Terrestrial planets Flashcards
What does the Terrestrial planets include?
Earth, Mars, Mercury, Venus
- and all the moons and dwarf planets
Characteristics of the Moon
- only place we have personally visited
- no atmosphere
- dead surface
- essentially no water
- two terrains:
Maria: 17%; new and darker
Highlands: 83%, older and cratered
Characteristics of Mercury
- no atmosphere
- dead surface
- monstrous impacts (caloris basin)
- no moons
- resembles the moon only np maria
Characteristics of Venus
- twin of Earth in size
- no moon
- hottest surface
- sulfuric rain, thick carbon dioxide atmosphere
- active volcanoes
- few craters left
Characteristics of Mars
- largest volcanoes
- largest canyons
- thin Co2 atmosphere
- different hemispheres
- dry now, but signs of past water
5 major geological areas of mars
Northern lowlands Southern highlands Volcanic region Canyon area Ice-capped poles
Atmospheres of terrestrial planets
by neb. hypoth. all terr planets began with essentially no atmospheres
Atmospheres, volcanoes and mass
Atmospheres come from CO2 outgassing from volcanoes and from water/ice compounds from cometary impacts
- small mass low gravity planets lost all or most of atmosphere (mars and mercury)
Titan
Thickest atmosphere of any moon
- contains nitrogen, methane. and hydrocarbons
- liquid methane shapes the surface like water on Earth
Ganymede
largest moon in solar system
- dark cratered surface: old
- lighter and less cratered: young
Callisto
- heavily cratered
- quickly frozen - no mantle or core
Io
- most active surface of any solar system object
- continually erupting geysers/volcanoes from “tidal heating” of jupiter
Triton
- slightly smaller than the Moon
- many gas geysers (cause unknown)
- younger ‘cantelope’ terrain (Nitrogen frost)
- older: methane ice
Water on Mars:
- poles have permanent ice caps
- Valles Marinaris seepage
- signs of flood plains and river channels
Europa
- frozen surface with a liquid water mantle
- most perfectly round moon or planet of the solar system
- possibly more water than earth
- tidal heating keeps water liquid
- ice is almost pure water with dissolved minerals
