Topic%205:%20Ken%20Nealson,%20Imre%20Friedmann

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Suggested reading for next HW assignment

• Topic 5 Ken Nealson, Imre Friedmann
• Topic 6 Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee
• Bennett Ch. 9 10
• Goldsmith and Owen Ch.16-18

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A brief tour of the solar system
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Mercury

• Planet closest to the Sun
• Heavily cratered, no moons, no atmosphere, has
  iron core
• 0.38 the diameter of the Earth
• Surface temperature ranges from 90-700K (mean452
  K)
• Relatively strong magnetic field (still 1 of
  Earths)

MESSENGER 2004-2009
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Venus

• Sometimes called Earths Sister planet because
  similar in size.
• Atmosphere is primarily CO2 with small amount of
  Nitrogen
• 930 F temperature
• Runaway Greenhouse effect
• Retrograde rotation
• 80 of surface is basaltic rock (lava), many
  volcanoes observed.
• Tectonics
• We have a 100m resolution radar map of the
  surface.
• Craters but not many larger craters or very small
  craters (WHY?)

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Image from Venera 13
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Mars

• Thin CO2 atmosphere
• -60 C average surface temp
• Very arid with no organic molecules
• Huge, dormant volcanoes
• Evidence of past water.
• Surface made mostly of volcanic rocks
• 2 Moons Phobos and Deimos

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Map of Mars
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Jupiter

• Largest planet in the solar system?mass 318
  Earths, volume1200 Earths
• Brown Dwarf or failed star
• Mostly Hydrogen and Helium atmosphere
• Powerful magnetic field and gravitational force

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Jupiters Inner moons
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Europa
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Tidal heating
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Saturn

• Mostly Hydrogen and Helium
• The rings are either left over chunks of
  colliding moons or else left over construction
  material that never made it to becoming a moon.

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Cassini-Huygens
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Titan

• Only moon in solar system to have a dense
  atmosphere.
• There are ORGANIC molecules in the atmosphere
• An atmosphere of mostly Nitrogen with Methane
• Surface temp -178 C
• Cryovolcanism?

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Uranus and Neptune
Has methane-rich haze which strongly absorbs red
orange light, letting blue green light pass
through.

• H, He, CH4 atmospheres
• Uranus
• Lacks internal heat so nearly featureless
• Axis is tilted by 90º, giving extreme seasons.
• Neptune
• Has internal heat an active atmosphere

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Pluto

• Really a trapped Kuiper-belt object (smaller than
  our Moon)
• Kuiper-belt (50 AU out) consists of icy
  planetesimals Not all of the outer solar-system
  material was consumed when the gas giants formed
• Has one moon Charon

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Comets

• Characterized by long period, heliocentric orbits
• Gases released include OH, CH, NH
• Nucleus of silicates and ice