The Terrestrial Planets and

Their Moons
By: Lorenzo, Tj, Noah, Andrew and Amado
Mercury
● Terrestrial Planet, closest to the sun
● Rotation Type: Prograde
● Axis Tilt: 2.11°
● Density: 5.4 g/cm3
● Mass: 3.285 × 1023 kg
● Radius: 1,515 mi
● Albedo: 0.1
● No Moons
History of Mercury
● 4.6 billion years ago, Mercury was formed at the hot inner regions of the early
solar system. For half a billion years, Mercury melted and differentiated like
the other terrestrial planets. Mercury shrunk as its iron core formed and cooled,
which caused its volcanic activity to be terminated as the planet contracted,
leaving behind scarps on its surface.
● The name “Mercury” comes from the Romans. The messenger of their God,
Mercury, travels very quickly. The planet Mercury is the closest to the sun,
meaning it orbits around the sun the quickest, connecting its name to the
messenger of the Roman Gods.
● Mercury is visible with the naked eye so it isn’t possible to say exactly who
discovered it first. However, it was first observed in the 17th century by
astronomers Galileo Galileo and Thomas Harriot.
Characteristic of Mercury
● Mercury’s surface is very similar to the moons. With a history of
volcanic activity and bombardment of meteors, there are crater,
scarps, and trenches.
● Mercury doesn’t have an atmosphere. In its place are Hydrogen
and Helium gases surround the planet, along with other particles.
However, solar winds (the continuous flow of charged particles
from the sun which permeates the solar system) trap these gas on
the planet and they oftentimes stay there for only a couple weeks
before being blown into space, starting the cycle all over again.
● The surface temperature on Mercury ranges from -200°C to
500°C because there is a lack of atmosphere to retain heat and
keep a balanced temperature.
● The core of mercury takes up 80% of the planets mass.
Exploring Mercury
● Only 2 space probes have ever explored Mercury
● NASA’s Mariner 10 made three flybys (any space
mission in which a probe passes relatively close to a
planet but does not go into orbit around it) during 1974
and 1975. It discovered the hydrogen and helium gases
trapped on the planet by the solar winds.
● NASA’s Messenger also made three flybys in 2008
before going into orbit around the planet in 2011. It
confirmed the gasses trapped on the planet but it also
found atoms in the gasses that were blasted off of the
planet’s surface from the solar winds.
Mercury’s Orbit
● Mercury’s rotation around the sun takes 88 earth
days
● It presents the same face to the sun every other year
● Because of the sun's tides, Mercury’s rotation is
almost exactly perpendicular to its orbital plane, so
the noontime sun is always directly overhead for
someone standing on the equator and always on the
horizon for someone standing at either pole
● One solar day in mercury is the same as 2 years on
mercury because of its almost perpendicular tilt
Question for Mercury
Pg. 197 Review and Discussion Question #2

What do Mercury’s magnetic field and large average density imply about the planet’s
interior?

Answer: Mercury is thought to have lacked the necessities of a magnetic feild; rapid
rotation and liquid metal core. However, Mercury’s magnetic field and high average
density together imply that most of the planet’s interior is dominated by a large, iron-rich
core. While it is only about 1/100 of Earth’s magnetic field, it is still present. It is offset
from the panet’s center and it is much stronger at the north pole than at the south pole.
Venus
● Terrestrial Planet, second closest to the sun
● Discovered: In 1610 by Galileo
● Rotation Type: Retrograde
● Axis Tilt: 177.3°
● Density: 5.24 g/cm3
● Mass: 3.285 × 1023 kg
● Radius: 6,051.8 mi
● Albedo: 0.75
● Oblateness: 0.0
● No Moons
History of Venus
● Formed when gravity pulled together
gas and dust until the mixture formed
into a spherical planet.
● Named after the Roman goddess of
beauty because it shone the brightest
in the night sky out of every planet
that had been discovered at that point
Characteristics of Venus
● Hottest surface of any planet in the solar
system (465 degrees celsius)
● Dense atmosphere that traps heat
● Covered in dry plains and volcanoes
● Has giant rings created by molten
material in lower layers warping the
surface
● Atmosphere composed mainly of Co2 and
Sulfuric acid
Orbit of Venus

