mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ 
For complete access to all the files of this collection
	see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php 
==========================================================
[1][LINK] 

[2]Home [3]Table of Contents [4]What's New [5]Image Index [6]Copyright
[7]Puzzles [8]Shopping [9]Search 

[10]Earth 

_Earth Introduction_

_My view of our planet was a glimpse of divinity.
-Edgar Mitchell, USA_

Table of Contents
Earth Introduction[11]Earth Statistics
[12]Earth Movies
[13]Views of the Earth

Earth's Moon
[14]The Moon
Earth Science
[15]Earth's Interior & Plate Tectonics[16]Earth From Space[17]Clouds
From Space[18]Terrestrial Impact Craters[19]Terrestrial Impact Crater
Structures[20]Chain of Impact Craters[21]Educator's Guide to Impact
Craters[22]Terrestrial Volcanoes[23]Hawaiian Volcanoes[24]Valles
Caldera, New Mexico[25]Shrinking of Greenland's Glaciers[26]IMAGE
Spacecraft[27]Auroral Emmisions[28]Planetary Icosahedrons[29]Earth
Image/Animation Gallery
Internet Resources
[30]Earth From Space[31]Earth Viewer

[32][LINK] 

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 impression that the Earth is small with a thin, fragile layer of
atmosphere. For a space traveler, the distinguishing Earth features
are the blue waters, brown and green land masses and white clouds set
against a black background.

Many dream of traveling in space and viewing the wonders of the
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) an hour.

Earth is the 3rd planet from the Sun at a distance of about 150
million kilometers (93.2 million miles). It takes 365.256 days for the
Earth to travel around the Sun and 23.9345 hours for the Earth rotate
a complete revolution. It has a diameter of 12,756 kilometers (7,973
miles), only a few hundred kilometers larger than that of Venus. Our
atmosphere is composed of 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen and 1
percent other constituents.

Earth is the only planet in the solar system known to harbor life. Our
planet's rapid spin and molten nickel-iron core give rise to an
extensive magnetic field, which, along with the atmosphere, shields us
from nearly all of the harmful radiation coming from the Sun and other
stars. Earth's atmosphere protects us from meteors, most of which burn
up before they can strike the surface.

From our journeys into space, we have learned much about our home
planet. The first American satellite, Explorer 1, discovered an
intense radiation zone, now called the Van Allen radiation belts. This
layer is formed from rapidly moving charged particles that are trapped
by the Earth's magnetic field in a doughnut-shaped region surrounding
the equator. Other findings from satellites show that our planet's
magnetic field is distorted into a tear-drop shape by the [33]solar
wind. We also now know that our wispy upper atmosphere, once believed
calm and uneventful, seethes with activity -- swelling by day and
contracting by night. Affected by changes in solar activity, the upper
atmosphere 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 charged particles
from the solar wind become trapped in Earth's magnetic field, they
collide with air molecules above our planet's magnetic poles. These
air molecules then begin to glow and are known as the [34]auroras or
the [35]northern and southern lights.

Earth Statistics
Mass (kg) 5.976e+24
Mass (Earth = 1) 1.0000e+00
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
Rotational period (days) 0.99727
Rotational period (hours) 23.9345
Orbital period (days) 365.256
Mean orbital velocity (km/sec) 29.79
Orbital eccentricity 0.0167
Tilt of axis (degrees) 23.45
Orbital inclination (degrees) 0.000
Equatorial escape velocity (km/sec) 11.18
Equatorial surface gravity (m/sec^2) 9.78
Visual geometric albedo 0.37
Mean surface temperature 15°C
Atmospheric pressure (bars) 1.013
Atmospheric composition
Nitrogen
Oxygen
Other
77%
21%
2%

Animations of Earth

* [36]Rotation Earth Movie.
* [37]Earth Topography Animation.
* [38]Aurora Video.
* [39]Earth/Venus Rotation Movie.
* [40]Galileo Earth Encounter.
* [41]Earth: The Movie - Animation of Clouds & Flight.
* [42]Earth: The Movie - Animation of Clouds.

