Planetary science
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Planetary science, also known as planetology and closely related to planetary astronomy, is the science of planets, or planetary systems, and the solar system. Incorporating an interdisciplinary approach, planetary science draws from diverse sciences and may be considered a part of the Earth sciences, or more logically, as its parent field. Research tends to be done by a combination of astronomy, space exploration (particularly robotic spacecraft missions), and comparative, experimental and meteorite work based on Earth. There is also an important theoretical component and considerable use of computer simulation. Astrogeology is a major component of planetary sciences.
Planetary science studies objects ranging in size from micrometeoroids to gas giants, their composition, dynamics and history.
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[edit] Terminology
When the discipline concerns itself with a celestial body in particular, a specialized term is used, as shown in the table below (only heliology, geology, selenology, and areology are currently in common use):
Body Planetary science Source of root Sun heliology Greek Helios Mercury hermeology Greek Hermes Venus cytherology Greek Aphrodite Earth geology Greek Gaia ( Moon selenology Greek Selene ) Mars areology Greek Ares Ceres demeterology Greek Demeter Jupiter zenology Greek Zeus Saturn kronology Greek Cronus Uranus uranology Greek/Latin Uranus Neptune poseidology Greek Poseidon Pluto hadeology Greek Hades Eris eridology Greek Eris
[edit] Basic Concepts
- Asteroid
- Brown dwarfs
- Celestial mechanics
- Comets
- Earthquake
- Equatorial bulge
- Extrasolar planets
- Gas giant
- Geophysics
- Icy moons
- Kuiper belt
- Magnetosphere
- Planet
- Planetary differentiation
- Planetary system
- the Pluto debate
- Precession
- Space weather
- Space weathering
- Star system
- Sun
- Synchronous rotation
- Terrestrial planets
General subfields within astronomy |
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Cosmology • Extragalactic astronomy • Galactic astronomy • Star formation • Stellar astronomy • Planetary science • Astrometry • Astrochemistry • Astrobiology |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- E. Grayzeck, D. R. Williams (2006-05-11). Lunar and Planetary Science (English). NASA. Retrieved on 2006-08-21.
- NASA Mars Exploration Home
- NASA Cassini Mission to Saturn
- NASA DAWN Mission to the Asteroid Belt
- NASA MESSENGER Mission to Mercury
- European Space Agency
- Lunar and Planetary Lab at the University of Arizona
- Planetary Sciences at UCLA
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