Our Solar System

The Solar System is defined as all objects that are gravitationally bound to the Sun. These include:

• Planets
• Moons
• Asteroids
• Comets

In this class we will not focus very much on planetary orbits but instead will focus on the surface geology and evolutionary history of various bodies in the Solar System.

Over the last 20 years, there have been numerous NASA mission to various objects. A large amount of imagery from these missions is now available via the Internet and we will make extensive use of that resource in this course.

Example Internet Sites:

• Welcome to the Planets
• Clementine Lunar Image Broswer
• Imaging Directory of Planetary Surfaces
• Magellan Mission to Venus
• Center for Mars Exploration
• Jupiter-Comet Collision
• Voyager Mission to the Outer Planets

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