass. Titan is unique among the moons of the Solar System as it has an extremely thick atmosphere, not dissimilar to the one found on Venus. The atmosphere of Titan, however, has a reverse effect of Venus as it has an anti-greenhouse effect which cools the surface where Venus’s atmosphere has heated the surface to scorching effect. The Cassini-Huygens probe discovered the liquid methane lakes on Titan, the first stable bodies of liquid found on any extra-terrestrial body. There are weather systems similar to Earth in effect on Titan with rain and high winds all present. The average surface temperature is between -179 and -290 degrees C, with atmospheric pressure higher than Earth and much lower gravity. Despite its low temperatures Titan is compared to early Earth with its high amount of organic chemical activity. The moon is thought to be one of the most likely places in the Solar System to find alien life.
The nature of gas giants means that they don’t lend themselves well for direct colonisation or human visits. However in Saturn’s case it may prove that Titan is an excellent place for a future colony if the low temperature and high pressures can be overcome. Any human landing on the planet-facing side of the moon would also be treated to some of the most spectacular views in the Solar System, with Saturn and its rings taking up a large portion of the sky.
Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System and is the innermost of the gas giants. Named after the Roman King of the Gods the planet is located beyond the asteroid belt. Jupiter orbits between 740 million and 778 million km from the Sun and is primarily composed of hydrogen and helium. It is the fourth brightest object in the sky behind the Moon, Sun and Venus and has an extremely fast rotation period, completing one every ten hours. The planet takes eleven years to complete an orbit of the Sun.
Jupiter is quite unlike Earth and its neighbours as it is mostly composed of gases rather than heavier elements. Jupiter is two and a half times more massive than all the other planets put together and is about as large as a planet of its type can grow. If it were to take on more mass the diameter would actually decrease from the increased gravity. If it were 75 times larger then it would be able to fuse hydrogen and become a star, this has lead some astronomers to label the planet as a failed star. However despite its humble status as a planet Jupiter does create a substantial amount of its own heat, generating more than it receives from the Sun.
The atmosphere of Jupiter is made of many distinctive bands of gas and light elements. Different areas of the planet have been shown to rotate at different speeds, and there are many storms present. The most notable storm on Jupiter is the Great Red Spot. This giant anomaly on the surface of the planet is larger than Earth and is a storm that has been raging ever since we first discovered the planet. Jupiter is peppered with similar storms and recently three large grey ones merged into one storm, similar to the red spot.
Jupiter has only been explored by automatic deep-space probes, there is no surface to land on and there have been no landings on any of its moons yet. The first probe to fly-by Jupiter was the Pioneer 10 in 1973. Pioneers 10 and 11 would gather a multitude of images and date about the planet, detecting the magnetic field and radiation belts. In 1979 Voyagers 1 and 2 passed Jupiter followed by Ulysses in 1992. The only probe to orbit Jupiter is the Galileo spacecraft, which reached the gas giant in 1995. The craft stayed in orbit for seven years, releasing an atmospheric probe in July 1995. The probe descended into Jupiter and sent back data for 57 minutes before it was crushed by the pressure. Eventually Galileo was sent into the planet in order to prevent it crashing into and contaminating any of Jupiter’s moons.
Jupiter has 63 moons, some of which are among the largest objects in the Solar System. The four largest are Io, Callisto, Ganymede and Europa, known as the Galilean moons after their discoverer Galileo. The moons of Jupiter are among the most interesting bodies in the Solar System with some striking geological activity and possible sites for life. The moon Europa may be the site of a liquid ocean underneath its icy crust and is a place that scientists are extremely interested in exploring. The moons of Jupiter are not as cold and lifeless as they may be otherwise due to tidal flexing providing friction on the inside of the planet and keeping them active. Io is the most geologically active body in the Solar System with over 400 volcanoes, Ganymede is the largest non-planet and Callisto is considered a possible site for extra-terrestrial microbial life.
Jupiter is not as openly considered for colonisation as our nearby planets Mars and Venus. The giant planet does however offer an inviting location for a stepping stone into the outer Solar System. Its many moons could make good places for colonies and may even provide economic benefits through mining. The future will see further missions to the moons to look for signs of life and liquid oceans.
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and is named after the Roman God of war. The planet is a distinctive shade of red and is the last of the rocky terrestrial planets. Mars is substantially smaller than Earth and Venus but larger than Mercury. The planet has been the subject of intense speculation about the existence of extra terrestrial life with evidence of water on the surface at the polar ice caps. While recent robotic explorations have shown that the presence of life is unlikely it has still not been conclusively ruled out.
