Exploring Geology on the World-Wide Web - Planetary Geology, Asteroids, Comets, and Meteorites Brian John Exton Department of Geological Sciences University of Texas Austin, Texas 7871 2 e-mail: [email protected] Keywords: Earth science - teaching and curriculum; AGU Planetology Section education - computer assisted; extraterrestrial geology; httpd/earth.agu.org/sections/planet/planet.html astronomy. Home page for the American Geophysical Union's Planetology Section, with links to planetary science INTRODUCTION publications. A top candidate for mankind's crowning achieve- ment in this century would certainly be our ability to The Planetary Society break free of Earth's gravity and travel through space. http://www.transatlantech.com/TPS/spacegate. As If there weren't enough unanswered questions about html the history and mechanisms of our own Earth, we A comprehensive listing of space science resources can now probe and ponder the inner workings of our on the Internet. neighboring planets, moons, asteroids, and visiting comets. Our questions range from the simple to the complex: "What are they made of?" "What geologic GENERAL PLANETARY SCIENCE forces have acted on them?" "Could any of them sup- NASA Starchild port life now or in the past?" http://rxte.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/StarChild. Planetary geology is also a very timely subject. html Back-to-back successes of the Mars PathfinderISojourner This NASA site on astronomy and planetary sci- mission and Jupiter's Galileo orbiter and probe have ence was developed primarily by teachers at Lake- revitalized NASA and stirred the spirit of exploration side Middle School in Evans, Georgia, and is an ideal in all of us. And with the discovery earlier this year of starting point for young students. water ice on the moon. we have all the makin~sof an astronomical renaissance. On May 20-21, 1998,-~~~~ JPL will host A Day on Europa, celebrating the unique NASA SpaceLink geologic environment of that icy Jovian moon. Check httpd/spacelink.nasa.gov/Instructional.s/ out their web site listed below and be a part of the NASA.Educational.Products/.index.html festivities! A list of current NASA educational products avail- All of the URL addresses in this article are avail- able, including activities, slide sets, videos, and so able as links from a web page at: forth, with target audience and grade level given. http://www.geo.utexas.edu/bexton/jge/jge.htm Lunar and Planetary Institute PLANETARY IMAGES http:Ncass.jsc.nasa.gov/ NASA Planetary Photojournal Includes images grouped by geologic process, a http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/ good collection of slide sets, and links to other plane- If NASA has photographed it, here's the place to tary web sites. find it. The layout and navigation are simple and quick, providing easy access to high-quality, press- Welcome to the Planets released images. Pull-down menus allow the user to http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/ select images by target, telescope, or spacecraft. Most A collection of some of the best NASA images, as images provide the original captions and technical data well as ordering information for the CD-ROM version and can be downloaded in a variety of formats (.gif, of the site. .jpg, .pic, and .tif). As many readers may have already deduced, most of the resources on the World-Wide National Space Science Data Center Web related to this topic are government sites of ex- http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planets/ cellent quality. The site to visit for the most current data on the planets. PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS GSA Planetary Geology Division Views of the Solar System http://www.planetary.brown.edu/-crumpler/ http://www.hawastsoc.org/solar/ Planet~Division.htm1 One of the best sites for comprehensive facts and The Geological Society of America's Planetary Geol- figures for all bodies in the solar system. Maintained ogy Division, maintained by Larry Crumpler at Brown by Calvin Hamilton on the Hawaiian Astronomical University. Society's web server. Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 46, 1998, p. 285 Exploring Geology on the World-Wide Web - Planetary Geology, Asteroids, Comets, and Meteorites -- - -- - - The Nine Planets Jupiter - Galileo Project http://www.anu.edu.au/Physics/nineplanets/ http://jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/ nineplanetshtml This is the official Galileo Project home page at A multimedia tour of the planets, designed by Bill the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California. Re- Arnett at the University of Arizona. cent images from the Galileo Europa Mission, as well as links to many excellent educational activities re- SPECIFIC EXTRATERRESTRIAL BODIES lating to the geology of Jupiter's moons. On May 20- The resources below feature information about spe- 21, 1998, NASAIJPL will sponsor the nationwide cific targets in the solar system, excluding the earth. event, A Day On Europa. Highlights will include an Mercury electronic field trip, interactive web chat, moderated panel discussion, and other media events designed to http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planets/ mercurypage.htm1 increase public awareness of the incredible science re- turned by the Galileo