A look at the Terr. Planets

1. PH1600: Introductory Astronomy
Lecture 6: Mercury, Venus, & Mars
What is this?

2. Introductory Astronomy
The Terrestrial Planets:
Mercury, Venus, & Mars
Next Lecture: Earth and Moon

3. Wikipedia entries:
 Mercury_(planet)
 Venus
 Mars
 Phoenix Lander
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4. Terrestrial Planets
 Mercury, Venus, Earth, & Mars
 Mostly composed of rock
 All in the inner Solar System
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrestrial_planets

5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Solar_System#Inner_Solar_System
Orbits of the Terrestrial Planets
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6. Mercury
 First rock from the Sun
 Very hot
 Little atmosphere
 Orbits once in 88 Earth days
 Rotates once in 59 Earth days
 3:2 orbital resonance of elliptical orbit
 Visited by
 Mariner 10 in 1974-75
 MESSENGER in 2008
 Will orbit Mercury in 2011

7. Mercury Over Leeds
Credit & Copyright: Tony Cook
APOD: 2005 March 7

8. Mercury Spotting
Credit: SOHO - EIT Consortium, ESA, NASA
APOD: 2004 June 6

9. A Mercury Transit Sequence
Credit & Copyright: Dominique Dierick
APOD: 2003 May 27

10. Mercury: A Cratered Inferno
Credit: Mariner 10, NASA
APOD: 2004 September 12

11. Southwest Mercury
Credit: Mariner 10, NASA
APOD: 2003 February 16

12. Messenger Launch
Credit & Copyright: Ben Cooper
APOD: 2004 August 14

13. Mercury in Accentuated Color
Credit: MESSENGER, NASA, JHU APL, CIW
APOD: 2008 March 19
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14. A Spider Shaped Crater on Mercury Credit: MESSENGER, NASA, JHU APL, CIW
APOD: 2008 February 4

15. Mercury's Faults
Credit: NASA, JPL, Mariner 10,
Copyright Calvin J. Hamilton (LANL)
APOD: January 21, 1996

16. Mercury's Caloris Basin
Credit: NASA, JPL, Mariner 10
APOD: 1996 January 20

17. Venus
 Second rock from the Sun
 Size and mass similar to Earth
 Covered by highly reflective clouds
 Mostly Carbon Dioxide
 Orbits once in 224.7 Earth days
 Rotates once in 243 Earth days

18. Venus
 Surface atmosphere hot and dense
 Surface temperature: 750 K
 Surface pressure: 90 times Earth
 Caused by greenhouse effect
 Landing by Soviet Veneras in 1970s
& 1980s
 Venus Express (ESA) arrived in
2006
 Studying clouds

19. A Quadruple Sky Over Great Salt Lake
Credit & Copyright: Michael Wilson
APOD: 2005 September 13

20. The Belt of Venus over the Valley of the Moon
Credit & Copyright: Christine Churchill
APOD: 2006 July 23

21. Space Station, Venus, Sun
Credit & Copyright: Tomas Maruska (SAAD)
APOD: 2004 July 20

22. A Picturesque Venus Transit
Credit & Copyright: David Cortner
APOD: 2004 June 23

23. S is for Venus
Credit & Copyright: Tunç Tezel
APOD: 2005 January 7

24. Venus Express Arrives at Venus
Credit: ESA/MPS, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
APOD: 2006 July 17

25. Venus: Earth's Cloudy Twin
Credit: Galileo Spacecraft, JPL, NASA; Copyright: Calvin J. Hamilton
APOD: 2004 May 16

26. Venus Unveiled
Credit: Magellan Project, JPL, NASA
APOD: 2005 September 3

27. Venus' Once Molten Surface
Credit: E. De Jong et al. (JPL), MIPL, Magellan Team, NASA
APOD: 2005 April 10

28. Atete Corona on Venus
Credit: Magellan Spacecraft Team, USGS, NASA
APOD: 2002 March 12

29. Lava Flows on Venus
Credit: Magellan Project, JPL, NASA
APOD: 2004 March 23

30. One Hundred-Kilometer Terrain on Venus
Credit: Magellan Spacecraft, USGS, NASA
APOD: 2001 May 7

31. A Venus Landing
Credit: Soviet Planetary Exploration Program, NSSDC
APOD: 2003 November 30

32. Venus Express in Venus orbit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Venus_Express_in_orbit.jpg

33. Swirling Clouds Over the South Pole of Venus
Credit: ESA/MPS, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
APOD: 2007 May 1

