Terrestrial Planets
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Modelling and the Transit of Venus
Modelling and the transit of Venus Dave Quinn University of Queensland <[email protected]> Ron Berry University of Queensland <[email protected]> Introduction enior secondary mathematics students could justifiably question the rele- Svance of subject matter they are being required to understand. One response to this is to place the learning experience within a context that clearly demonstrates a non-trivial application of the material, and which thereby provides a definite purpose for the mathematical tools under consid- eration. This neatly complements a requirement of mathematics syllabi (for example, Queensland Board of Senior Secondary School Studies, 2001), which are placing increasing emphasis on the ability of students to apply mathematical thinking to the task of modelling real situations. Success in this endeavour requires that a process for developing a mathematical model be taught explicitly (Galbraith & Clatworthy, 1991), and that sufficient opportu- nities are provided to students to engage them in that process so that when they are confronted by an apparently complex situation they have the think- ing and operational skills, as well as the disposition, to enable them to proceed. The modelling process can be seen as an iterative sequence of stages (not ) necessarily distinctly delineated) that convert a physical situation into a math- 1 ( ematical formulation that allows relationships to be defined, variables to be 0 2 l manipulated, and results to be obtained, which can then be interpreted and a n r verified as to their accuracy (Galbraith & Clatworthy, 1991; Mason & Davis, u o J 1991). The process is iterative because often, at this point, limitations, inac- s c i t curacies and/or invalid assumptions are identified which necessitate a m refinement of the model, or perhaps even a reassessment of the question for e h t which we are seeking an answer. -
Geological Timeline
Geological Timeline In this pack you will find information and activities to help your class grasp the concept of geological time, just how old our planet is, and just how young we, as a species, are. Planet Earth is 4,600 million years old. We all know this is very old indeed, but big numbers like this are always difficult to get your head around. The activities in this pack will help your class to make visual representations of the age of the Earth to help them get to grips with the timescales involved. Important EvEnts In thE Earth’s hIstory 4600 mya (million years ago) – Planet Earth formed. Dust left over from the birth of the sun clumped together to form planet Earth. The other planets in our solar system were also formed in this way at about the same time. 4500 mya – Earth’s core and crust formed. Dense metals sank to the centre of the Earth and formed the core, while the outside layer cooled and solidified to form the Earth’s crust. 4400 mya – The Earth’s first oceans formed. Water vapour was released into the Earth’s atmosphere by volcanism. It then cooled, fell back down as rain, and formed the Earth’s first oceans. Some water may also have been brought to Earth by comets and asteroids. 3850 mya – The first life appeared on Earth. It was very simple single-celled organisms. Exactly how life first arose is a mystery. 1500 mya – Oxygen began to accumulate in the Earth’s atmosphere. Oxygen is made by cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) as a product of photosynthesis. -
Planet Positions: 1 Planet Positions
Planet Positions: 1 Planet Positions As the planets orbit the Sun, they move around the celestial sphere, staying close to the plane of the ecliptic. As seen from the Earth, the angle between the Sun and a planet -- called the elongation -- constantly changes. We can identify a few special configurations of the planets -- those positions where the elongation is particularly noteworthy. The inferior planets -- those which orbit closer INFERIOR PLANETS to the Sun than Earth does -- have configurations as shown: SC At both superior conjunction (SC) and inferior conjunction (IC), the planet is in line with the Earth and Sun and has an elongation of 0°. At greatest elongation, the planet reaches its IC maximum separation from the Sun, a value GEE GWE dependent on the size of the planet's orbit. At greatest eastern elongation (GEE), the planet lies east of the Sun and trails it across the sky, while at greatest western elongation (GWE), the planet lies west of the Sun, leading it across the sky. Best viewing for inferior planets is generally at greatest elongation, when the planet is as far from SUPERIOR PLANETS the Sun as it can get and thus in the darkest sky possible. C The superior planets -- those orbiting outside of Earth's orbit -- have configurations as shown: A planet at conjunction (C) is lined up with the Sun and has an elongation of 0°, while a planet at opposition (O) lies in the opposite direction from the Sun, at an elongation of 180°. EQ WQ Planets at quadrature have elongations of 90°. -
Ices on Mercury: Chemistry of Volatiles in Permanently Cold Areas of Mercury’S North Polar Region
