Coulter

Features on the moon’s surface include Maria, craters, and highlands. The moon’s surface

Dark flat spaces on the moon, Galileo called MARIA (Latin for seas). Galileo thought they were oceans (incorrect). The Maria are hardened rock formed from huge lava flows that occurred between 3 and 4 billion years ago. Maria

Galileo saw the surface was marked by large round pits (craters) For a long time scientists thought these craters were made by volcanoes, but now know that they are caused by Meteoroids (chunks of rock or dust from space). The Maria have few craters indicating that most of them were caused early in the moon’s history, before the Maria formed. Craters

Galileo got one right!!! Inferred that some of the light-colored features he was on the moon’s surface were highlands (mountains). The highlands cast shadows which Galileo could see. Highlands

The moon is dry and airless. Compared to Earth, the moon is small and has large variations in its surface temperature. Temperature: 130C to -180C. Temperatures vary so much because there is no atmosphere. Moon’s gravity is so week gases could escape. Characteristics of the moon

No liquid water, but evidence of large patches of ice near the poles. Moon H2O?

Scientist theorize that a planet-sized object collided with earth to form the moon. Check out the movie “the right stuff” for information on our journey to the moon. Origin of the moon

Comets are loos collections of ice, dust, and small rocky particles whose orbits are usually very long, narrow ellipses. Comets

A comet head: when a comet gets close to the sun it turns the ice into gas. Clouds of dust form an outer layer called a coma. Comet’s tail: as it gets closer to the sun and heats up, some of its gas and dust stream outward, forming a tail. Origin of comets: most comets found in one of two places; Kuiper belt and Oort cloud. kuiper belt is a doughnut-shaped region that extends beyond Neptune’s orbit. Oort cloud is a spherical region of comets that surrounds the solar system Comets (long-haired star)

Most asteroids revolve around the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. This region is called the asteroid belt. Scientists have found more than 100,000 asteroids. Most are small (about 1km) At one point science thought that the this belt was the remains of a planet, but later found that the combined mass was to small to support this idea. Asteroids

A meteoroid is a chunk of rock or dust in space. Comes from comets or asteroids. Some come from asteroids collide, others form when comets break down. Meteoroid enter Earth’s atmosphere, friction with the air creates heat and produces a streak of light; meteor If a meteoroid is large enough it may not burn up completely. These will hit Earth’s surface and are then called meteorites. Meteors