Mars has a thin atmosphere, much thinner than Earth’s. It is kept this way by the solar winds stripping atoms from the top layer, Mars’s atmosphere lacks a magnetosphere to protect it. The surface pressure of the Martian atmosphere is less than one percent of that found on Earth. Despite the sparseness of the atmosphere however, it extends 5km higher than Earth’s due to lower gravity. Mars has a relatively low mass and the surface gravity is just 38 percent of Earth’s.
Mars is home to the largest mountain in the Solar System, Olympus Mons. It is three times higher than Mount Everest and the result of substantial volcanic activity with shallow slopes covering a massive area. Mars is also home to many other interesting geographical features such as canyons and valleys. Many of these features are attributed to running water, although it has been proved to no longer exist it is thought that at one time Mars may have had rivers on its surface. The Phoenix lander has found ice under the surface of the planet and Mars is the most water-rich location outside Earth that we have found so far.
Mars has two small moons, Phobos and Demios, both with irregular shapes. They are thought to be captured asteroids and the orbit extremely close to the planet. It is not fully understood how the moons have come to orbit Mars, however it is believed that Phobos is a relatively recent capture as it follows an unstable orbit and will collide with the Red Planet in around 50 million years.
Mars has been extensively explored by robotic spacecraft and probes by the USA, Russia, Europe and Japan. Probes began exploring Mars even before Man had landed on the Moon with the first flyby occurring in 1964. The Soviet were the first to successfully land objects on the planet, but they lost contact soon after arrival. In 1976 the NASA probes Viking 1 and 2 made it to the surface of Mars, spending several years there. They provided many images and helped to map the surface. The most recent probe to land on Mars is the Phoenix Lander. It arrived in May 2008 and began investigating the Martian soil, finding conclusive evidence of water ice. Phoenix landed much closer to the pole than any other spacecraft.
There are many future missions planned to Mars and in 2004 President George W. Bush announced that NASA’s vision for space exploration would be to launch a manned mission to the planet. NASA administrators believe that they will have successfully landed a man on Mars by 2037. Mars has been the subject of serious talk of eventual colonisation, as it is seen as the most suitable for life and the most habitable environment in the Solar System outside Earth. Mars has many of the elements needed for life present in its soil and with a carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere it is thought that with some terraforming that algae may be able to survive at the poles. Terraforming Mars is an area that is being looked into as a future destination for civilisation once the increasing heat of the Sun makes Earth uninhabitable.
Mars is a charismatic planet, inspiring countless works of fiction and a massive amount of speculation about the secrets it may hold. It has been a characteristic of our space exploration that many of the early romantic ideas of conditions on the surface have been dispelled and the planet has been found to be lifeless and largely barren. Martian thinking is now turning towards finding out its past and planning for its future.
Earth is unique among all known planets, ones native to our Solar System or otherwise. It is the only planet that has liquid water on the surface and is also the only world containing life. Earth is the third planet out from the Sun and is the densest and largest of the four rocky terrestrial planets.
Formed at the same time as the rest of the Solar System the Earth would accrue enough mass to maintain an atmosphere, composed chiefly of nitrogen and carbon dioxide. It is believed that the Earth collided with another planetesimal early in its history, the remains of this collision would form the Moon. Earth’s moon is its only natural satellite with its gravitational effects having great effects on the planet. The Earth was also just the right distance from the Sun for liquid water to form on the surface, filling the oceans and eventually covering 71% of the planet’s surface.
Half a billion years after the formation of the planet the first self-replicating molecules were formed, and by a process of natural selection would go on to evolve into all life as we know it. The impact of life has been significant on the Earth, the oxygen in the atmosphere and the ozone layer are attributed to early plant life. The ozone layer protects the surface from many harmful rays from the Sun and has allowed colonisation of the land by multicellular organisms. Life would go on to evolve intelligence and humans. We are still the only known life in the universe, and most likely the only intelligent forms of life within millions of light years.
The Earth is almost a perfect sphere, with a slight bulge at the equator due to its rotation. The planet is mostly composed of iron, oxygen, silicon, magnesium, sulfur, nickel, calcium and aluminum. The planet is formed from a mostly iron core, a molten mantle and a thin rocky crust, much like the other rocky planets. The surface of Earth is split into several continental plates which all move around on the surface. This geological activity gives rise to earthquakes, mountains, tsunamis and volcanoes.
Similar to Mars, the Earth has polar caps with ice at the Northern and Southern tips. The Earth has a strong magnetic field, which deflects much of the solar wind and protects the Earth from the harmful radiation. The Earth is tilted on its axis, meaning that some areas are closer to the Sun that others during orbit. This tilt gives rise the seasons.
