A Gallery of our Solar System - West Virginia...
Transcript of A Gallery of our Solar System - West Virginia...
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.