Earth Introduction
Earth Introduction
Earth Introduction
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Earth Introduction
My view of our planet was a glimpse of divinity.
-Edgar Mitchell, USA
Table of Contents From the perspective we get on Earth, our planet appears to be big and
sturdy with an endless ocean of air. From space, astronauts often get the
Earth Introduction
Earth Statistics impression that the Earth is small with a thin, fragile layer of
Earth Movies atmosphere. For a space traveler, the distinguishing Earth features are
Views of the Earth the blue waters, brown and green land masses and white clouds set
against a black background.
Earth's Moon
Many dream of traveling in space and viewing the wonders of the
The Moon
universe. In reality all of us are space travelers. Our spaceship is the
planet Earth, traveling at the speed of 108,000 kilometers (67,000 miles)
Earth Science an hour.
Earth's Interior & Plate
Tectonics Earth is the 3rd planet from the Sun at a distance of about 150 million
African Desert Rift Confirmed kilometers (93.2 million miles). It takes 365.256 days for the Earth to
as New Ocean in the Making travel around the Sun and 23.9345 hours for the Earth rotate a complete revolution. It has a diameter of 12,756
Earth From Space
Clouds From Space
kilometers (7,973 miles), only a few hundred kilometers larger than that of Venus. Our atmosphere is composed of 78
Terrestrial Impact Craters percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen and 1 percent other constituents.
Terrestrial Impact Crater
Structures Earth is the only planet in the solar system known to harbor life. Our planet's rapid spin and molten nickel-iron core
Chain of Impact Craters give rise to an extensive magnetic field, which, along with the atmosphere, shields us from nearly all of the harmful
Educator's Guide to Impact radiation coming from the Sun and other stars. Earth's atmosphere protects us from meteors, most of which burn up
Craters before they can strike the surface.
Terrestrial Volcanoes
Hawaiian Volcanoes
Hawaiian Volcanic Rocks
From our journeys into space, we have learned much about our home planet. The first American satellite, Explorer 1,
Valles Caldera, New Mexico discovered an intense radiation zone, now called the Van Allen radiation belts. This layer is formed from rapidly
Shrinking of Greenland's moving charged particles that are trapped by the Earth's magnetic field in a doughnut-shaped region surrounding the
Glaciers equator. Other findings from satellites show that our planet's magnetic field is distorted into a tear-drop shape by the
IMAGE Spacecraft solar wind. We also now know that our wispy upper atmosphere, once believed calm and uneventful, seethes with
Auroral Emmisions activity -- swelling by day and contracting by night. Affected by changes in solar activity, the upper atmosphere
Planetary Icosahedrons
Earth Image/Animation Gallery
contributes to weather and climate on Earth.
Besides affecting Earth's weather, solar activity gives rise to a dramatic visual phenomenon in our atmosphere. When
Internet Resources
charged particles from the solar wind become trapped in Earth's magnetic field, they collide with air molecules above
Earth From Space our planet's magnetic poles. These air molecules then begin to glow and are known as the auroras or the northern and
Earth Viewer southern lights.
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Earth 3D Map Earth Statistics
Live Satellite Earth Mass (kg) 5.976e+24
Earth
Earth Street View Mass (Earth = 1) 1.0000e+00
Population of the Earth
Equatorial radius (km) 6,378.14
Equatorial radius (Earth = 1) 1.0000e+00
Mean density (gm/cm^3) 5.515
Mean distance from the Sun (km) 149,600,000
Mean distance from the Sun (Earth = 1) 1.0000
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Animations of Earth
Views of Earth
The following set of images show some of the wonders of our planet, the Earth.
The brightest areas of the Earth are the most urbanized, but not necessarily the most populated. Cities tend to grow along
coastlines and transportation networks. Even without the underlying map, the outlines of the continents are still be visible.
The United States interstate highway system appears as a lattice connecting the brighter dots of city centers. (Copyright
Calvin J. Hamilton)
Africa
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The crew of Apollo 17 took this photograph of Earth in December 1972 while the spacecraft was traveling between the
Earth and the Moon. The orange-red deserts of Africa and Saudi Arabia stand in stark contrast to the deep blue of the
oceans and the white of both clouds and snow-covered Antarctica. (Courtesy NASA)
Antarctica
This image of Antarctica was taken by Galileo several hours after it flew close to the Earth on December 8, 1990. This is
the first picture of the whole Antarctic continent taken nearly at once from space. Galileo was about 200,000 kilometers
(125,000 miles) from Earth when the pictures were taken.
The icy continent is surrounded by the dark blue of three oceans: the Pacific to the left, the Indian to the bottom, and a
piece of the Atlantic to the upper right. Nearly the entire continent was sunlit at this time of year, just two weeks before
southern summer solstice. The arc of dark spots extending from near the South Pole (close to the center) toward the lower
left is the Transantarctic Mountain Range. To the left of the mountains is the vast Ross Ice Shelf and the shelf's sharp border with the dark waters of
the Ross Sea. The thin blue line along the Earth's limb marks our planet's atmosphere. (Courtesy NASA/JPL)
Clementine Mission
This false-colored image was acquired during the Clementine mission. It shows airglow of the upper atmosphere as a thin
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blue line. The bright spot toward the bottom is an urban area. (Courtesy Naval Research Laboratory)
USA
This image is a mosaic of the United States prepared by using 16 images from the Advanced Very High Resolution
Radiometer (AVHRR) sensors on the meteorological satellites NOAA-8 and NOAA-9. The images were acquired between
May 24, 1984 and May 14, 1986.
On false-color infrared mosaics, vegetation appears in various tones of red instead of green. The "redness" indicates
vegetation density, type and whether growing on dry land or in a swamp (a mixture of reddish vegetation and dark blue surface water produces dark
tones). Grasslands appear light red, deciduous trees and croplands appear red, and coniferous forests appear dark red or maroon. Desert areas appear
white and urban areas (pavement and buildings) appear bluish green. Lakes, rivers and oceans appear in various shades of blue, dark blue for deep
water and light blue for shallow or turbid water. Exposed bedrock generally appears as a dark bluish-green or other dark tone. (Courtesy USGS)
Views of the Solar System Copyright © 1995-2009 by Calvin J. Hamilton. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement.
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