The Inner Planets. Mercury Small Weak gravitational force No atmosphere Many craters.
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Transcript of The Inner Planets. Mercury Small Weak gravitational force No atmosphere Many craters.
• Caloris Basin - one giant crater (1000 miles in diameter)
• Many cliffs and peaks evidence of tectonic activity
• Mean surface temp 442.5 K, ranges from 100 K to 700 K
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/videos/Keplers_Laws_fullscreen.mov
• Covered with an opaque layer of highly reflective clouds of sulfuric acid
• Surface temperatures high enough to melt lead.
• Orbits every 224.7 Earth days• Rotation is slow and retrograde, 243-day
period
• Time from one sunrise to the next is 117 Earth days
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:VenusAnimation.ogg
• Radius is 95% of Earth's, and the density similar to Earth's, 80%
• Liquid metal core similar to the Earth's
Atmosphere• Thick, high pressure (90 atm) • Density 50 times greater than on Earth! • Made of CO2, N, with sulfuric acid clouds• Strong greenhouse effect
Surface
• 450°C (850°F) hot!! everywhere, always, including night time
• Dry, dusty rocks, no water • May have had water in the past• Orange light, (atmosphere reflects mostly blue
light)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukPGqz4e_TY&feature=related
• most ``earthlike'' • 1/2 size of Earth • 24h 37m day • thin atmosphere of 95% CO2 • much colder than Earth -- 187o K to 244o K (-
123o F to -20o F ) • atmospheric pressure 0.7% of Earth's
(equivalent to 100,000 ft altitude on Earth)
• tilted 25o ---> seasons • dust storms originally thought to be bands of
vegetation ad irrigation canals built by Martians!
• http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/16067/Orson_Welles__War_Of_The_Worlds_Pt_2_7/
• clouds, sediment layers, canyons, landslides, sand dunes, enormous young volcanos as tall as 78,000 ft (flyby 1 and flyby 2)
• dry riverbeds (in older regions), evidence that liquid water once flowed
• no water in liquid state now, all water frozen in ice caps/permafrost
Atmosphere• Carbon dioxide 95.32%• Nitrogen 2.7% • Argon 1.6% • Oxygen 0.13%
• http://www.hulu.com/watch/63307/cosmos-blues-for-a-red-planet