Venus and Mercury uwgb金星和水星位于绿色海湾的威斯康星大学.pptVIP

Mercury’s ice seems to be hiding in polar craters We’re B-a-a-ck “Spider” Crater Caloris Basin Volcano on Mercury Venus and Mercury The Inner Planets Venus Only a bit smaller than Earth Nearest planet (26 million miles) Shows phases as it orbits the Sun Most circular orbit Atmosphere mostly Carbon Dioxide 90 times as dense as Earth Runaway Greenhouse Effect Surface Temperature 450 C (850 F) Venus’ Odd Rotation Venus Rotates in 243 days relative to the stars Longer than its year (225 days) Solar Day = 117 days You can jog as fast as Venus rotates Opposite to all other planets’ rotation (retrograde) Why? Mega-Impact? Tidal Effects? Possible tidal lock on Earth? Venus from Pioneer Venus Orbiter Polar View of Venus Topography of Venus Earth Elevations Radar Map of Venus Radar Map of Venus Surface of Venus Venus has Craters Venus is Volcanic “Pancake” Volcanoes Channel on Venus Coronas How Coronas Form? Venus Differs from Earth in One Important Way: Venus has no Plate Tectonics Earth’s internal heat causes hot material to rise within Earth and plates to move Venus’ crust is too rigid Heat builds up and escapes in planet-wide volcanic activity Last event about 600 million years ago Why Venus Has No Plate Tectonics It’s Hot! We’d expect hot rocks to be less rigid, not more! But it’s also dry! Dry rocks are ten times stronger at high temperatures than wet rocks. Earth is wet. That affects not just the outside, but the inside as well. Did Venus Once Have Oceans? Resurfacing means no visible trace of early history Deuterium: Ghost of a Vanished Ocean? Deuterium is hydrogen with one neutron Twice as heavy as normal hydrogen Less likely to escape D/H on Venus 100x that of Earth Photodissociation + Stripping Venus lacks magnetic field Venus and the Da Vinci Code 13 Venus years = 13 x 224.7 = 2921.1 days 8 Earth Years = 8 x 365.25 = 2922 days 5 Synodic periods of Earth and Venus = 5 x 583.9 = 2919.5 days 1/5 of a circle = 72 degrees In 583.9 days, Earth moves 360 + 215.5 degr