Remote observations of solid surfaces of planets, satellites, rings and small bodiesParasitismo associado a traça da oliveira Prays oleae Bern. Em Trás-os-Montes (Nordeste de Portugal), ArtículoA Moon-based observatory should allow to cover a spectral range from 100 nm to 30 microns by a...
Approximately 29% of the Earth’s surface is land (i.e. continents and islands) with the remaining 71% covered with water (i.e. oceans, lakes, rivers, and freshwater). Earth’s outer layer consists of several tectonic plates with a solid inner core and a liquid outer core. Earth’s a...
They are made mostly of silicate rocks and metals, with solid surfaces and atmospheres that range from thick (on Venus) to very thin (on Mercury). Earth is the only one with liquid oceans, although Mars may have had them in the past. Find out more about the inner planets by selecting ...
A map showing the relative sizes of the solid surfaces of the solar system. Source:xkcd.com This aptly titled and brilliant map shows the sizes of the solid (and earth’s seas) surfaces all stitched together as if they were a single continent. This is a great map that brings home the ...
What are planets with solid rocky surfaces called? What causes surface features on terrestrial planets? Is Ceres a dwarf planet? Do Jovian planets have longer days than terrestrial planets? Why are terrestrial planets small? Are there equal numbers of Jovian and terrestrial planets?
As the protoplanets continued to gather material, their interiors heated up and underwent differentiation, with denser materials sinking to their cores and lighter materials rising to their surfaces. This process led to the formation of the rocky terrestrial planets (more on those a little later)....
Theatmospheresof the jovian planets are the parts we can observe or measure directly. Since these planets have no solid surfaces, their atmospheres are more representative of their general compositions than is the case with the terrestrial planets. These atmospheres also present us with some of the...
Solar system, assemblage consisting of the Sun and those bodies orbiting it: 8 planets with more than 400 known planetary satellites; many asteroids, some with their own satellites; comets and other icy bodies; and vast reaches of highly tenuous gas and
The four inner planets, or terrestrial planets, have solid, rocky surfaces. Earth, the third planet from the Sun, is the only planet with large amounts of liquid water, and the only planet known to support life. Earth has a large round moon. Mercury is the smallest planet and is the ...
They have no solid surfaces, however, and their densities are so low that one of them, Saturn, would actually float in water. Each of the outer planets has a magnetic field, a ring system, and many known moons, with more likely to be discovered. Pluto has no known rings and only ...