The document provides an overview of Earth's atmosphere and how it protects the planet, as well as examples of meteor impacts on Earth and their effects. It then discusses observations of other planets like Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and beyond, noting features of their atmospheres, moons, and other characteristics. The document concludes by mentioning the Kuiper Belt and discovery of thousands of small bodies orbiting beyond Neptune's orbit.

3. Earth

4. Atmosphere … Gives us the air we breathe

5. Protects us from meteorites and harmful cosmic radiation

6. Blanket covering the Earth from heat at day and cold at night

8. Bye-bye, Earth!

9. Hi Mercury!

10. Mariner 10: images of Mercury

11. 4.6 billion years ago: Heavy Bombardment

12. Barringer crater, Arizona 49,000 yr old Iron meteorite of size 50 m, mass 300,000 ton Impact velocity 11 km/sec Our Earth is a target, too!

13. 150 known impact sites on Earth Diameters from 50-70 m to 200 km

14. 65 million years ago a huge meteorite of 10 km size hit the Earth

18. Our Moon could have been formed in a giant collision 4.5 billion years ago

20. The Peekskill meteorite October 9, 1992 12 kg stony meteorite hit the Earth

21. Venus the Beautiful

22. Venus - the brightest "star" The goddess of beauty

24. Venus and Earth - sister planets?

26. Flight over Venus

27. Fig. 17-3a, p.349 Greenhouse for trapping heat Runaway greenhouse effect

28. Atmosphere lets the visible sunlight in, but traps infrared radiation and prevents rapid cooling of the surface at nights

31. "It will be possible to see cities on Mars, to detect navies in [its] harbors, and the smoke of great manufacturing cities and towns... Is Mars inhabited? There can be little doubt of it ... conditions are all favorable for life, and life, too, of a high order. Is it possible to know this of a certainty? Certainly." Samuel Leland 1895 Seasons on Mars? Channels for irrigation ???

32. Sorry, no channels – just dry canyons, lava flows and dusty deserts …

34. Dry riverbeds, traces of flooding

35. No water, just dry desert …

36. Salty rocks on Mars: former sea bottom

38. Journey to outer planets 8 billion miles through space!

39. Giant planets

40. Jupiter – the biggest planet

41. The Red Spot

43. Io Europa Ganymede Callisto Total 61 moons discovered so far Most are captured small asteroids Galilean moons:

45. Europa – a giant skating rink

47. Io – giant volcanoes

50. Saturn – second largest planet So fluffy – it could float in water

51. Enormous winds: 1800 km/hr !! The Great White Spot: huge storm

52. Thickness: less than 1 km Extend from 74,000 to 137,000 km Discovered by Huygens in 1659 Saturn rings

54. Flying through the rings

55. Titan, the mysterious moon of Saturn

57. Uranus

58. What happened to Miranda?

59. Neptune

60. Triton

62. Pluto and Charon

65. The Kuiper Belt – home for short-period comets?? Starting in 1992, astronomers have become aware of a vast population of small bodies orbiting the sun beyond Neptune. There are at least 70,000 "trans-Neptunians" with diameters larger than 100 km in the radial zone extending outwards from the orbit of Neptune (at 30 AU) to 50 AU.