Download Document

GG-105: An illustrated voyage through our Solar
Fall, 2007
Professor Klaus Keil
Office hours in POST 509B: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:00 - 11:00 a.m.
The Solar System
ry s
r
n
u
e
h
r
s
t
c
u
t
i
r
u
r
n ar
t
p
a
e
e
a
u
M V
E
M
J
S
terrestrial (rocky)
planets
s
u
n
a
Ur
p
e
N
e
n
tu
to
u
Pl
Our star, the Sun, showing structure in its surface (“granules”, and a
major solar flare
Mariner 10 image of the highly cratered surface of Mercury
Mariner 10 close-up image of the highly-cratered surface of Mercury
Venus, the shrouded planet
Spaceship
Earth, our oasis
in the emptiness
of space
Unique to Earth, plate tectonics: Formation of ocean Basins and
continents
Violent eruption of Mount St.
Helens in 1980
Earth’s Changing Climate
Carbon dioxide
Ozone Hole
Climate Records
The Moon, our neighbor
in space, has large
impact basins (mare)
filled with black volcanic
basalt flows.
The crater with the
pronounced ejecta rays
at the bottom of the
image is Tycho
The Apollo spacecraft over the Moon, showing the dark, basaltic
mare and the light, anorthositic highlands. Planet Earth in the
background.
The rising Earth with the Moon in the foreground
Apollo 11, first landing on the Moon.
There is no atmosphere on the Moon, yet the flag appears to be blowing in the wind; it
is supported by a rod on the top!
Size comparison of Earth, Mars and the Moon: Mars is “inbetween” Earth and Moon in size and in many of its properties
The remarkable
morphology of
Mars: High
mountains and
deep valleys
The shield volcano Mons Olympus on Mars: The highest mountain in the Solar System
The first color image of the surface of
Chryse Planitia on Mars obtained in
1976 by the Viking Lander. The surface
soil is red, because when basalt
weathers, red iron oxide forms, just
like in Hawaii.
The color was calibrated by the known
color of the cable in the foreground on
the Viking Lander.
Notice the reddish, rather than blue,
sky. This results from red dust blown
into the thin Martian atmosphere by
wind storms.
Possible Water on Mars: Past and Present?
Ancient river valleys
Recent gullies
Asteroid Eros, with landing site of the spacecraft NEAR (Near Earth
Asteroid Rendezvous) indicated
Closest image of the landing site of the NEAR spacecraft on asteroid
Eros
Cut and polished slab of a chondritic meteorite, a fragment of a
broken-up undifferentiated, primitive asteroid. White = metallic
Fe,Ni; gray = silicates. Diameter of slab ~ 6 cm.
Cut, polished, and etched slab of an iron meteorite, a fragment of the
core of a broken-up, differentiated (melted) asteroid, showing the
Widmanstätten structure and a round inclusion of troilite, FeS.
Longest dimension ~ 10 cm.
Cut, polished, and etched slab of a pallasite, a fragment from the
core - mantel boundary of a broken-up, differentiated (melted)
asteroid. Longest dimension ~ 8 cm.
Jupiter, the largest planet in
the Solar System.
The “Big Red spot” is a
gigantic hurricane.
Jupiter’s moon Io,
volcanologically the
most active object in
the Solar System.
The unusual color is
due to sulfur, ejected by
volcanoes (the dark
objects are volcanic
calderas).
Saturn, the ringed planet
The Voyager spacecraft
discovered rings within
rings within rings in
Saturn’s ring system
Saturn’s moon Mimas
Saturn’s moon Titan
The Huygens Probe of the Cassini spacecraft diving into the atmosphere of,
and landing on, Saturn’s moon Titan
1910 apparition of Halley’s comet