The human population of Earth is expanding at an ever increasing rate and many concerns are being raised about the treatment of the planet and how long it will be until the finite resources are consumed. A lot of human activity is now going into finding alternative power sources and environmentally friendly methods of industry. The evolution of humans has been the first time in over four billion years that one species has had such a negative impact on the well-being of the rest of the planet.
Named after the Roman Goddess of love, the planet Venus is the second furthest from the Sun. It has been referred to as Earth’s twin planet due to its remarkably similar size. Venus is also a rocky planet with a gaseous atmosphere, however it differs from Earth in a number of crucial ways.
Venus is the closest planet to Earth and the brightest object in the night sky, with the exception of the moon, and has been referred to as both the Morning and Evening Star due to its luminosity. Venus is most striking for its thick atmosphere which covers the entire planet and obscures the view of the surface from space and Earth. The hidden surface of the planet was the subject of much curiosity and speculation before the myths were dispelled by probes and exploratory spacecraft. Science fiction writers in particular pondered what what be on the surface of Venus, speculating about possible life on the surface.
However, numerous probes sent to the planet would remove any lingering doubt over the possibility of life on Venus. The surface temperature averages at around 460 degrees C with the atmospheric pressure 92 times that of Earth’s, the same as that found 1km under the oceans. The extremely high temperature is caused by a runaway greenhouse effect. Venus’s atmosphere is predominantly composed of carbon dioxide with clouds of sulphur dioxide. Heat from the Sun becomes trapped and the planet gets warmer and warmer, to the point it is at today.
At its closest Venus passes 41.8 million km away from Earth, takes 225 Earth days to orbit the Sun and 243 days to complete one rotation. Venus’s orbit is the closest of any planet to being circular, with an eccentricity of less that 0.01. The extremely slow rotation of Venus makes it stand out from the other planets, taking much longer to complete. Venus also spins in the opposite direction to Earth. Venus has no moons.
Venus has been the subject of a lot of the initial ideas of colonisation by Man of the Solar System. The discovery of the conditions on the surface seemed to all but rule out any human settlement on the surface, the extreme temperature and pressure would make life impossible. There has been some talk, however, of possible colonisation of the Venetian atmosphere. 50km above the surface the conditions are much more favourable and Earth-like. Floating cities filled with human-breathable air would float in the dense atmosphere, at that height the atmospheric pressure is the same as that of Earth and temperatures range from 0-50 degrees. A different approach could be to artificially cool Venus using giant mirrors or manipulating dust clouds. In just a few decades the planet would cool significantly enough to give conditions similar to Earth on the surface.
Venus is an interesting planet given its similar properties to Earth. It is also a living example of what a runaway greenhouse effect can do to a planet. The excessive CO2 content in the atmosphere has massively heated the planet beyond what it would be otherwise, a stark reminder of what could eventually happen to Earth.
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and the smallest of the rocky terrestrial planets in our solar system. Named after the Roman God of commerce, travel and thievery the planet is a harsh world of extreme temperatures about which relatively little is known. Mercury orbits the Sun at a distance of 46-70 million km and passes within 77.3 million km of the Earth at its closest pass. It takes the small planet just 88 Earth days to complete an orbit round the Sun and 58 days to complete one rotation, a very slow rotation compared with the other planets, only Venus is slower.
Mercury’s structure is typical of that of a terrestrial planet, containing a core, a mantle and then a rocky outer crust. Mercury is the second densest planet in the Solar System, right behind Earth. Mercury’s core is larger in comparison to the diminutive size of the planet giving it the high density. It is believed that at some point in its history Mercury was struck by a planetesimal, stripping away much of the mantle and crust and leaving the planet with a relatively large core.
The surface of Mercury is unforgiving and harsh. It is quite similar to that of the Moon, pockmarked with craters and the remains of meteorite impacts. With no erosion to wear them down the craters last for millions of years. In sunlight temperatures can reach 450 degrees C and drop as low as -170 degrees C at night. The huge fluctuations are due to Mercury’s distance to the Sun and its lack of a real atmosphere. The gravity on the planet is not strong enough to retain a permanent atmosphere and so much of it is lost to the solar winds. There is evidence of ice on Mercury, despite its extreme heat. There are deep craters at the poles of the planet which never see sunlight and so are permanently cold enough for layers of ice to form.