● Rotates in the reverse direction

to most planets in the solar
system, meaning from the
surface, the sun would appear to
rise in the east and set in the
west
● Takes 225 Earth days to
complete its orbit but take a
whopping 117 Earth days just to
complete one rotation.
Exploration of Venus
● Venus was the first planet to have a probe successfully reach it
in 1962 (Mariner 2)
● The first probe to successfully land on the surface was the
Venera 7 in 1970. It was unable to collect much data because it
was put out of commission within an hour due to the scorching
temperature of Venus’s surface.
● Pioneer Venus collected data on Venus’s solar winds and
atmosphere in 1978
● Venera 13 was launched in 1982 and collected the first color
photos of the surface
● The Magellan Spacecraft was launched in 1989, reached the
planet in 1990, and eventually died in 1994. During this time, It
successfully collected radar images of 98% of Venus’s surface.
Question for Venus
Pg 197 Discussion Question 9

Question: What is the runaway greenhouse effect and how might it have altered the
climate of Venus?

Answer: The runaway greenhouse effect is caused by the incredibly density of Co2 in
Venus’s atmosphere. The Co2 creates a blanket around Venus’s atmosphere that traps heat
which is what has lead to the incredibly hot 730 degree K temperature on the planet’s
surface.
 Earth moon: History (how and when?)
The Big Splash: a hypothesis that suggests the Moon was formed from the debris left
from a collision involving Earth and an astronomical object the size of Mars approximately
4.5 billion years ago. (chapter 5 #15 review question.)

The Moon has always been visible from Earth but in 1610 it was discovered that the Moon
visible from Earth isn't the only moon that exists.

The Moon does not have an official name because our moon initially informed the way we
talk about other moons, being the orginal per say, though the latin word for it is Luna and
the Greeks called it Selene.

The physical exploration of the Moon began when Luna 2, a space probe launched by the
Soviet Union, made an impact on the surface of the Moon on September 14, 1959. Since
then over 55 probes/impactors/rovers/orbiters/flybys from various people have been
successfully sent to the Moon to garner information.

United States astronauts walked on the Moon in 1969. Men have landed on the Moon six
times between 1969 and 1972. Since then, no one else has landed on the Moon.
 Earth's moon: orbit and dimensions
Radius of 1,079.6 miles (1,737.5 kilometers). Mass of 1024 kg

The tilt of the moon's axis is only about 1.5 degrees. This means that some areas are always lit by sunlight, and other places
are perpetually draped in shadow. No seasons on the Moon.

The Moon is slowly moving away from Earth, getting about an inch farther away each year.The Moon orbits in a prograde
direction, orbiting in the same direction that the Earth turns.

The Moon is rotating at the same rate that it revolves around Earth (synchronous rotation), so the same hemisphere faces
Earth all the time.

The moon's density is 3.34 g/cm3 That is about 60 percent of Earth's density. The moon is the second densest moon in the
solar system.

The moon exhibits very slight oblateness, the “side” of the moon that faces Earth is bit larger than the side turned away
from us. This makes it slightly similar to the shape of typical bird egg that is larger on one “end” than on other
Earth Moon: unique characteristics
A solid, iron-rich inner core surrounded by a liquid iron shell with a partially molten layer that surrounds the iron
core. The mantle extends from the top of the partially molten layer to the bottom of the Moon's crust. It is most
likely made of minerals like olivine and pyroxene, which are made up of magnesium, iron, silicon and oxygen
atoms. The crust is made of oxygen, silicon, magnesium, iron, calcium and aluminum, with small amounts of
titanium, uranium, thorium, potassium and hydrogen.

The Moon has too weak and thin an atmosphere to impede impacts so a steady rain of asteroids, meteoroids and
comets strikes the surface of the Moon, leaving numerous craters behind. Nearly the entire Moon is covered by a
rubble pile of charcoal-gray, powdery dust and rocky debris called the lunar regolith. Beneath is a region of
fractured bedrock referred to as the megaregolith.

The first definitive discovery of water was made in 2008

Earth moon: miscellaneous
The albedo of the Moon is 0.12. In other words, the Moon
reflects back 12% of all the radiation that falls upon it.

The gravity of the Moon is about 1/6 the gravity on the

Earth. That means that a person who weighs 180 pounds
on Earth would only weigh 30 pounds, if measured on the
Moon. That is why when the astronauts were on the
Moon, they were able to jump so high—even while
wearing the heavy space suit.