Views of Earth

The following set of images show some of the wonders of our planet,
_the Earth_.

[43]Earth [44]South America
This color image of the Earth was obtained by [45]Galileo at about
6:10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on Dec. 11, 1990, when the spacecraft
was about 1.3 million miles from the planet. Galileo was making the
first of two Earth flybys on its way to Jupiter. South America is near
the center of the picture, and the white, sunlit continent of
Antarctica is below. Picturesque weather fronts are visible in the
South Atlantic, lower right. _(Courtesy NASA/USGS)_
[46]Africa [47]Africa
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)_
[48]Earth and Moon [49]Mariner 10's View of the Earth & Moon
The Earth and Moon were imaged by [50]Mariner 10 from 2.6 million
kilometers while completing the first ever Earth-Moon encounter by a
spacecraft capable of returning high resolution digital color image
data. These images have been combined below to illustrate the relative
sizes of the two bodies. From this particular viewpoint the Earth
appears to be a water planet! _(Courtesy NASA/JPL/Northwestern
University)_
[51]Earth and Moon [52]The Earth & Moon
During its flight, the Galileo spacecraft returned images of the Earth
and Moon. Separate images of the Earth and Moon were combined to
generate this view. The Galileo spacecraft took the images in 1992 on
its way to explore the Jupiter system in 1995-97. The image shows a
partial view of the Earth centered on the Pacific Ocean about latitude
20 degrees south. The west coast of South America can be observed as
well as the Caribbean; swirling white cloud patterns indicate storms
in the southeast Pacific. The distinct bright ray crater at the bottom
of the Moon is the Tycho impact basin. The lunar dark areas are lava
rock filled impact basins. This picture contains same scale and
relative color/albedo images of the Earth and Moon. _(Courtesy
USGS/NASA)_
[53]Northeast Africa and the Arabian Peninsula [54]Northeast Africa
and the Arabian Peninsula
This image of northeast Africa and the Arabian Peninsula was taken
from an altitude of about 500,000 kilometers (300,000 miles) by the
Galileo spacecraft on December 9, 1992, as it left Earth en route to
Jupiter. Visible are most of Egypt (left of center), including the
Nile Valley; the Red Sea (slightly above center); Israel; Jordan, and
the Arabian Peninsula. In the center, below the coastal cloud, is
Khartoum, at the confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile.
Somalia (lower right) is partly covered by clouds. _(Courtesy
NASA/JPL)_
[55]Horn of Africa [56]Horn of Africa, Somalia
The orange and tan colors of this high-oblique photograph of the Horn
of Africa indicate an arid-to-semiarid landscape in the northern half
of the east African country of Somalia. Except in the darker areas
where thicker vegetation can be found, most of the vegetation in this
part of Somalia is shrub brush and grasslands. The general climate of
this region features hot temperatures and scarce, irregular rainfall.
Two distinct drainage basins are characterized by lighter colors-the
Nugaaleed Valley along the western side of the photograph and the
other watershed trending toward the Hafun Peninsula, the tombolo along
the east coast of Somalia. The southern extent of the Saudi Arabian
Peninsula is visible north across the Gulf of Aden. _(Courtesy NASA)_
[57]Greenland [58]Southern Tip of Greenland
The southern tip of Greenland is seen in this high-oblique, almost
colorless, stark photograph of the worlds largest island. The
blackness of space contrasts sharply with the whiteness of clouds,
ice, and snow. The only true color is the blue of the Atlantic Ocean
and the Labrador Sea. Cloud-free conditions existing along the
southern coastal area emphasize the deeply indented fjords along the
coast. A close look at the white areas reveals three different
features-snow and ice on the land; cloud formations over the central
region and the eastern and western sides of the island; and
wispy-looking ice floes off the southeast and the southwest tip of the
fjord-lined coast, which are moved by the East Greenland Current to
the south-southwest, and larger ice packs developing north along the
east coast. Greenland has the only surviving continental glacier in
the Northern Hemisphere. This ice sheet covers seven-eighths of
Greenlands surface and contains an estimated 11 percent of the worlds
fresh water. _(Courtesy NASA)_
[59]Antarctica [60]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 [61]limb marks our planet's atmosphere. _(Courtesy
NASA/JPL)_
[62]Earth Limb [63]Clementine Mission
This false-colored image was acquired during the Clementine mission.
It shows airglow of the upper atmosphere as a thin blue line. The
bright spot toward the bottom is an urban area. _(Courtesy Naval
Research Laboratory)_
[64]Earth Map [65]Map projected image of Earth (AVHRR)
This image is a Homolosine projection of the Earth prepared from
Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) image data.
_(Courtesy ESA/NASA/NOAA/USGS/CSIRO)_
[66]Earth at Night [67]Earth Lights
This view of earth shows the global city lights as seen by the Defense
Meteorological Satellite. Eastern U.S., Europe, and Japan are brightly
lit by their cities, while the interiors of Africa, Asia, Australia,
and South America remain (for now) dark and lightly populated.
_(Courtesy NASA/GSFC)_
[68]USA [69]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)_

