What is microlensing and what did it discover?
It involves using gravity bending light around large objects to see faraway objects and was used to discover a planet
Where do we typically use microlensing?
Baade’s window
What is unique about the planet discovered through microlensing?
It is circumbinary (going around a binary star system)
What are the lunar maria?
Smooth, dark areas (created by early volcanism)
Why are there ridges on the moon?
Lava contracting, not tectonics!
What terrain does mercury have?
Some smooth areas punctuated with craters
What is the largest impact crater on Mercury?
Caloris Basin
What was the first man-made device to enter the atmosphere of another planet?
Venera (entered venus)
How do we see through Venus’s clouds?
Radar mapping (bright areas = rugged landscape)
What are Venus’s coronae?
Rising magma pushing through and breaking crust
What are Venus’s major topographical structures?
Volcanoes (dormant), impact craters, extensive tectonic movement
Why does lava flow so far on Venus?
The surface is very hot
Does venus have plate tectonics?
No actual plates, but the surface appears to have been drastically reshaped years ago; the Lithosphere resists change due to lack of water
What is the Gutenberg low-velocity zone?
Area just beneath lithosphere where there is a drastic seismic change
What is the astenosphere?
A moldable layer right below the lithosphere, which allows the plates to slide around on top
Who first suggested continental drift?
Wegener
What is the explanation for continental drift?
Sea-floor spreading
What is subduction?
Where one plate slides underneath another
What causes lava?
The friction of subduction
How do we know earth’s magnetic field reverses every thousand or so years?
Geomagnetic reversals are recorded in the sea-floor spreading
Who first discovered canals on mars?
Schiaperelli
Who first thought earth and mars were similar?
Herschel
How first interpreted the martian landscape as having life?
Lowell
What are two mars missions?
Spirit & Opportunity, Curiosity
Which hemisphere of Mars has fewer volcanoes and more cratering?
The southern hemisphere
What is a large crater on mars?
Hellas Basin
What is the largest volcano in the solar system?
Olympus Mons on Mars
How did martian rock get to earth?
An impact
What is the Tharsis bulge?
A large martian volcanic feature
What is the evidence of tectonic activity on mars?
Valles Marineris on Mars
How do we know Mars had water?
Found in soil by Curiosity, seen in polar ice caps, riverbeds, erosion of craters by water, “Muddy” craters