1 Terms
Home > Industry/Domain > Astronomy > Planetary science
Planetary science
The scientific study of planets including Earth, moons, and planetary systems of the Solar System in particular and the processes that form them.
Industry: Astronomy
Add a new termContributors in Planetary science
Planetary science
Clementine
Astronomy; Planetary science
A global mapping mission to the Moon launched in 1994 by the U. S. Department of Defense, with science support from NASA.
Copernican
Astronomy; Planetary science
The geologic history of Earth's Moon has been divided into five broad time periods, or systems. From oldest to youngest, these are pre-Nectarian, Nectarian, Imbrian, Eratosthenian, and Copernican. ...
Ceres
Astronomy; Planetary science
The largest of the known asteroids; a dwarf planet. Also called 1 Ceres because it was the first asteroid to be discovered (by Piazzi in 1801).
chassignites
Astronomy; Planetary science
One of three types of meteorites from Mars (the SNC meteorites). Chassignites are dunites, a rock composed almost entirely of the mineral olivine. The signature stone, Chassigny, fell in France in ...
Yarkovsky effect
Astronomy; Planetary science
An explanation for the shift in an asteroid's orbit around the Sun due to a thermal thrust caused by the body's uneven heating by sunlight. The illuminated side of an asteroid absorbs the sunlight ...
Widmanstätten pattern
Astronomy; Planetary science
A pattern found in iron meteorites due to a change in crystal structure of iron-nickel metal grains during cooling. This structural change produces a pattern of crystallographically oriented kamacite ...
Viking
Astronomy; Planetary science
U. S. Mission to Mars, composed of two spacecraft, launched in 1975. Viking 1 and Viking 2 both consisted of an orbiter and a lander. Primary mission objectives were to obtain high resolution images ...