Icarus 281 (2017) 19–31 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Icarus journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/icarus Ices on Mercury: Chemistry of volatiles in permanently cold areas of Mercury’s north polar region ∗ M.L. Delitsky a, , D.A. Paige b, M.A. Siegler c, E.R. Harju b,f, D. Schriver b, R.E. Johnson d, P. Travnicek e a California Specialty Engineering, Pasadena, CA b Dept of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA c Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ d Dept of Engineering Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA e Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA f Pasadena City College, Pasadena, CA a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: Observations by the MESSENGER spacecraft during its flyby and orbital observations of Mercury in 2008– Received 3 January 2016 2015 indicated the presence of cold icy materials hiding in permanently-shadowed craters in Mercury’s Revised 29 July 2016 north polar region. These icy condensed volatiles are thought to be composed of water ice and frozen Accepted 2 August 2016 organics that can persist over long geologic timescales and evolve under the influence of the Mercury Available online 4 August 2016 space environment. Polar ices never see solar photons because at such high latitudes, sunlight cannot Keywords: reach over the crater rims. The craters maintain a permanently cold environment for the ices to persist. Mercury surface ices magnetospheres However, the magnetosphere will supply a beam of ions and electrons that can reach the frozen volatiles radiolysis and induce ice chemistry. -
Callisto: a Guide to the Origin of the Jupiter System
A PAPER SUBMITTED TO THE DECADAL SURVEY ON PLANETARY SCIENCE AND ASTROBIOLOGY Callisto: A Guide to the Origin of the Jupiter System David E Smith 617-803-3377 Department of Earth, Atmospheric and PLanetary Sciences Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA 02139 [email protected] Co-authors: Francis Nimmo, UCSC, [email protected] Krishan Khurana, UCLA, [email protected] Catherine L. Johnson, PSI, [email protected] Mark Wieczorek, OCA, Fr, [email protected] Maria T. Zuber, MIT, [email protected] Carol Paty, University of Oregon, [email protected] Antonio Genova, Univ Rome, It, [email protected] Erwan Mazarico, NASA GSFC, [email protected] Louise Prockter, LPI, [email protected] Gregory A. Neumann, NASA GSFC Emeritus, [email protected] John E. Connerney, Adnet Systems Inc., [email protected] Edward B. Bierhaus, LMCO, [email protected] Sander J. Goossens, UMBC, [email protected] MichaeL K. Barker, NASA GSFC, [email protected] Peter B. James, Baylor, [email protected] James Head, Brown, [email protected] Jason Soderblom, MIT, [email protected] July 14, 2020 Introduction Among the GaLiLean moons of Jupiter, it is outermost CaLListo that appears to most fulLy preserve the record of its ancient past. With a surface aLmost devoid of signs of internaL geologic activity, and hints from spacecraft data that its interior has an ocean whiLe being only partiaLLy differentiated, CaLListo is the most paradoxicaL of the giant rock-ice worlds. How can a body with such a primordiaL surface harbor an ocean? If the interior was warm enough to form an ocean, how could a mixed rock and ice interior remain stable? What do the striking differences between geologicaLLy unmodified CaLListo and its sibling moon Ganymede teLL us about the formation of the GaLiLean moons and the primordiaL conditions at the time of the formation of CaLListo and the accretion of giant planet systems? The answers can be provided by a CaLListo orbitaL mission. -
Phobos, Deimos: Formation and Evolution Alex Soumbatov-Gur
Phobos, Deimos: Formation and Evolution Alex Soumbatov-Gur To cite this version: Alex Soumbatov-Gur. Phobos, Deimos: Formation and Evolution. [Research Report] Karpov institute of physical chemistry. 2019. hal-02147461 HAL Id: hal-02147461 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02147461 Submitted on 4 Jun 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Phobos, Deimos: Formation and Evolution Alex Soumbatov-Gur The moons are confirmed to be ejected parts of Mars’ crust. After explosive throwing out as cone-like rocks they plastically evolved with density decays and materials transformations. Their expansion evolutions were accompanied by global ruptures and small scale rock ejections with concurrent crater formations. The scenario reconciles orbital and physical parameters of the moons. It coherently explains dozens of their properties including spectra, appearances, size differences, crater locations, fracture symmetries, orbits, evolution trends, geologic activity, Phobos’ grooves, mechanism of their origin, etc. The ejective approach is also discussed in the context of observational data on near-Earth asteroids, main belt asteroids Steins, Vesta, and Mars. The approach incorporates known fission mechanism of formation of miniature asteroids, logically accounts for its outliers, and naturally explains formations of small celestial bodies of various sizes. -
