Fraknoi et al., Chapter 8, with emphasis on section 8.5; and Chapter 9, section 9.3
Manicouagan crater: shown and explained
K/T mass extinction: Chicxulub then and now
Optional:
More satellite images of terrestrial impact craters
Was Chicxulub really what killed the dinosaurs?
Perhaps both Chicxulub and volcanoes were involved
Why biblical literalism is lousy science
Fraknoi et al., Chapter 4, section 4.6; Chapter 7, section 7.3; and Chapter 9, sections 9.1 through 9.4
The giant impact theory of lunar formation
Evidence for a Lunar Cataclysm (a.k.a. Late Heavy Bombardment)
Tides as the cause of synchronous rotation (and here's an animation)
Optional:
Moon overview
More general moon links: one and two
Fraknoi et al., Chapter 5, sections 5.1 through 5.5
Light and spectral lines
Searching for lunar ice
Optional:
Fraknoi et al., Chapter 10, sections 10.1 through 10.3
How radar works
Radar altimetry and synthetic aperture radar
Terrestrial vs. Venusian topography
Goldilocks links one, two, and three
Optional:
General overview of Venus
Another look at the greenhouse effect
Evidence for Venus' young surface
In-depth treatment of Venusian volcanoes
Remote sensing and false-color images
Fraknoi et al., Chapter 10, sections 10.4 through 10.6
The MER rovers' scientific instruments
Opportunity's discovery of past water in Meridiani Planum
Spirit's discovery of silica-rich soil
Curiosity finds evidence for past water flows
Mars Odyssey finds indirect evidence for subsurface ice
Phoenix Mars finds ice and also clays and calcium carbonate
Mars Express may have found a subsurface lake
Optional:
More on Opportunity and past water
Thermal emission spectroscopy (TES)
Martian meteorite ALH 84001: The hypothesis of life in 1996 and 2002
Detailed treatment of Mars Odyssey and subsurface ice
More on the Phoenix Mars mission
More on the possible subsurface lake
Images taken by Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Mars Express
Fraknoi et al., Chapter 11, focusing on Jupiter; and Chapter 14, section 14.3
Weather basics on Earth and Jupiter
Liquid metallic hydrogen in Jupiter's interior
Creating liquid metallic hydrogen in the lab
Jovian aurorae
Origin and chemical similarity to the Sun
Optional:
The Galileo mission
Another origins page
Fraknoi et al., Chapter 12, section 12.2, focusing on Europa, Io, and tidal heating
Evidence for a subsurface liquid ocean:
Life (?) residing on Europa either within surface cracks or else deeper within the ocean
Optional:
Another general overview of Europa
Fraknoi et al., Chapter 12, section 12.3, focusing on Titan; and section 12.5
Titan overview
More detailed article on Titan
Using radar to detect methane lakes that contain much more liquid hydrocarbons than Earth does
Exotic life on Titan: one and two
Optional:
Huygens landing
Cassini Web site
Images of moons: Enceladus, Iapetus, Mimas, Hyperion, and Phoebe
Fraknoi et al., Chapter 13, section 13.1 and 13.2; and Chapter 14, section 14.2
Vesta viewed by Hubble and by Dawn
Main-belt asteroid Ida visited by Galileo
NEAR's flyby of main-belt object Mathilde
Near-Earth asteroid Itokawa orbited and sampled by Hayabusa
Radar analysis of Kleopatra
Optional:
More Mathilde images and description, plus a movie of the flyby encounter
NEAR eventually orbited and landed on Eros, one of the largest near-Earth asteroids
NEAR Eros images
Radar analysis of binary near-Earth asteroid 1999 KW4
Fraknoi et al., Chapter 12, section 12.4; and Chapter 13, section 13.3 and section 13.4
Rosetta: studying a rubber duck
Phosphorus and an amino acid found in comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko
General info on Centaurs, the Kuiper Belt, and the Oort Cloud
Discovery images of the first known Kuiper Belt object
Diagram of Trans-Neptunian objects
Early analysis of New Horizons Pluto data: subsurface ocean?
Optional:
General info on comets
"Inner Oort Cloud" objects Sedna and 2012 VP113
General information on Pluto
Fraknoi et al., Chapter 21, section 21.4
Some methods for finding extrasolar planets (turn on your sound)
Transit method and its use in determining exoplanets' atmospheric composition
Kepler used the transit method to identify candidate exoplanets, some in the habitable zone and one smaller than Mercury
Finding planets when their gravity bends starlight is called gravitational microlensing
Direct images of exoplanets
Fraknoi et al., Chapter 21, section 21.3 and section 21.5
Proplyds (including edge-on proplyds)
Planet in a sunlike star's habitable zone
Diagram showing how the habitable zone depends on the star and on the planet
Habitable planet orbiting a red dwarf
Earth-sized planet in a red dwarf's habitable zone
Planetary system with up to nine planets
Proxima Centauri B: one and two
How to look for life on a habitable planet
Optional:
Habitable zones for different kinds of stars
Fraknoi et al., Chapter 21, section 21.6
Lunar Cataclysm caused by changes in outer planet orbits?
Optional:
Another description of this theory
PHY 101: Previous Links
Written by Chris Magri
Last modified on April 17, 2019
URL: https://sites.google.com/a/maine.edu/magri/phy101/prevlinks