Mercury's
Surface features
Quite a range of temperatures
Up to 400 deg. C at 'noon'
Proximity to sun supplies the daytime heat
Drops to -175 deg. C just before dawn
Lack of atmosphere allows the heat to escape at night
This would give your heat pump a real workout
Heavily cratered like the moon
With areas that have been flooded by basalt
Volcanic s very early in planets history (4 b.y.)
No evidence of plate tectonics
Isolated 'scarps' indicate shrinkage during cooling (fig. 13.25, pg. 232)
General tectonic history indicates:
Early expansion while hot
Releasing basaltic flows
Later shrinkage during cooling
Causing scarps due to compression/contraction
Venus's
Extremely harsh surface conditions
Temperature well above 400 deg. C
Atmospheric pressure 90X that of earth (we would implode!)
Both the result of the extremely dense atmosphere (96% CO2)
Thick cloud cover is the result of H2SO4 droplets in the atmosphere
Probably derived from extensive volcanic activity
Greenhouse effect
DIGRESS TO: runaway greenhouse effect
Venus used to be more like Earth
Almost certainly had large amounts of surface water
Initial slow surface heating due to small increase in atmospheric CO2
Leads to increased evaporation and H2O content in air
Leads to more heat retention, and the "Runaway Greenhouse Effect" cycle
Carried to its logical conclusion...
Leads to evaporation of any surface waters and a "hot water" atmosphere
Water vapor is not stable in UV light and breaks down into atomic form
Hydrogen escapes into space
Oxygen combines with iron, etc. at the surface
Therefore, the loss of surface water is permanent
Marses
The "red planet" named for the God of War
Much smaller than the earth
Approx. 11% earth's mass
Atmosphere similar to Venus in composition (95% CO2)
But not in density - .006 bar (Mars) to 1 bar (Earth) to 90 bar (Venus)
Surface similar to earth 200 mya when Pangea was complete
Southern highland (continent) which is heavily cratered (probably older)
Surrounded by younger volcanic plains (not covered by water)
Several kilometers lower in elevation than the "continent"
Extensive tectonic and volcanic activity
No direct evidence of plate tectonic activity
Several features indicating tectonic/volcanic activity
Most 1-3 billion years old
Tharsis Bulge - active region the size of North America
Concentration of "recent" volcanic activity
Olympus Mons (fig. 14.8, pg. 241)
Probably largest volcano in solar system (fig. 15.14, pg. 268)
Possibly still intermittently active!
Valles Marineris (fig. 14.10, pg. 243)
A tectonic feature so not really a "valley"
Basically tension cracks on the edge of the Tharsis Bulge
Similar to tensional features in Africa
Big! 5000 km X 100 km X 7 km deep
Possibly plate-style activity may have started long ago
Did not develop like on earth due to smaller mass, quicker overall cooling
Much evidence for surface water (See: photo pg. 234; fig. 14.8b, pg. 241)
Most drainage features limited to older cratered highland areas
Two kinds of drainage patterns
Normal dendritic patterns (fig. 14.12, pg. 244)
Developed on the older cratered upland areas
Evidence for catastrophic floods (fig. 14.21, pg. 250)
From the upland onto the lava plains
Like the Channeled Scablands of Eastern Washington
Evidence for glacial ice ages in the Martian past?
Supports theory that surface water was present during 2 periods in the past
The first 4 billion years ago related to "normal" rainfall/runoff
Then later a sudden release of frozen water by volcanic heating, or?
All surface water now frozen into polar ice caps
Jupiter
In orbit: 16 moons, faint ring
Has an extensive cloud cover
Vivid colors (white, orange, red, brown)
Essentially condensed ammonia (anyone for a walk in the rain?)
Great Red Spot (fig. 16.2, pg. 276) and (fig. 16.12, pg. 284)
A large "storm" in the atmosphere - almost 30,000 km across!
Has been "stable" for at least 300 years
How can it last for so long?
Nothing solid to interfere with the circulation of the gas
Saturn
In orbit: 19 moons. extensive rings
Uranus
In orbit: 15 moons, intricate system of dark ringsNeptune
In orbit: 8 moons, faint rings
Great Dark Spot: similar to GRS on Jupiter
Atmospheric storm 10,000 km acrossPluto
Discovered after a systematic search
Its presence was indicated by "wobbles" in Neptune's orbit
In orbit: a single large moon (Charon)
Essentially a binary system
if u need more information just go hear http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/
really hope this information helps and have a nice day
