Not to scale. All pictures and information were obtained from Views From Space The Planets in Our Solar System Heather Derr Mrs. Kingsfield – 2 nd Period

Contents NextPrev. Map Southwest Mercury Hills of Mercury Mercury Close Up Mercury

Contents NextPrev. Map Scientists note that this area is at the antipodal point to the large Caloris basin. The shock wave produced by the Caloris impact may have been reflected and focused to the antipodal point, thus jumbling the crust and breaking it into a series of complex blocks. The area covered is about 800 km (497 mi) on a side. Mercury

Contents NextPrev. Map The southwest quadrant of Mercury is seen in this image taken March 29, 1974, by the Mariner 10 spacecraft. The picture was taken four hours before the time of closest approach when Mariner was 198,000 km (122,760 mi) from the planet. The largest craters seen in this picture are about 100 km (62 mi) in diameter. Mercury

Contents NextPrev. Map The small, bright halo crater (center) is 10 km (6 mi) in diameter. The prominent crater further left, which has a central peak, is 30 km (19 mi) across. The darker, lightly cratered area (upper left) may be an ancient lava flow. Mercury's surface is similar to that of Earth's moon, where a history of heavy cratering is followed by volcanic filling. Mercury

Contents NextPrev. Map Venus in Color Altimetry Image of Three Volcanoes Twin Summit Venus

Contents NextPrev. Map The bluish hue of Venus is an effect of the colorization technique used to enhance subtle contrasts in cloud patterns and indicates that this image was taken through a violet filter. Features in the sulfuric acid clouds near the top of the planet's atmosphere are most prominent in violet and ultraviolet light. This image shows the east to west cloud banding and the brighter polar hoods. The features are embedded in winds that flow from east to west at about 370 kph (230 mph). Venus

Contents NextPrev. Map The colors represent elevations at the surface, with red and magenta being the highest and blue being the lowest. The area shown is centered at 33 degrees south latitude, 326 degrees east longitude, and is 2,300 kilometers by 1,650 kilometers (1,380 miles by990 miles) in size. The data were acquired in September 1992 during the third and final phase of Magellan's radar mapping cycles. Venus

Contents NextPrev. Map Located in the Atla Regio region of Venus is Sapas Mons. The sides of the volcano are covered with numerous overlapping lava flows, many of which appear to have originated along the sides of the volcano rather than from its double summit. This type of eruption is common of large shield volcanoes on Earth, such as those found in Hawaii. Color was artificially added to this imagined is based on the colors that the Soviet Venera 13 and 14 spacecraft observed in the 1970s. Venus

Contents NextPrev. Map Antarctica Strait of Gibraltar Grand Canyon Earth

Contents NextPrev. Map The mosaic spans about 1600 km (992 mi) across the south polar latitudes of our planet. This part of Antarctica lies south of South America. At lower left, the dark blue Ross Sea is visible, bounded by the Ross Ice Shelf on the right. The Amundsen Sea is just visible at the top and center of the image. Earth

Contents NextPrev. Map Earth is the only planet with borders of land adjacent to bodies of water because it is the only planet where liquid water is stable at the surface. Seas are important because water has been the catalyst for the development of life on our planet. The Strait of Gibraltar is the border between Africa and Europe. Earth

Contents NextPrev. Map The canyon is 30 km (18 miles) across at its widest point and 1.6 km (1 mile) deep at rock bottom. It is 446 km (277 miles) long and covers an area that is over 5000 square km (about 2000 square miles). The Grand Canyon was created by the erosional action of the Colorado River on the surface as this region has continued to rise high above sea level over the last several million years. Earth

Contents NextPrev. Map Valles Marineris Shield Volcano South Pole Mars

Contents NextPrev. Map The entire system extends over 4000 km (2490 mi), covering about one fifth the circumference of Mars. Some parts of the canyon run as deep as 7 km (4 mi) and as wide as 200 km (125mi). Compared to Valles Marineris, the Grand Canyon on Earth seems quite small at 446 km (277 mi) long, 30 km (18 mi)wide and 1.6 km (1 mi) deep. Mars

Contents NextPrev. Map This shield volcano, similar to volcanoes in Hawaii, measures 624 km (374 mi)in diameter by 25 km (16 mi) high. It is 100 times larger than Mauna Loa on Earth. Located on the Tharsis Plateau near the equator, Olympus Mons is bordered by an escarpment. The caldera in the center is 80 km (50 mi) wide and contains multiplecircular, overlapping collapse craters created by different volcanic events. Mars

Contents NextPrev. Map This mosaic of Viking Orbiter frames shows the South Polar Cap of Mars. The polar cap is composed of water and carbon dioxide ice. The ice appears reddish due to dust that has been incorporated into the cap. Mars

Contents NextPrev. Map Great Red Spot White Cloud Erupting Volcano Jupiter

Contents NextPrev. Map The colorful, wavy cloud pattern to the left of the Red Spot is a region of extraordinarily complex wave motion.. An atmospheric system larger than Earth and more than 300 years old, the Great Red Spot remains a mystery. Swirling, storm- like features possibly associated with wind shear can be seen both to the left and above the Red Spot. Jupiter

