The Terrestrial Planets

The Terrestrial Planets

– The terrestrial planets
are the inner four
planets of Mercury,
Venus, Earth, and Mars
that are close to the
size of Earth and have
solid, rocky surfaces.
– The gas giant planets
are the outer planets of
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
and Neptune which are
much larger, more
gaseous, and lack solid
surfaces.
MERCURY
• Mercury is the closest
planet to the Sun and
has no moons.
• Mercury is about 1/3 the
size of Earth and has a
smaller mass and radius.
• Mercury has a slow spin
of 1407.6 hours; in 2 of
Mercury’s yrs., 3 of
Mercury’s days have
passed.
 MERCURY'S ATMOSPHERE
– Mercury has essentially
no atmosphere, and what
little does exist is composed
primarily of oxygen and
sodium.
– The daytime surface
temperature on Mercury
is 700 K (427ºC), while
temperatures at night fall
to 100 K (–173ºC).
– So what do you think the
surface is like?
 MERCURY'S
SURFACE
– Most of what we know about
Mercury is based on radio
observations and images from
a United States space probe
mission, called Mariner 10.
– Mercury’s surface is covered
with craters and plains. The
plains of Mercury’s surface are
smooth and relatively crater
free.
– Mercury has a planet wide
system of cliffs, called scarps,
that may have developed as
Mercury’s crust shrank and
fractured early in the planet’s
geological history.
 MERCURY'S INTERIOR
– The high density of Mercury
suggests that it has an
extensive nickel-iron core,
filling about 42% of
Mercury’s volume.
– The detectable magnetic field
suggests that Mercury has a
molten zone in its interior.
– Mercury’s small size, high
density, and probable molten
interior zone resemble what
Earth might be like if its crust
and mantle were removed.
VENUS
• Venus, the 2nd planet
from the Sun, has no
moons.
• Venus’s high albedo and
its proximity to Earth
make it the brightest
planet in Earth’s
nighttime sky.
• The surface of Venus is
very hot, and it rotates
slowly clockwise with
one day equaling 243
Earth days.
• Venus has been explored
by radar and spacecraft.
 VENUS'S ATMOSPHERE
– Venus is the hottest planet in the
solar system with an average
surface temperature of about 737
K (464°C).
– The atmospheric pressure on
Venus is equivalent to
92 Earth atmospheres.
– An efficient greenhouse effect
is achieved with an atmosphere
that is primarily carbon dioxide
and nitrogen with clouds of
sulfuric acid.
 VENUS'S SURFACE
– The 1989 Magellan missions of the
U.S. used radar reflection
measurements to map the surface
of Venus in detail.
– The surface has been smoothed by
volcanic lava flows, and it has only
a few impact craters.
– The most recent global episode of
volcanic activity took place about
500 million years ago.
– There is little evidence of current
tectonic activity on Venus, and
there is no well-defined system of Why do you think that it
crustal plates. appears to be blue in
some photographs?
 VENUS'S INTERIOR
– The size and density of
Venus are similar to Earth,
so the internal structure is
most likely similar.
– It is theorized that Venus
has a liquid metal core
that extends halfway to
the surface.
– There is no measurable
magnetic field despite this
liquid core, which is
probably due to Venus’s
slow rotation rate.
EARTH
• Earth, the 3rd planet from the Sun,
has many unique properties.
– Its distance from the Sun and its
nearly circular orbit allow liquid
water to exist on its surface in all
3 states: solid, liquid, and gas.
– Liquid water is required for life.
– Earth’s moderately dense
atmosphere (78 percent nitrogen
and 21 percent oxygen) and a
mild greenhouse effect support
conditions suitable for life.
 EARTH'S WOBBLE
– Earth’s axis is tilted and has a
wobble.
– Precession is the wobble in
Earth’s rotational axis.
– It takes Earth’s rotational axis
about 26 000 years to go through
one cycle of precession.
– The sideways pull that causes
precession comes from the
Moon’s gravitational
force on Earth, as well
as to a lesser extent,
the Sun’s gravitational
force.
MARS
• Mars is the 4th planet from
the Sun and the outermost
of the terrestrial planets.
• Mars is smaller and less
dense than Earth and has
two irregularly-shaped
moons, Phobos and Deimos.
• Mars has been explored by
telescopes on Earth and with
probes beginning in the
1960s that have flown by,
orbited, or
landed.
 MARS ATMOSPHERE

– The composition of Mars’s

atmosphere is similar to
Venus’s atmosphere, but
with much lower density
and pressure.
– The thin atmosphere
creates a constant wind on
Mars.
– Martian dust storms may
last for weeks at a time.
 MARS SURFACE
– The southern hemisphere of Mars is a
heavily cratered, highland region,
while the northern hemisphere is
dominated by plains that are sparsely
cratered.
– Four gigantic shield volcanoes
including Olympus Mons, the largest
mountain in the solar system.
– An enormous canyon, Valles Marineris
lies on the Martian equator.
– The Martian surface contains
erosional features that suggest that
liquid water once existed on the
surface of Mars.
– Mars has polar ice caps of frozen
carbon dioxide covering both poles
that grow and shrink with the seasons
on Mars.
– Water ice lies beneath the carbon
 MARS INTERIOR
– Astronomers are unsure
about the internal
structure of Mars.
– It is thought to have a
core of iron and nickel,
and possibly sulfur
which is covered by a
mantle.
– Because Mars has no
magnetic field, the core
is probably solid.
– There is no evidence of
current tectonic activity
or tectonic plates on the
surface of the crust.