The Terrestrial Planets

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The Terrestrial Planets
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Mercury
Stats
Diameter 0.38DE Rotation Period 59
days Orbital Period 88 days Distance
from Sun 0.387AU Orbit Eccentricity/Tilt 0.20 / 0
degrees Temperature -183C to 430C Atmosphere no
ne Gravity 0.376g Moons none Visits 1
Mariner 10
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Mercury's Interior
Exceptionally large Iron core for its size gt
Weak Magnetic Field Gravity too low and
temperature to great to sustain an
atmosphere Rotates three times in exactly two
solar orbits 32 Spin-Orbit Resonance
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Mariner 10
Reached Mercury 29th March 1974
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Mercury Mosaic
To this day there has only been one mission to
Mercury
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Venus
Stats
Diameter 0.95DE Rotation Period 243
days Orbital Period 228 days Distance
from Sun 0.723AU Orbit Eccentricity/Tilt 0.01 /
178 degrees Temperature 470C Atmosphere CO2 Gra
vity 0.903g Moons none Visits gt20 Mariner 2,
Venera 7 9 10, Magellan
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Venus
Venus is in a 32 tidal resonance with it's
sister planet the Earth. 178 degree tilt
means it's rotating backwards i.e. retrograde.
No magnetic field. Thick carbon dioxide
atmosphere with sulphuric acid clouds moving at
high speed. Atmospheric pressure is 90x that of
Earth. The greenhouse effect makes Venus the
hottest planet in the solar system.
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27th August 1962, Mariner 2 the first
interplanetary craft flies to Venus
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Mariner 10 Fly-by image of Venus' Clouds
Venus as viewed by an amateur on Earth
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Venus from Galileo (True Colour!)
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Venera 9 and Venera 10 images
The first images from the surface of another
planet
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Image by Magellan and Arecibo
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