“Man in the Moon” refers to any of several images of a

human face, head or body that certain traditions recognize
in the disc of the full moon. The images are composed of
the dark areas of the lunar maria, or "seas" and the lighter
highlands of the moon. This is due to the unique shape
craters took when the moon was impacted by space
bodies.
 Phobos and Deimos both have much in
Mars Moons: History common with C- or D-type asteroids.
Based on their similarity, the most common
Phobos and hypothesis is that both moons may be
captured main-belt asteroids.
Deimos were
named after While many Martian probes provided
images and other data about Phobos and
greek Deimos, only few were dedicated to them
mythological and intended to perform a flyby or landing
on the surface. None have successfully
twins that landed on the two moons.
represent
panic/fear
and
terror/dread
respectively
Asaph Hall discovered Deimos and Phobos about a week
apart one August night in 1877.
Mars Moons: orbit and dimension
Phobos: Radius 11 km. Mass 10.6 × 1015 kg. Density
1.88 g/cm³. Axis tilt zero degrees. Prograde Deimos: Radius 6.2 km. Mass 1.4762 x 1015kg.
rotation. Density 1.47 g/cm³. Axis tilt 1.788 degrees. Prograde
rotation.
Albedo 0.07
Phobos orbits Mars more than twice a day This is
because it orbits below the synchronous orbit
radius of Mars.

Phobos is one of the least reflective bodies in the

Solar System, with an albedo of 0.071.

Neither Phobos or Deimos have atmospheres. They are too

small to create an atmosphere, and their gravity too low to retain
one.

Neither of the moons have rings.

 Like Phobos, Deimos is a small

Mars Moons: unique characteristics and lumpy, heavily cratered

object. Its craters are generally
smaller than 1.6 miles (in
diameter, however, and it lacks
Like Earth's Moon, Phobos and Deimos always present the the grooves and ridges seen on
same face to their planet. Both are lumpy, heavily-cratered Phobos. Typically when a
meteorite hits a surface, surface
and covered in dust and loose rocks. They are among the material is thrown up and out of
darker objects in the solar system. The moons appear to be the resulting crater. The material
usually falls back to the surface
made of carbon-rich rock mixed with ice. surrounding the crater. However,
these deposits are not seen on
Phobos: Alongside it's many other Deimos, perhaps because the
craters. Its most prominent feature is moon's gravity is so low that the
the 6-mile crater Stickney, its deposits escaped to space.
impact causing streak patterns Nothing seems to have moved
across the moon's surface. Stickney down slopes. Deimos also has a
is filled with fine dust, with thick regolith formed as
evidence of boulders sliding down meteorites pulverized the
its sloped surface. surface.
Mars Moons: Miscellaneous
Phobos is nearing Mars at a rate of six feet (1.8 meters) every hundred years; at that rate, it
will either crash into Mars in 50 million years or break up into a ring.

Deimos is smaller than phobos.

Welcome to Earth
● Terrestrial Planet- 3rd planet from the sun
● Despite being over four billion years old Earth
was not recognized as a planet until the 16th
century
● Earth is the only planet who was not named
after a Greek or Roman God
● Earth’s axis is tilted 23.4 degrees from the
plane of its orbit around the sun
○ This tilt varies changes during a cycle
that last about 40,000 years
○ This tilt causes our yearly cycle of
seasons.
● Earth is the densest planet in the Solar System
The Uniqueness of Earth
● It takes Earth 23.934 hours to complete a rotation on its axis and 365.26 days to complete an orbit around the
sun.
● Earth is the only planet that has a single moon. Our Moon is the brightest and most familiar object in the
night sky.
○ The Moon stabilizes our planet's wobble, which has made the climate less variable over thousands of
years
● Earth is composed of four main layers, starting with an inner core at the planet's center, followed by the outer
core, mantle and crust.
● Earth is the only planet to have liquid water on its surface. Liquid water covers 71% of the surface. Its
atmosphere is 77% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, with traces of other gases. White clouds of water vapor hide
much of Earth’s surface
● Earth is the only planet that we know of that harbors life
● its planetary albedo, is 30–35% because of cloud cover, but widely varies locally across the surface because
of different geological and environmental features. Oblateness is 210 meters.
Earth By the Facts
● Earth was formed when small particles were
bound together by the force of gravity, into
larger particles. Solar wind swept away lighter
elements like hydrogen, and helium from
closer regions, leaving only heavy, rocky
materials to create our planet
● The density of the Earth is 5.513 g/cm3
● Radius- 3,959 miles (6,371 kilometers)
● Mass- 5.972 × 1024 kg
● There is only one natural satellite of the planet
Earth.
● Only 3% water of the earth is fresh, rest 97%
salted. Of that 3%, over 2% is frozen in ice
sheets and glaciers.
Question-Where does Earth's Water Come From?
Page Number 135

