The Terrestrial Planets

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The Terrestrial Planets
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Mercury

• Very hot/cold
• Difference between hottest spots and coldest
  spots is 600
• Orbits the sun in 88 Earth days
• Rotates on its axis in 58 Earth days
• That makes its year 1 ½ days
• Cratered because of bombardment of space debris
  during the formation of the solar system
• Ice in craters that do not get sunlight

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Mercury
Taken from NASAs Messenger spacecraft
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Venus

• Brightest planet in the sky
• Known as the morning star and the evening star
• 255 days to orbit the sun
• 243 days to rotate backwards on its axis
• Cratered and volcanic
• Atmosphere carbon dioxide and sulfur compounds

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Venus
Taken from the Hubble Space Telescope
Computer-generated picture of Venus from Magellan
imaging radar
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Earth

• 365 days to orbit the sun
• Rotation is 23 hours 56.1 min
• Known as the Blue Planet
• The only planet capable of sustaining life

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Earth
Taken from NASAs Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite
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Mars

• The Mysterious Red Planet
• Atmosphere thin, mostly carbon dioxide
• 2 moonsDeimos and Phobos
• It would take 6 months for a spacecraft to get to
  Mars
• 685 days to orbit the sun
• Rotation1 day, 18.2 hours

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Mars

• Taken by the Hubble Space Telescope

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Asteroid Belt

• Asteroids are made of rocky and/or iron-nickel
  material
• Most are found in an orbit between Mars and
  Jupiter.
• Most are pitted with impact craters and dust left
  from collisions with other objects in the solar
  system.
• A group of asteroids called Near-Earth Asteroids
  orbit the sun and are close to Earth.

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Asteroid Belt
The asteroid Gaspra taken by the Galileo
spacecraft