34. Mars
 Fourth planet from the Sun
 Once thought inhabited by Martians
making canals
 Orbits in 687 Earth days
 Rotates in 24 h 40 m
 Thin atmosphere
 Mostly Carbon Dioxide
 Coldest: -140 C; Warmest: 21 C
 Surface pressure 1% of Earths

35. Earth Webcam Catches Mars Rotation
Credit: Howard C. Anderson (Astroshow.com)
APOD: 2003 August 26

36. Retrograde Mars
Credit & Copyright: Tunc Tezel
APOD: 2003 December 16

37. Z is for Mars
Credit & Copyright: Tunc Tezel
APOD: 2006 April 22

38. Mars Then and Now
Credit & Copyright: Tom Ruen, Eugene Antoniadi,
Lowell Hess, Roy A. Gallant, HST, NASA
APOD: 2003 November 12

39. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kirks_Soap_Yerkes_Mars.jpg

40. Mars Moons
Credit & Copyright: Johannes Schedler (Panther Observatory)
APOD: 2003 October 24

41. Phobos: Doomed Moon of Mars
Credit: G. Neukum (FU Berlin) et al., Mars Express, DLR, ESA
APOD: 2004 November 19

42. Deimos: A Small Martian Moon
Credit: Viking Project, JPL, NASA
APOD: 2001 September 2

43. Valles Marineris: The Grand Canyon of Mars
Credit: Viking Project, USGS, NASA
APOD: 2006 July 30

44. A Digital Opportunity Rover on Mars
Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Cornell, JPL, NASA
Rover Model: D. Maas - Synthetic Image: Z. Gorjian et al.
APOD: 2005 December 14

45. Earth or Mars?
Earth Image Credit & Copyright: Filipe Alves;
Mars Image Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, JPL, NASA
APOD: 2005 April 12

46. Red Mars from Spirit
Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, JPL, NASA
APOD: 2004 January 7

47. Heat Shield Impact Crater on Mars
Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, JPL, NASA
APOD: 2005 February 9

48. Steep Cliffs on Mars
Credit: G. Neukum (FU Berlin) et al.,
Mars Express, DLR, ESA
APOD: 2005 March 15

49. Unusual Plates on Mars
Credit: G. Neukum (FU Berlin) et al., Mars Express, DLR, ESA
APOD: 2005 February 28

50. Water Ice in a Martian Crater
Credit: G. Neukum (FU Berlin) et al., Mars Express, DLR, ESA;
Image created for and Copyright: Nature
APOD: 2005 July 20

51. A Dust Devil Crater on Mars
Credit: Malin Space Science Systems, MGS, JPL, NASA
APOD: 2003 December 30

52. A Martian Dust Devil Passes
Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, JPL, NASA
APOD: 2005 April 26

53. Global Dust Storms Threaten Mars Rovers
Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Cornell, JPL, NASA
APOD: 2007 July 25

54. Victoria Crater on Mars Credit: Mars
Exploration Rover Mission, Cornell, JPL, NASA
APOD: 2007 October 22
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55. Inside Victoria Crater on Mars
Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Cornell, JPL, NASA
APOD: 2007 September 17

56. Phoenix Digs for Clues on Mars
Credit: Phoenix Mission Team, NASA, JPL-
Caltech, U. Arizona, Texas A&M University
APOD: 2008 June 15
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57. Phoenix and the Snow Queen Credit: Kenneth
Kremer, Marco Di Lorenzo, Phoenix Mission,
NASA, JPL, UA, Max Planck Inst., Aviation
Week and Space Technology
APOD: 2008 June 12
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58. A Face On Mars
Credit: The Viking Project, NASA
APOD: 1998 April 6

59. Mars Express Close-Up of the Face on Mars
APOD: 2006 September 25