1 / 19

Pages 193 - 207

Pages 193 - 207. Mariner 10: Mission to Mercury 1973 - 1974. Mariner 10 mosaics of Mercury (inbound = left; outbound = right. *. *. *. *. *. *. Average speed of gas molecules increase with increasing T. The average speed of gas molecules decreases with increasing mass.

mikko
Download Presentation

Pages 193 - 207

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Pages 193 - 207

  2. Mariner 10: Mission to Mercury 1973 - 1974

  3. Mariner 10 mosaics of Mercury (inbound = left; outbound = right

  4. * * * * * *

  5. Average speed of gas molecules increase with increasing T

  6. The average speed of gas molecules decreases with increasing mass. Note: The escape velocity on Mercury is 4.3 km/sec (or ~ 10,000 miles/hour)

  7. The average speed of gas molecules decreases with increasing mass; hence, H2 escapes more readily from a planet than CO2.

  8. Radius, mean density and interior structure of the terrestrial planets

  9. Mercury Earth 2900 km 640 km

  10. Caloris Basin ~1,300 km in diameter Rim crest

  11. Effects of the formation of the Caloris Basin

  12. Hilly and lineated terrain

  13. Some craters on Mercury are quite young as they have fresh-looking rays Ray

  14. Linear cliffs called scarps hundreds of km long were probably caused by contraction and wrinkling during cooling of the planet

  15. Since the obliquity of Mercury is zero, its rotational axis is perpendicular to is orbital plane and, hence, areas in the polar regions are permanently in the shade, suggesting that water ice may be present?! * N. Pole Arecibo radar antenna in Puerto Rico Radar sounding of Mercury

  16. http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/ Launched August 3rd, 2004 Venus fly-bys October 2006 and June 2007 Mercury fly-bys January 2008, October 2008, September 2009 Orbits Mercury in March 2011

  17. 5 Stages in the evolution of Mercury • Formation, melting, and fractionation (Fe,Ni-core, silicate mantle) 4.55 Gy ago • Planet-wide volcanism, cooling, formation of lobate scarps • 4.5 to 4.0 Gy ago, heavy bombardment, and formation of large basins like the Caloris Basin • Basaltic volcanism, filling of low-lying, basin-like features • Minor impacts, regolith formation

  18. Mercury summary

More Related