ASTR 170B2 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Earth Radius, Shield Volcano, Orbital Period
18 Oct 2018
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Astr ptys 170b2 - lecture 14 - a solar system perspective: rocky planets. Distance from sun: . 7 au, orbital period 0. 6 year, radius 0. 95 r(compared to earth) There have been a lot of spacecraft missions have been made to venus. Its orbit is very close to a circle, and from the north pole it spins opposite to earth (clockwise, while earth spins counterclockwise) Bulk density: 5240 kg/m3, we do not see the surface because of its thick atmosphere. The surface temp is hot, up to 740k, or hot enough to melt lead (landers survived up to. Surface is significantly younger than mercury, made of dark basaltic rocks. Radar was used to map almost all of venus" surface. About 1000 craters, few with diameters less than 30 km, none less than 5 km, random distribution. Small asteroids are stopped by the atmosphere, so only bigger ones make it through to make impact.
