Solar System Research Paper

Words: 510
Pages: 3

The planets and moons of the solar system can be grouped into many different categories. The first of these is geological activity. Geological activity refers to changes in a planet's landscape over time. This applies only to terrestrial planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Earth as well as the dwarf planet Ceres and the Moon. Geologic activity can refer to several different geological activities, such as erosion, volcanic formation, and impact cratering. These things are all observable from a surface perspective, using telescope, or in the case of the Mars rover, an exploration vessel. While costly, landers and other observational crafts can most accurately access a planet;s geologic activity by studying the composition and terrestrial makeup, learning things such as the planet's original land formation, the presence of water or volcanoes …show more content…
Probes that enter a planet's atmosphere can easily gather information about the composition of the planet based on the chemical makeup of the atmosphere. We can also use an instrument known as a spectrometer, which measures light in relation to the periodic table of elements. Once the composition of a planet or moon is found, we can then use that information along with the measurement of gravitational pull to find the body's mass. With the mass found, we can then make an educated guess about the interior structure of a planet. A terrestrial planet is likely either hot or cold internally, while the others have a gaseous core, and so this information used with the mass helps us determine the internal structure. Magnetic fields are also measurable, and most major planets in our solar system generate a magnetic field from some form of electromagnetic activity found within their atmosphere. Even if a planet no longer puts off it's own magnetic energy, a fly-by spacecraft can pick up on trace magnetic activity in surrounding atmospheric debris from years