Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: Of all the planets and moons in the solar system, Mars seems to be the most promising place to look for life, both fossil microbes and (we hope) some forms of life deeper underground that still survive today. But where (and how) should we…

Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: Mars is more interesting to most people than Venus because it is more hospitable. Even from the distance of Earth, we can see surface features on Mars and follow the seasonal changes in its polar caps (Figure 10.13). Although the surface today is…

Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: The thick atmosphere of Venus produces the high surface temperature and shrouds the surface in a perpetual red twilight. Sunlight does not penetrate directly through the heavy clouds, but the surface is fairly well lit by diffuse light (about the same as the light…

Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: Since Venus has about the same size and composition as Earth, we might expect its geology to be similar. This is partly true, but Venus does not exhibit the same kind of plate tectonics as Earth, and we will see that its lack of erosion results…

Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: As you might expect from close neighbors, Mars and Venus are among the brightest objects in the night sky. The average distance of Mars from the Sun is 227 million kilometers (1.52 AU), or about half again as far from the Sun…

The Moon and Mercury are geologically dead. In contrast, the larger terrestrial planets—Earth, Venus, and Mars—are more active and interesting worlds. We have already discussed Earth, and we now turn to Venus and Mars. These are the nearest planets and the most accessible to spacecraft. Not surprisingly, the greatest effort in planetary exploration has been…