Discussion VI - Surface of the Planets and Moons

1.- You can now explore the surface of the Moon, Mars, Venus, Mercury and more thanks to Google Maps Gallery!

For example, here is the map of Mars:



this is the map of the Moon:



and this is the map of Io, moon of Jupiter:



you can find more maps here: http://maps.google.com/gallery/search?cat=space&hl=en

2.- Some Mars surface features that I would like to highlight:

1) I found a crater/smiley face on Mars!

2) Valles Marineris: a system of canyons that is 4,000 km long

3) Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system (3 times higher than Mount Everest!)

4) Craters

3.- The lunar maria and the formation of Mare Humorum

Image taken from the book: The Essential Cosmic Perspective.

4.- Bonus:

Cosmos Trailer

You can watch the full episodes here: http://www.cosmosontv.com/

Lunar Eclipse

You can observe the curved shadow of the Earth on the Moon

Scales and Angular Measurement

Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/scale.html

Moon and Mercury Comparison

source: http://earthandsolarsystem.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/looking-forward-to-the-bepicolumbo-mission-to-mercury/

This is me on June 6, 2012 observing clouds
(and behind those clouds...the transit of Venus!)

Now, I just need to wait until December 2125!