Exploration of Mercury has been slow compared to the other planets. The planet is the hardest to reach by spacecraft as the speed required is extremely high, given its closeness to the Sun. This is combined with the fact that any spacecraft looking to orbit Mercury would be acted upon by the Sun’s gravity. Probes must use an excessive amount of fuel to brake so as not to overshoot Mercury. Landing on the planet is also tricky because of the lack of atmosphere meaning that parachutes and aerobraking are unlikely options. Mercury is not considered a strong candidate for terraforming and colonisation either because of the extreme temperature fluctuations. Mars and Venus as well as some of the gas giant’s moons are seen as more likely options.
Despite the relative difficulties of sending probes to Mercury there have been some observations made from its orbit. The Mariner 10 probe was the first to arrive in March 29th 1974. Mariner 10 did not orbit Mercury, but the Sun instead and used Venus’s gravity to slingshot a path to Mercury. Mariner 10 would fly by Mercury twice more in 1975, photographing 45 percent of the surface. The mission led to the discovery of the Earth-like magnetic field and the surface details of the planet, showing extensive amounts of meteorite impact. The second mission to Mercury, MESSENGER, is currently en-route and will enter orbit in 2011.
Some football players do need time or experience to make an impact. Some have such a natural talent and gift for the game that they can change tournaments and teams long before their twentieth birthday. Many teenagers burst onto the scene and make a huge impact and go on to have hugely successful careers. This article looks at some of the more memorable teenagers to make an impact playing football.
One of the most notable young players and certainly one that’s made the biggest impact on football is Pele. Pele became internationally known due to his performances at the 1958 World Cup. He became the youngest scorer in the tournament’s history with his goal against Wales and then the scored an incredible hat-trick against France in the semi final. He went on to score two goals in the final against Sweden and claimed his first World Cup winners medal, he would go on to win the tournament twice more with Brazil. Pele was a sensation right from the start and has become known as the greatest footballer that ever lived. His talent was evident from the start and he is a shining example of a young player living out his potential.
Michael Owen burst onto the international scene at the 1998 World Cup with a blistering solo goal against Argentina at just 18 years of age. Owen combined pace with an unerring eye for goal and a natural finishers instinct. Playing for Liverpool during his early years he was their top scorer in every season he was at Anfield, winning the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup. Owen’s two goals to overturn Arsenal in the 2001 FA Cup final have gone down in club folklore and are still talked about on the terraces today. Unfortunately Owen has had much of his early promise cut short due to a succession of serious injuries. He has lost his electric pace of his teenage years but now carries more experience and he still has the knack of scoring important goals.
Another young Englishman to make a big impact as a teenager in recent memory is Wayne Rooney. Rooney made his debut for his boyhood club, Everton, at 16 years of age, scoring the winning goal in a victory over Arsenal. He would eventually transfer to Manchester United as the most expensive teenager in history. He has gone on to win many honours with the club, including the Champions League. Rooney has also been one of England’s most important players over the past six years, scoring many crucial goals. Despite suffering a number of injuries, including a broken foot, Rooney has managed to maintain the qualities that made him such a talent in the first place. An explosive footballer, it is interesting to think what he will be capable of in the future.
There are many young players bursting onto the scene every year, Lionel Messi was alright and Theo Walcott is pretty good, but it takes something special for them to carry on their initial momentum. Not every player will turn out as well as Francis Jeffers. One of the most exciting things about watching football is seeing new talents emerge, and we never know what players are just around the corner.
Keeping a PC running smoothly is something that seems to elude a lot of people. Too many times I’ve seen people running their PC to a crawl and then wondering what the problem is and why everything seems to be running so slowly. Inexperienced users seem to pick up a huge amount of spyware and viruses, as well as a plethora of programs designed to eradicate such things. All things combined can turn even the fastest of machines into something resembling a computer built in 1990. Hopefully I can give a few words of advice that’ll help keep your PC fast and healthy.
Most mistakes that people make when using PCs are made browsing the Internet. Bad surfing habits can seriously affect your PC and load it with junk and spyware. These range from small programs that run in the background relaying data about your Internet use to full-blown viruses. Obviously a PC that is infected with either isn’t going to run so well. Too many background processes and it’ll start to put too much load on your RAM when performing intensive tasks, such as gaming or photo manipulation. Your computer will eventually have to use portions of the hard disk as overflow memory and you’ll notice a big slowdown.