Contents NextPrev. Map Around the northern boundary a white cloud is seen, which extends east of the region. The presence of this cloud prevents small cloud vertices from circling the spot in the manner seen in the Voyager 1 encounter. Jupiter

Contents NextPrev. Map The blue and white protrusion visible on the limb is an eruption of Volcano Loki. This picture of Io was taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in July 1979, during its closest approach to Jupiter's satellite. Jupiter

Contents NextPrev. Map Rings in Shadow Red Oval Cloud Braided Rings Saturn

Contents NextPrev. Map This image of Saturn was taken while the spacecraft was departing the Saturnian system. The planet's disk casts a shadow across the ring system. The visible side of the rings is directly illuminated by the sun. The broad dark band in the rings separates the outer A ring from the inner B ring. The C ring is much fainter and closer to the planet. The narrow F ring is just barely visible outside the A ring. Saturn

Contents NextPrev. Map This unique red oval cloud feature is visible in Saturn's southern hemisphere. The difference in color between the red oval and surrounding bluish clouds indicates that material within the oval contains a substance that absorbs more blue and violet light than the bluish clouds. Saturn

Contents NextPrev. Map Saturn's narrow F ring, just outside the main ring system, is a very complex structure. In this close-up view it is made up of two narrow bright rings and a fainter ring inside them. The bright rings contain bends, kinks, and bright clumps that give the illusion that these strands are braided. Scientists speculate that the clumps may contain mini moons. The F ring was photographed at a range of 750,000 km (470,000 mi). Saturn

Contents NextPrev. Map Dust Rings Rings in False Color Shepherd Satellites Uranus

Contents NextPrev. Map This image reveals many broad lanes of dust surrounding the 9 main rings of Uranus. It was taken by Voyager 2 looking back toward the sun through the ring system. The dust is especially bright in this view, for the same reason that we can see dust on a windshield better when we are driving toward the sun. The rings of Uranus are actually very dark; their albedo is only a few percent. The short stubby streaks are stars slightly smeared during the long exposure. Uranus

Contents NextPrev. Map The somewhat fainter, pastel lines seen between the rings are artifacts of computer enhance- ment. Six narrow-angle images were used to extract color information from the extremely dark and faint rings. The final image was made from three color averages and represents an enhanced, false-color view. The image shows that the brightest, or epsilon ring at top is neutral in color, with the fainter 8 remaining rings showing slight color differences between them.. Uranus

Contents NextPrev. Map The discovery of two "shepherd" satellites has advanced our understanding of the structure of the Uranian rings. The moons are seen here on either side of the bright epsilon ring and are believed to confine it by their gravitational effects. Inward from the epsilon ring are the delta, gamma, eta, beta and alpha rings. The 4, 5, and 6 rings are barely visible inward from there. The epsilon ring appears surrounded by a dark band as a result of the image processing. Uranus

Contents NextPrev. Map Great Dark Spot Bright Cloud Streaks Scooter With Spots Neptune

Contents NextPrev. Map Feathery white clouds fill the boundary between the dark and light blue regions on the Great Dark Spot. The spiral shape of both the dark boundary and the white cirrus suggests a storm system rotating counter-clockwise. Periodic small- scale patterns in the white cloud, possibly waves, are short-lived and do not persist from one Neptunian rotation to the next. Depicted here is the last face-on view of the Great Dark Spot that Voyager 2 made with its narrow-angle camera. The image was shuttered 45 hours before closest approach.23 Neptune

Contents NextPrev. Map The linear clouds are stretched approximately along lines of constant latitude and the sun is toward the upper left. The sides of the clouds facing the sun are brighter than the surrounding cloud deck because they are more directly exposed to the sun. Shadows are visible on the side opposite the sun. Neptune

Contents NextPrev. Map The three features visible here are among the most interesting on Neptune. At the top is the Great Dark Spot, accompanied by bright, white clouds that change rapidly with time. Below the dark spot is a bright feature that scientists nicknamed "Scooter." Below Scooter is the Small Dark Spot. All three features move eastward at different velocities, so it is rare that they can all be photographed together. Neptune

Contents NextPrev. Map This is the clearest view yet of the distant planet Pluto as revealed by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The image was taken by the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera on February 21, 1994 when the planet was 4.4 billion km (2.6 billion mi) from Earth. This has allowed astronomers to measure (to within about 1 percent) Pluto's diameter of 2320 km (1440 mi). This means that both worlds have different surface composition and structure. A bright highlight on Pluto suggests it has a smoothly reflecting surface layer. Pluto

Mercury Venus Earth Mars Saturn Jupiter Uranus Neptune Pluto Hills Southwest Close Up In Color Volcanoes Twin Summit Antarctica Gibraltar Grand Canyon Valles Marineris Shield Volcano South Pole Great Red Spot White Cloud Erupting Volcano Rings in Shadow Red Oval Cloud Braided Rings Dust Rings Rings in False Color Shepherd Satellites Great Dark Spot Bright Cloud Streaks Scooter w/Spots Go Back Presentation Map Title Slide