spacecraft. Log on now for Mercury fact sheet and additional resources from up-to-date information on the activities! the National Space Science Data Center. Jupiter - Galileo SSI Education Venus - The Venus Hypermap http://jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo/ http:/lwww.ess.ucla.edu/hypermapNmap/top. html Galileo's Solid State Imaging team, led by Michael Belton at the National Optical Astronomy Observato- A clickable map to the images returned by the ries in Tucson, Arizona, maintains its own web site. Magellan spacecraft. Also contains general informa- Additional educational modules written for middle- tion about Venus. school students, as well as posters and stickers, are Venus - The Face of Venus available for download. http://www.eps.mcgill.ca/-bud/craters/FaceOf Saturn Venus.ktm1 http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planets/ Learn about the surface of the planet Venus on saturnpage.htm1 this site, which is maintained by Glen Newton and Saturn fact sheet and additional resources, in- Paul Budkewitsch at McGill University. cluding a link to the Cassini Mission home page, Venus - Ice on Venus? from the National Space Science Data Center. http://www.lhs.berkeley.edu/SII/SII-VenusIce/ Uranus venusice.l.homepage.html http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planets/ An online activity for grades 4-12, designed by uranuspage.htm1 Alan Gould at the University of California, Berkeley Uranus fact sheet and additional resources from Campus. the National Space Science Data Center. Moon - Clementine Mission Neptune http://www-phys.llnl.gov/clementinel http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planet~l Contains mission information and lunar images neptunepage-html processed at Lawrence Livermore National Labora- Neptune fact sheet and additional resources from tory. the National Space Science Data Center. Moon - Lunar Prospector Mission Pluto - Pluto-Kuiper Express http://lunar..arc.nasa.gov/ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pluto/contents.htm Detailed information on NASA's first moon mis- Mission mformation and educational materials drect sion in 25 years. Also includes data related to the re- from JPL. cent discovery of ice at the lunar poles. Moon - Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility ASTEROIDS, COMETS, AND METEORITES http://www-curator.jsc.nasa.gov/curator/lunar/ Kuiper Belt Objects tour/welcome.htm http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/faculty/jewitt/kb. Learn how rock samples from the moon are stored html and investigated. A nice site with interesting information and anima- tions of these enigmatic remnants from the early solar Mars - Center for Mars Exploration system. Maintained by David Jewitt at the University http://cmex-www.arc.nasa.gov/ of Hawaii. The Center for Mars Exploration page provides a variety of links related to Mars exploration of the Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazards past, present, and future. http://ccf.arc.nasa.gov/sstl The latest news on Near Earth Objects, with links Mars - The Whole Mars Catalog to images, animations, and further reading. http://www.reston.com/astro/mars/ Commercial site with links to everything one always Sky & Telescope's Online Comet Page wanted to know about Mars and more. http://www.skypub.com/comets/comets.html Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 46, 1998, p. 286 Exploring Geology on the World-Wide Web - Planetary Geology, Asteroids, Comets, and Meteorites From the editors of Sky & Telescope magazine, MISCELLANEOUS this site has references to articles about comets, as National Air & Space Museum well as a lengthy list of links to other sites. http://www.nasm.edu/GAl;LERIES/GG4L207/ Exploring Meteorite Mysteries ga1207.html http://www-curator.jsc.nasa.gov/outreachl/ Exploring the Planets online exhibit. ~xpmetmys/expmetmys.htm Hubble Space Telescope An excellent teacher's guide with background &or- http://oposite.stsci.edu/ mation and activities. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. Includes images as well as educational activities The Comet's Tale related to the Hubble Space Telescope. http://www.cea.berkeley .edulEducation/comod/ Astrobiology Web com.htm1 http://www.reston.com/astro/ One of the best interactive sites about comets on Glitzy commercial site edited by Keith Cowing, the web! Wonderful graphics and straightforward text. with interesting articles and discussions on plane- Designed by the Science Education Outreach team of tary geochemistry and the greater question of life in The Center for EUV Astrophysics at the University of the universe. California, Berkeley Campus. Extrasolar Planets Meteorites from Mars! http://www.physics.sfsu.edu/-grnarcyl http://www-sn.jsc.nasa.gov/planetscience/ planetsearch/planetsearch.html marsmet/text.htm Information from Geoff Marcy at San Francisco Provides a comprehensive look at meteorites from State University and the team of scientists search- Mars, including the controversy surrounding the ing for planets orbiting distant suns. Far out. bacteria-like structures contained within them. SUMMARY COURSE INFORMATION Planetary geology is a hot topic among scientists, Brown University and students are naturally interested in anything http://www.planetary.brown.edu/planetary/ extraterrestrial.