physics 3010

Mars diameter

53% of Earth's diameter.

Mars seasons

Twice as long as Earth's seasons.

Wind on Mars

Blows due to seasonal pressure differences.

Mariner 4

First spacecraft to photograph Mars in 1965.

Viking 1

First color images from Mars in 1976.

Mars rovers with airbags

Pathfinder, Spirit, and Opportunity.

Opportunity rover record

Longest drive: 28.06 miles.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Provides high-resolution images of Mars.

Opportunity's solar panels

Cleaned by dust devils and winds.

Phoenix lander

Landed closest to Mars's north pole.

Perseverance and Curiosity

Used sky cranes for landing.

Insight lander

Detected meteoroid impact creating a 490-foot crater.

Perseverance and Ingenuity

Perseverance's companion helicopter.

Mars Global Surveyor

Created a global topographical map of Mars.

Valles Marineris

Enormous canyon on Mars, larger than Grand Canyon.

Olympus Mons

Largest volcano in the Solar System.

Mars atmosphere color

Pink due to iron-rich dust and sunlight.

Mars moons

Phobos (largest, rises in the west), Deimos.

Mars magnetic field loss

Caused by cooling and solidifying core.

MAVEN mission

Shows Mars is losing its atmosphere.

Life evidence on Mars

Detected chemical changes unexplained by non-life.

Meteoroid

Small rock or particle in space.

Meteor

Meteoroid burning in Earth's atmosphere.

Meteorite

Meteoroid that lands on Earth.

Meteor size

Typically centimeters in diameter.

Meteor burn layer

Meteors burn up in the mesosphere.

Tunguska event

No crater; meteor exploded above surface.

DART mission

Changed Dimorphos's orbit to prevent impact.

Chicxulub crater

Impact site ending the reign of dinosaurs.

Jupiter

Largest and most massive planet in the solar system.

Jupiter's year

Takes 11.86 Earth years to orbit the Sun.

Saturn's year

Takes 29.5 Earth years to orbit the Sun.

Jupiter missions

10 missions including Pioneer and Voyager.

Escape velocity spacecraft

Voyager 1, 2; Pioneer 10, 11; New Horizons.

Galileo spacecraft

Enroute during comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact.

Juno findings

Jupiter has a fuzzy or gas core.

Coriolis effect

Caused by Jupiter's rapid rotation.

Jupiter's winds

Zonal winds create atmospheric vortices.

Great Red Spot discovery

Discovered in 1831.

Jupiter's magnetic field

Generated by metallic hydrogen.

Saturn's rings

Made of microscopic dust particles.

Saturn's density

Least dense planet in the solar system.

Saturn missions

Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, 2; Cassini, Huygens.

Saturn's cloud bands

Absence due to thicker atmosphere.

Saturn's rings thickness

Thinner than the distance to the Moon.

Saturn's rings edge-on

Next appearance in 2025.

Gaps in Saturn's rings

Caused by shepherd moons.

Roche limit

Crossing tears objects apart.

Uranus seasons

Extreme due to 98-degree tilt.

Uranus missions

Only Voyager 2 has visited.

Uranus color

Blue-green from methane gas.

Neptune discovery

First observed by Johann Galle in 1846.

Great Dark Spot

Not a permanent feature like Jupiter's.

Gas giants with rings

Jupiter and Saturn.

Ice giants with rings

Uranus and Neptune.

Farthest spacecraft

Voyager 1.

Pioneer 10 travel time

Over 2 million years to Alpha Centauri.

Voyager launch presidents

Carter, Reagan, Bush, Obama, Trump.

Galileo Galilei

First to discover moons other than Earth's.

Large moons count

7 large moons in the Solar System.

Medium moons count

13 medium moons in the Solar System.

Moons around Jupiter

95 moons discovered.

Moons around Saturn

274 moons discovered.

Moons around Uranus

28 moons discovered.

Moons around Neptune

16 moons discovered.

Captured asteroids

Identified by irregular shape and retrograde orbit.

Synchronous rotation

Common for regular moons.

Io

Most volcanically active moon due to tidal heating.

Europa

Smoothest known object in the Solar System.

Europa's ocean evidence

Surface fractures and magnetic field interactions.

Ganymede

Largest moon in the Solar System.

Ganymede's magnetic field

Only moon generating its own magnetic field.

Titan

Moon with a substantial atmosphere.

Cassini-Huygens mission

Explored Titan with a probe.

Titan's liquids

Contains methane and ethane lakes, rivers, seas.

Titan's surface rocks

Made of water ice.

Triton

Only large irregular moon.

Rhea

Only moon with a ring.

Iapetus

Two-faced moon with color variation.

Tethys moons

Telesto and Calypso at L4 & L5.

Enceladus

Smallest known geologically active moon.

Enceladus life candidate

Prime candidate for extraterrestrial life.

Iapetus topography

Greatest variation in topography in the Solar System.

Mimas

Called the Death Star Moon.

Mimas temperature map

Gave it the nickname Pac Man Moon.

Phobos

Smallest and reddest Solar System object.

Janus and Epimetheus

Co-orbital moons trading locations every four years.

Hyperion

Only regular moon not tidally locked.

Io shock

Gave Voyager 1 a 200 V shock.

Ravioli moons

Pan, Atlas, and Pandora with strange shapes.

Moon orbits

Ariel, Callisto, Dione, Enceladus, Europa, Ganymede, Io, Oberon, Proteus, Titan, Triton.