Planetary science

Planetary science

The scientific study of planets including Earth, moons, and planetary systems of the Solar System in particular and the processes that form them.

Industry: Astronomy

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Planetary science

Primitive meteorite

Astronomy; Planetary science

A primitive meteorite is a chondrite that experienced minimal heating and aqueous alteration on its parent asteroid. Primitive meteorites have the highest concentrations of presolar grains.

Magnetite

Astronomy; Planetary science

A black, strongly magnetic iron-oxide mineral; Fe 3 O 4 .

Monomict

Astronomy; Planetary science

Adjective used to describe a breccia formed from a single rock type.

Force per unit area acting on a planetary body resulting in periodic bulging (of the crust and, in the case on Earth, oceans) caused by the gravitational attraction of another object such as the Sun, ...

Calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAI)

Astronomy; Planetary science

Calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions are found in chondritic meteorites. CAIs are primitive objects that formed in the solar nebula before the planets formed. CAIs are light-colored objects rich in ...

Levee

Astronomy; Planetary science

Zones in a lava flow where the lava between the zones is moving faster than the lava outside the zones.

Volatile elements

Astronomy; Planetary science

Chemical elements that vaporise (that is, boil) at relatively low temperatures. Examples are water (H 2 O), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH 4 ), ammonia (NH 3 ), potassium ...