Planetary science

the Sun, its planets and their moons

thumb|upright=1.5|The eight planets of the Solar System with size to scale (up to down, left to right): [[Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune (outer planets), Earth, Venus, Mars, and Mercury (inner planets)]] A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets by the most restrictive definition of the term: the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, and the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The best available theory of plane

thumb|upright=1.5|The atmospheric gases around Earth Rayleigh scattering|scatter blue light (shorter wavelengths) more than light toward the red end (longer wavelengths) of the [[visible spectrum; thus, a blue glow over the horizon is seen when observing Earth from outer space. The Moon is visible in the background.]]

fields of science dealing with planet Earth and its nearby planets in space

An aurora ( aurorae or auroras) is a natural light display in Earth’s upper atmosphere caused by charged particles from the Sun colliding with atoms in the atmosphere. These collisions excite oxygen and nitrogen, which then emit light of different colors such as green, red, and purple. When observed in high-latitude regions they are called polar lights and aurora polaris. In the Arctic they are called northern lights (aurora borealis); in the Antarctic, the terms southern lights (aurora australis) are used. Auroras display dynamic patterns of radiant light that appear as curtains, rays, spiral

thumb|upright=1.4|Badlands incised into [[shale at the foot of the North Caineville Plateau, Utah, within the pass carved by the Fremont River and known as the Blue Gate. G. K. Gilbert studied the landscapes of this area in great detail, forming the observational foundation for many of his studies on geomorphology.]] thumb|Surface of Earth, showing higher elevations in red

science of planets and other astronomical objects apparently in orbit around one or more stellar objects

thumb|300 px|Artist's impression of a magnetosphere

angle between the rotational axis and orbital axis of a body

dust floating in space

overview of formation and evolution of the Solar System

unit of mass equal to that of Earth

estimated temperature of an astronomical body

collision of two astronomical objects with measurable effects

{| class="wikitable floatright" style="font-size: 0.9em; width: 320px;" |+ Minor planets discovered: 169,873 |- | see :Category:Discoveries by the Spacewatch project |}

An achondrite is a stony meteorite that does not contain chondrules. It consists of material similar to terrestrial basalts or plutonic rocks and has been differentiated and reprocessed to a lesser or greater degree due to melting and recrystallization on or within meteorite parent bodies. As a result, achondrites have distinct textures and mineralogies indicative of igneous processes.

mass of planet Jupiter, used as unit of mass

graph of light intensity of a celestial object or region, as a function of time

mean distance from the Earth's center to its surface

thumb|Meteorites are often studied as part of cosmochemistry.

formation of distinct layers in a planet

branch of space physics concerned with conditions in the Solar System

astrophysics concept

history and evolution of the term planet

boundary between a magnetosphere and an ambient magnetized medium, for example when the solar wind encounters the magnetic field of Earth

cavity created in the solar wind by the planet's magnetic field

3D model of land elevation and features; for specific DSM or DTM use specific wikidata IDs

group of achondrites

cosmic dust in the space between the planets of the solar system

Proposed scale on how similar a Planetary-mass object or natural satellite is to earth

A micrometeorite is a micrometeoroid that has survived entry through the Earth's atmosphere. Usually found on Earth's surface, micrometeorites differ from meteorites in that they are smaller in size, more abundant, and different in composition. The IAU officially defines meteoroids as 30 micrometers to 1 meter; micrometeorites are the small end of the range (~submillimeter). They are a subset of cosmic dust, which also includes the smaller interplanetary dust particles (IDPs).

criterion for a celestial body to be considered a planet

Diogenites are a group of the HED meteorite clan, a type of achondritic stony meteorites.

type of weathering

thumb|250px|Micrometeorite, collected from the Antarctic snow, was a micrometeoroid before it entered the Earth's atmosphere A micrometeoroid is a tiny meteoroid: a small particle of rock in space, usually weighing less than a gram. A micrometeorite is such a particle that survives passage through Earth's atmosphere and reaches Earth's surface.

thumb|Jupiter's moon Valetudo (moon)|Valetudo was discovered in 2016, but a number of precovery images have been identified since, including this one taken on 28 February 2003 by the [[Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope, in which Valetudo's position is marked by the two orange bars.]]

thumb|Illustration of the shadow zone of a P-wave for Earth. [[S-waves don't penetrate the outer core]] A marsquake is a quake which, much like an earthquake, is a shaking of the surface or interior of the planet Mars. Such quakes may occur with a shift in the planet's interior, such as the result of plate tectonics, from which most quakes on Earth originate, or possibly from hotspots such as Olympus Mons or the Tharsis Montes. The detection and analysis of marsquakes are informative to probing the interior structure of Mars, as well as potentially identifying whether any of Mars's many volcan

thermal effect of tidal deformation

thumb|Mt. St Helens eruption plume on 22 July 1980, showing ejecta in the form of pyroclastic material (ash)

unit of radius equal to the total radius of the planet Jupiter

area which shows a contrast in albedo with adjacent areas

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nonprofit organization

Enhanced ionization of the ionosphere

spectroscopic phenomenon observed when either an eclipsing binary's secondary star or an extrasolar planet is seen to transit across the face of the primary or parent star.

Extraterrestrial view of outer space

theoretical temperatures

thumb|A STEVE over Little Bow Resort, [[Alberta, in August 2015]] thumb|A STEVE over Crossfield, Alberta, in March 2018 (around 12:30 a.m.)

stony meteorite

integrated field of astronomical science

reference plane about whose axis the instantaneous orbital plane of a satellite precesses

surface shaking on interstellar bodies in general

Howardites are achondritic stony meteorites that originate from the surface of the asteroid 4 Vesta, and as such are part of the HED meteorite clan. There are about 200 distinct members known.

The magnetosheath is the region of space between the magnetopause and the bow shock of a planet's magnetosphere. The regularly organized magnetic field generated by the planet becomes weak and irregular in the magnetosheath due to interaction with the incoming solar wind, and is incapable of fully deflecting the highly charged particles. The density of the particles in this region is considerably lower than what is found beyond the bow shock, but greater than within the magnetopause, and can be considered a transitory state.

stellar region without exoplanets

hypothesised glow in Venus's light

Eucrites are achondritic stony meteorites, many of which originate from the surface of the asteroid 4 Vesta and are part of the HED meteorite clan. They are the most common achondrite group with over 100 meteorites found.

hypothesis that multicellular life, understood as a superorganism, is suicidal, and that microbial-triggered mass extinctions are attempts to return the Earth to a microbial-dominated state

aspect of history

aspect of history