Earth Sciences 2123F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Valles Marineris, Terrestrial Planet, Olympus Mons
28 Sep 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Sun - a nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process. Radius 6. 9 x 108: 109 times earth. Mass 2 x 1030: 300,000 earths. It does not have natural satellites: it has no moons. Mercury is made of heavier materials, like iron and has a large iron core. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and goes around the sun once every 88 earth days: a day on mercury lasts a lot longer than a day on earth. The surface of mercury looks like earth"s moon. It is covered with impact craters, made by rocks falling from space. Mercury might have water on the shadowed side of the planet, near the poles: onside of mercury never seen the sun due to its rotation. Venus has a slow rotation, rotating retrograde and no natural satellite.
