Astrogeology studies the geology of other bodies in the solar system, including planets, moons, comets, and asteroids. Each body has specific names for its study, and astrogeology includes the study of geological features such as frozen ice on Mercury, basaltic lava on Venus, and Olympus Mons on Mars. The field has great growth potential as scientists continue to explore the astral bodies around us.
Astrogeology is like Earth sciences, but for other bodies in our solar system. The field is sometimes called planetary geology, exogeology, or xenogeology. There is far less data available for scientific study of other planets than Earth, but that doesn’t stop scientists from trying to make inferences about them.
The field of astrogeology has specific names for the study of every body in the solar system: Heliology for the study of the Sun, hermeology for Mercury, cyterology for Venus, selenology for the Moon, areology for Mars, zenology for Jupiter, chronology for Saturn, uranology for Uranus, poseidology for Neptune and edeology for Pluto. Astrogeology also includes the study of comets and asteroids. The creation of the field is usually credited to Eugene Shoemaker, a prominent astronomer and geologist. Some astrogeology studies receive funding from the US Geological Survey and space-related groups such as NASA. The Astrogeology Research Program was founded in 1961 as a subgroup of the US Geological Survey, with Eugene Shoemaker as its first director.
Every body in the solar system has scientifically interesting geological features that have been discovered over the years through telescope observation and data returned by space probes. For example, pockets of frozen ice have been discovered on permanently shadowed craters on the extremely hot planet of Mercury. Mercury’s core underwent a phase of rapid cooling billions of years ago, causing the crust to ripple. These wrinkles are called scarps. Because of its proximity to the Sun, Mercury has the largest tidal bulges, physical distortions caused by the Sun, of all the planets in the solar system.
XNUMX% of the surface of Venus is covered in basaltic lava, testifying to its heavy volcanic past. The planet possesses two plateaus, similar to continents, with mountains taller than Mt. Everest.
Mars, one of the planets that most consumes the public imagination, is given its characteristic red color by the abundance of iron oxide on its surface. Olympus Mons, at 27 km (16.8 miles) high, is the tallest known mountain in the entire solar system. Mars is known to have once had water on its surface, showing a number of channels and large frozen ice caps.
The previous three paragraphs are only a small slice of the sum of astrogeological knowledge that our scientists are aware of. Scientists continue to discover more geological features on each planet all the time, and the field has great growth ahead of it as we continue to explore the astral bodies immediately around us. Astrogeology can be seen as the mother science of Earth sciences.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
