ASTR 170B2 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Tharsis, Hellas Planitia, Olympus Mons

• School: University of Arizona
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: ASTR 170B2
• Professor: Dr. Tommi Koskinen

Document Summary

Astr ptys 170b2 - lecture 15 - a solar system perspective: rocky planets cont. Elliptical orbit to sun, perihelion is around 1. 4 au, aphelion is around 1. 7 au. Clouds and elevated dust- there is an atmosphere. White polar ice caps change with the season. The regolith on mars contains rust ( Some physical traits of mars: olympus mons, hellas basin, craters on southern. ) giving it the red color e of 2. Giant dust storms, periodic events due to the thin atmosphere. Liquid water is not stable on mars, but probably once was. Surface temp: 220 k well below water melting point. In the past, the martian atmosphere should have been thicker to support the warmer temperatures and liquid water evidence. Mars has no global magnetic field, but may have remence of what used to be a global magnetic field. Escape velocity: speed needed to escape an object"s gravitational pull.