A Gallery of our Solar System

The Sun

The cratered surface of Mercury

Venus, shrouded in clouds

of sulfuric acid

Venus beneath the clouds. False

colors show topography.

Radar image of the surface of Venus

Computer image of rift valley on

the surface of Venus

View from Russian Venus lander that lasted

a few minutes in 1982. Temperature was

500 degrees C (900 degrees F).

Planet Earth from Apollo 17 in 1972

Earth at Night, as viewed from Space

A. Stony meteorite – ultramafic in composition, olivine rich like

the mantle.

B. Stony-iron meteorite – olivine and iron that were the source

of the earth’s mantle and core.

Earth rise from the moon

The Moon, bearing the scars of the

birth of our solar system

Apollo 16 mission to the moon

Origin of the

Moon. The

impactor’s

mantle broke

free to form

the Moon,

which lacks

an iron core.

Formation of the moon by collision of the earth and another large

object. Moon formed from the ejecta of the collision.

Mars viewed by the Hubble space telescope.

50% farther from the sun than Earth.

The north pole of Mars: seasonal

changes of the water-CO2 ice cap.

Mars viewed by a fly-by space probe

Shaded relief image from MOLA produced for Sky and Telescope magazine.

Shown are the Tharsis province including the major volcanoes, the Valles

Marineris, and the Chryse outflow regions. The Argyre impact basin can be

seen at the lower right.

Ancient magnetic reversal patterns (>3 BY) on Mars suggest plate

tectonic processes early in the history of Mars.

Magnetic Stripes from Sea Floor Spreading

Another view of the magnetic stripes on Mars.

Cyclone on Mars near the North Pole

April 27, 1999

Civilization on Mars?

Mars lander and Sojourner, 1997. The -100 C

temps at night wore down the batteries.

Sojourner getting up close and

personal with the rock Yogi for a

chemical analysis

Sojourner did find life on Mars, or at

least that’s what some folks say on the

internet!

Sand dunes in

valley on Mars

Layered Sedimentary Rocks on Mars

indicate once Flowing Water

River Delta Deposits on Mars indicate

once Flowing Water

Mars Rover, 2 copies, Spirit and Opportunity, 2004

Sedimentary rocks on Mars, photo by

Opportunity Rover

Water ice

on Mars,

2008

Frozen water on

Mars benearth

the soil. A frozen

ocean covered

with dust? Near

the Martian

North Pole,

Phoenix Lander,

August 2008.

NASA’s Curiosity

Rover on Mars, 2012

What is the sedimentary structure?

Mars on the left, Earth on the right.

How did these conglomerates form?

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1360

2012: Curiousity Rover: Conglomerate

outcrop on Mars: an ancient stream bed

1996: A Martian fossil bacterium?

Found in a meteorite from Mars that

landed in Antarctica.

Jupiter. Note the shadow from one of

its many moons. 5 times farther from

the sun than earth.

Io, a moon of Jupiter is volcanically active. The

yellow color is from sulfur. The tidal gravity of

Jupiter stretches Io, causing the volcanic

eruptions. It even glows in the dark.

Europa - one of Jupiter’s moons. It’s covered

with water ice and may have liquid water

beneath the surface that could support life.

Ice sheets on the surface of

Europa

Saturn. 10

times farther

from the sun

than earth.

Infrared image of Saturn

Uranus: it’s axis of rotation is tilted 98 degrees.

20 times farther from the sun than earth.

Neptune, the big blue giant.

Pluto and its moon Charon are 3 billion

miles from Earth! That’s 39 times farther

from the sun than Earth! Pluto is 2/3 the

size of Earth’s moon. Some astronomers

don’t even think it is a planet, but rather

a large comet.