Bepicolombo - a Mission to Mercury
BEPICOLOMBO - A MISSION TO MERCURY ∗ R. Jehn , J. Schoenmaekers, D. Garc´ıa and P. Ferri European Space Operations Centre, ESA/ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany ABSTRACT BepiColombo is a cornerstone mission of the ESA Science Programme, to be launched towards Mercury in July 2014. After a journey of nearly 6 years two probes, the Magneto- spheric Orbiter (JAXA) and the Planetary Orbiter (ESA) will be separated and injected into their target orbits. The interplanetary trajectory includes flybys at the Earth, Venus (twice) and Mercury (four times), as well as several thrust arcs provided by the solar electric propulsion module. At the end of the transfer a gravitational capture at the weak stability boundary is performed exploiting the Sun gravity. In case of a failure of the orbit insertion burn, the spacecraft will stay for a few revolutions in the weakly captured orbit. The arrival conditions are chosen such that backup orbit insertion manoeuvres can be performed one, four or five orbits later with trajectory correction manoeuvres of less than 15 m/s to compensate the Sun perturbations. Only in case that no manoeuvre can be performed within 64 days (5 orbits) after the nominal orbit insertion the spacecraft will leave Mercury and the mission will be lost. The baseline trajectory has been designed taking into account all operational constraints: 90-day commissioning phase without any thrust; 30-day coast arcs before each flyby (to allow for precise navigation); 7-day coast arcs after each flyby; 60-day coast arc before orbit insertion; Solar aspect angle constraints and minimum flyby altitudes (300 km at Earth and Venus, 200 km at Mercury). -
Dwarf Planet Ceres
Dwarf Planet Ceres drishtiias.com/printpdf/dwarf-planet-ceres Why in News As per the data collected by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, dwarf planet Ceres reportedly has salty water underground. Dawn (2007-18) was a mission to the two most massive bodies in the main asteroid belt - Vesta and Ceres. Key Points 1/3 Latest Findings: The scientists have given Ceres the status of an “ocean world” as it has a big reservoir of salty water underneath its frigid surface. This has led to an increased interest of scientists that the dwarf planet was maybe habitable or has the potential to be. Ocean Worlds is a term for ‘Water in the Solar System and Beyond’. The salty water originated in a brine reservoir spread hundreds of miles and about 40 km beneath the surface of the Ceres. Further, there is an evidence that Ceres remains geologically active with cryovolcanism - volcanoes oozing icy material. Instead of molten rock, cryovolcanoes or salty-mud volcanoes release frigid, salty water sometimes mixed with mud. Subsurface Oceans on other Celestial Bodies: Jupiter’s moon Europa, Saturn’s moon Enceladus, Neptune’s moon Triton, and the dwarf planet Pluto. This provides scientists a means to understand the history of the solar system. Ceres: It is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It was the first member of the asteroid belt to be discovered when Giuseppe Piazzi spotted it in 1801. It is the only dwarf planet located in the inner solar system (includes planets Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars). Scientists classified it as a dwarf planet in 2006. -
"Is There Life on Venus?" Pdf File
Home / Space / Specials Is there life on Venus? We call them "Martians" because, in science fiction, Mars has always been the natural home of extraterrestrials. In fact, of all the planets in the solar system, Mars is the prime candidate to host life, after Earth, of course. Indeed, Mars is on the outer edge of the habitable zone, that area around the Sun that delimits the space where the temperature is low enough to ensure that the water remains in a liquid state. And where there's water, it is well known, there's probably life. Yet it's cold on Mars today, and so far, all the probes and rovers we have sent to the surface of the red planet have found no signs of life. Planet Venus At the opposite end of the habitable belt there is Venus, similar in size and "geological" characteristics to our planet – that is, like Earth, it is a rocky planet. However, unlike Earth, Venus is probably one of the most inhospitable places in the Solar System: the temperature on the ground is about 500°C, higher than that recorded on Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, so the Sun is not directly responsible for that infernal climate. The blame lies with the very extreme greenhouse effect on Venus. We know that the greenhouse effect is due to the presence of gases that trap solar radiation and heat the atmosphere. The main greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, water vapour and nitrogen oxides. On Earth we are rightly concerned because the amount of carbon dioxide is increasing due to human activities and with the increase in CO2, temperatures are rising. -
Outer Planets: the Ice Giants