To ensure that you don’t pick up malicious programs I would recommend using Firefox to browse the web. As Internet Explorer is by far the most widely used browser it is the one that the most viruses are written for. Using Firefox will cut out a lot of the attacks that you can be affected by. However, Firefox is second to Microsoft’s program and you’ll still need to be aware. Try not to visit less-than-reputable sites with a lot of low budget flash adverts and pop-ups. Never click yes to anything that does pop up, and ignore any messages that try to alert you about the condition of your PC. These are scare tactics to get inexperienced users to download unnecessary software, clogging up your PC.
Many people swear by their virus protection software, claiming that it helps keep their PC clean. I’ve kept my PC virus-free for over seven years without a single piece of virus protection software. I found that having it constantly running in the background and checking everything slowed my PC down. Constant update and checking popups started to get annoying as well and in the end I decided I could do without it. So long as you’re careful while online you can do just fine without any virus protection software. Without it, your PC will run much faster and smoother.
A lot of people seem to get infected with spyware when opening malicious emails. The key here is to have a decent spam filter on whatever email client that you’re using, and having a good eye for what to open and what to delete. My general rule is that if I don’t know who the sender is then I just delete the mail without reading it. Avoid emails from friends that seem suspicious as well, as often a virus will send itself to everyone in the infected person’s address book. Don’t follow any links or open any files. Above all else, never ever download or run a .exe file. It’s almost guaranteed to be a virus.
Make sure you defragment your hard disk around once a month. If the data becomes to fragmented then it’ll take a long time for the head to read the data from the platters, slowing the PC again. By defragmenting you’re keeping the files arranged more orderly on your disk and therefore making it easier to read. Many people never even bother doing this and then find that their PC takes ages to read files and get going.
Make sure that you don’t install too many useless programs. Many programs will launch on startup and sit in the background, not really doing anything until prompted. Although they feel like they’re not there they’re still using up valuable system resources. Allow this to build up and you’ll end up with a slow PC. A good way to tell if you’ve got a lot of these programs is by checking the number of icons in the bottom right of the screen, try to have as few as possible.
Keep Windows up to date. This is vital as often in updates there are crucial security updates that can make a world of difference. The same applies to browsers and any anti-virus software you have installed. By making sure everything is fully up to date you’re far less likely to encounter problems later on.
Keeping a PC running well isn’t a difficult thing to do, it just requires a little care. Making sure you get things right to start with will help you with the headaches that occur with virus infections and computers slowing to a crawl. Hopefully in the future you’ll look after your PC well and have a fast machine that runs smoothly.
In the sensible world of soccer there is nothing quite like scoring a goal. English football is almost unique in the world of sport in that its currency, the goal, has such a high value. With so many games decided by just a single goal it comes as no surprise that to score comes as such a relief and is met with such enthusiasm. Many players celebrate wildly after scoring, and some even plan their celebrations in advance. Many of these goal celebrations have entered the national psyche and become embedded in the culture of our national game. In this article I will look at some of the most memorable goal celebrations in football.
There will always be the standard celebrations, such as the airplane or running to the corner flag and knee sliding, but what really stick out are the celebrations made famous by a particular player. In the 90s German striker Jurgen Klinsmann joined Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur. Klinsmann was known internationally for his success with the German national team and for being a top goalscorer and notorious diver. When he scored on his debut the forward mocked those who had called him a diver by performing his own unique celebration and diving to the turf, sliding along the grass on his stomach. The celebration quickly caught on and can be seen copied everywhere, from grass roots right up to the highest level. A good one to try if the ground is especially wet.
Another classic that will always stick in the memory, even if has not been mimicked, is the celebration by Marco Tardelli in the 1982 World Cup final. After scoring from for Italy from the edge of the box he ran to the touchline completely overwhelmed in the moment. Ecstatic and screaming his own name this celebration shows just how much the World Cup means to these players and has since become an iconic image for the competition.
Another celebration that gained notoriety in the Premiership was brought in by a foreign player. When Fabrizio Ravanelli signed for Middlesbrough the footballing world was left somewhat surprised. What wasn’t surprising, however, was that he would go on to score many goals for the club during his stay. His goals would always be celebrated with him pulling his shirt over his head and running with his arms outstretched. The celebration reached legendary status and was copied worldwide after Ravanelli started using it.
Of course, not every celebration must be wild and over the top. One of the greatest England strikers of all time, Alan Shearer, had his own more restrained celebration. He would run to the corner with his right arm raised and palm open. It became a signature celebration and one that the world of football would see many times over an illustrious career.
Goal celebrations can sometimes be entertaining as the game itself and supporters are keen to attach themselves to a move associated with their top goalscorer. There are bound to be many crazy goal celebrations to come and long may it continue, just make sure the goal is worth it before doing seven backflips afterwards.