[70]HOME [71]Return to Venus [72]Voyage to Mars

_Copyright © 1997-2001 by [73]Calvin J. Hamilton. All rights reserved._
[74]Privacy Statement.

[75][LINK] 

References

1. http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/sonar.planetscapes/ros;sz=468x60;num=1234567
2. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/homepage.htm
3. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/toc.htm
4. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/new.htm
5. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/index/index.html
6. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/copyright.htm
7. http://crpuzzles.com/
8. http://www.solarviews.com/store/index.html
9. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/search.htm
10. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/earthx.htm
11. file://localhost/www/sat/files/comets/earth.htm#stats
12. file://localhost/www/sat/files/comets/earth.htm#movie
13. file://localhost/www/sat/files/comets/earth.htm#views
14. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/moon.htm
15. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/earthint.htm
16. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/earthsp.htm
17. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/cloud1.htm
18. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/tercrate.htm
19. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/crater.htm
20. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/craterpr.htm
21. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/edu/craters.htm
22. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/tervolc.htm
23. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/hawaii.htm
24. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/valles.htm
25. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/earthpr1.htm
26. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/image.htm
27. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/imagepr1.htm
28. http://planetscapes.com/maps/ico.html
29. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/index/earth1.html
30. http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/
31. http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/vplanet.html
32. http://media.fastclick.net/w/click.here?sid=4218&m=3&c=1
33. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/terms.htm#solarwind
34. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/terms.htm#aurora
35. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/terms.htm#aurorabor
36. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/vearth3.htm
37. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/vearth4.htm
38. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/aurora.htm
39. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/earthven.htm
40. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/earthgal.htm
41. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/vearth1.htm
42. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/vearth2.htm
43. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/earthx.htm
44. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/earthx.htm
45. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/galileo.htm
46. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/earthafr.htm
47. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/earthafr.htm
48. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/em.htm
49. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/em.htm
50. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/marin10.htm
51. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/earthmo3.htm
52. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/earthmo3.htm
53. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/arabian.htm
54. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/arabian.htm
55. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/africa.htm
56. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/africa.htm
57. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/greenlnd.htm
58. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/greenlnd.htm
59. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/antar2.htm
60. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/antar2.htm
61. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/terms.htm#limb
62. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/earthlim.htm
63. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/earthlim.htm
64. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/earthmap.htm
65. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/earthmap.htm
66. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/earthlights.htm
67. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/earthlights.htm
68. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/usa.htm
69. http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/usa.htm
70. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/homepage.htm
71. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/venus.htm
72. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/mars.htm
73. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/author.htm
74. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/privacy.htm
75. http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/sonar.planetscapes/ros;sz=468x60;num=1234567