Answer-A popular theory is that comets bombarded the newly formed inner planets in the
solar system supplying them with water. The Rosetta mission discovered the amount of
detarium found in comets such as comet 67p is three times greater then what is found in
Earth's oceans.

Meteorites do match Earth’s deuterium levels though which sparks the belief that asteroids
crashing on Earth was the source of water.
Mars At a Glance
 NE T Big Iron deposits
LA
Fact:

P
Mars is known as the RED Planet
D
H E RE Why?
T ● Mars was named by the ancient Romans for their god of war because its reddish color was reminiscent of blood.

● Other civilizations also named the planet for this attribute

○ the Egyptians called it "Her Desher," meaning "the red one."

So what is Mars like?
● It's made of iron, nickel and sulfur. Surrounding the core is a rocky mantle between 770 and 1,170
miles (1,240 to 1,880 kilometers) thick, and above that, a crust made of iron, magnesium, aluminum,
calcium and potassium. This crust is between 6 and 30 miles (10 to 50 kilometers) deep.

Where did it come from?

● When the solar system settled into its current layout about 4.5 billion years ago, Mars formed when
gravity pulled swirling gas and dust in to become the fourth planet from the Sun.
Recorded observations of Mars date as far back as the era of ancient Six spacecraft are in orbit at Mars.
Egypt over 4,000 years ago, when they charted the planet's
movements in the sky. Today, a science fleet of robotic spacecraft ● Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
study Mars from all angles. ● Mars Odyssey
● MAVEN.
● ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter
● Mars Express mission
● India's first Red Planet spacecraft — the Mars Orbiter Mission
(MOM) — since 2014.

Two robotic spacecraft are at work on the surface.

Okay but who has ● NASA's Curiosity rover is exploring Mount Sharp in Gale Crater.

been there ● NASA's InSight, a stationary lander, is probing Mars' interior from
a site on a flat smooth plain called Elysium Planitia.
already? Both NASA and ESA have plans to send new rovers to Mars in 2020
 SHUT UP ELON!
This is what people really want to know:

Numbers and facts:

● Radius - 2,106 miles | 3,390 kilometers
● Mass - 6.41693 × 1022 kg
● Mars has a dense core at its center between 930 and 1,300 miles (1,500 to 2,100 kilometers) in radius. The
total density of Mars is 3.934g/cm3
● On Mars the seasons vary in length because of Mars' elliptical, egg-shaped orbit around the Sun.
○ Spring in the northern hemisphere (autumn in the southern) is the longest season at 194 sols.
○ Autumn in the northern hemisphere (spring in the southern) is the shortest at 142 days.
○ Northern winter/southern summer is 154 sols, and northern summer/southern winter is 178 sols.
● The tallest mountain known in the solar system is on Mars.
○ Olympus Mons is a 21 km high and 600 km diameter shield volcano that was formed billions of years
ago.
● Mars is the only other planet besides Earth that has polar ice caps.
○ The northern cap is called the Planum Boreum, with Planum Australe in the south.
And Now This:
Page 197 Discussion Question #13
Since Mars has an atmosphere and it is composed mostly of a greenhouse gas, why isn’t there a significant
greenhouse effect to warm its surface?

Answer:
Around 4 billion years ago Mars may have had a relatively dense atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide. At
this time, the greenhouse effect may have kept temperatures above 0 degrees Celsius. However, over the
next billion years this dense atmosphere disappeared. There are a couple factors that could have been
responsible for this.
1. Impacts with large bodies in the early solar system
2. Leaked away into space due to weak gravity
3. Lost in a “reverse runaway greenhouse effect”
Also…