Outer Planets: The Ice Giants A. P. Ingersoll, H. B. Hammel, T. R. Spilker, R. E. Young Exploring Uranus and Neptune satisfies NASA’s objectives, “investigation of the Earth, Moon, Mars and beyond with emphasis on understanding the history of the solar system” and “conduct robotic exploration across the solar system for scientific purposes.” The giant planet story is the story of the solar system (*). Earth and the other small objects are leftovers from the feast of giant planet formation. As they formed, the giant planets may have migrated inward or outward, ejecting some objects from the solar system and swallowing others. The giant planets most likely delivered water and other volatiles, in the form of icy planetesimals, to the inner solar system from the region around Neptune. The “gas giants” Jupiter and Saturn are mostly hydrogen and helium. These planets must have swallowed a portion of the solar nebula intact. The “ice giants” Uranus and Neptune are made primarily of heavier stuff, probably the next most abundant elements in the Sun – oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. For each giant planet the core is the “seed” around which it accreted nebular gas. The ice giants may be more seed than gas. Giant planets are laboratories in which to test our theories about geophysics, plasma physics, meteorology, and even oceanography in a larger context. Their bottomless atmospheres, with 1000 mph winds and 100 year-old storms, teach us about weather on Earth. The giant planets’ enormous magnetic fields and intense radiation belts test our theories of terrestrial and solar electromagnetic phenomena. -
Disrupted Solar Transit at 140 Mhz Over the Mexican Array Radio Telescope Due Space Weather Events
URSI AP-RASC 2019, New Delhi, India; 09 - 15 March 2019 Disrupted Solar Transit at 140 MHz over the Mexican Array Radio Telescope due Space Weather Events *Victor De la Luz(1)(2), Julio Mejia-Ambriz(1)(2), and Americo Gonzalez(2) (1) Conacyt, Servicio de Clima Espacial Mexico, Morelia, Mexico. 58190. http://www.sciesmex.unam.mx (2) Instituto de Geofisica, Unidad Michoacan, UNAM, Morelia, Mexico. 58190. Abstract Figure 2 show two solar transits centered at peak, for 22 (green line, quiet) and 26 (blue line, close to the solar flare) In this work we present the records of the disrupted so- June, 2015. We observed clearly the changes of amplitude lar transits at 140 MHz at Mexican Array Radio Telescope of the signal. (MEXART) related with active regionsand a solar flare dur- ing the week of June 20 - 26, 2015. 4 Conclusions 1 Introduction We show that space weather, in particular solar flares, mod- ifies the antenna pattern related with solar transit in the MEXART at 140 MHz. The increase in the flux saturated The transit instrument Mexican Array Radio Telescope the instrument at June 22. For this reasson, we used the 5Th (MEXART) is located in Coeneo, Mexico. Their main pro- lateral left lobe to characterize the increase of the flux. We pose is record extra-galactic radio source to observe the observed that at peak, the flux increases 16 mV in the max- interplanetary scintillation (IPS) [3]. The radio telescope imum level at June 22, 2015 compared against the baseline have central frequency of 139.65 MHz and bandwidth of 2 of the transit in quiet conditions. -
1 Comparison of Solar Evaluation Tools
COMPARISON OF SOLAR EVALUATION TOOLS: FROM LEARNING TO PRACTICE Sophia Duluk Heather Nelson Department of Architecture Department of Architecture University of Oregon University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 Eugene, OR 97403 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Alison Kwok Department of Architecture University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT obstacles to the use of software and a number of misunderstandings about principles and concepts of solar Solar tools and software have evolved in the last ten years to radiation. These can cause under- or overestimations, assist designers in evaluating a site for shading, solar access, leading to heavy energy consequences when handling daylighting design, photovoltaic placement, and passive building loads and thermal comfort. solar heating potential. This paper presents a comparative evaluation of solar site analysis tools as base cases for This study focuses on comparing six tools readily available evaluation. We present the results from on site to design professionals: Solar Transit (1), Solar Pathfinder measurements, software predictions, output accuracy, ease (http://www.solarpathfinder.com/index), Solmetric Suneye of use, design inputs needed for Passive House Planning (http://www.solmetric.com), HORIcatcher+Meteonorm Protocol (PHPP), and other criteria to discuss the (http://www.meteotest.ch/en/footernavi/solar_energy/horicat capabilities of the tools in education and in architectural cher/) and two iPhone applications. Additionally, the study design practice. We compare six tools: Solar Transit, Solar will examine shading protocols used for the Passive House Pathfinder + Solar Pathfinder Assistant software, Solmetric Planning Package (PHPP) to see how the tools compare to Suneye + Thermal Assistant Software, HORIcatcher + the PHPP shading assumptions, and determine the Meteonorm, and two iPhone applications.