Trick or Treat? Astrogeology explores the Solar System’s Halloween spirit.
The Solar System is full of its own tricks and treats, so discover some of our favorites below.
Treat! Colliding planets look beautiful, at least in simulations
Most Model simulations can sometimes get tedious and boring, but when you’re smashing planets together, things get interesting! This is just a screenshot of a model run, but linked below are videos where you can watch what can happen in different scenarios when planets collide! We think it’s a TREAT to watch the dance of the planets as they glance each other, combine to make new planets, or even make new moons!
Simulation run by T.S.J. Gabriel using SPLATCH, a planetary Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics code developed at the University of Bern (Reufer 2011), maintained by A. Emsenhuber and H. Ballantyne.
Two planets merging by giant impact: Two planets merging by giant impact | U.S. Geological Survey
Two planets undergoing a hit-and-run impact: Two planets undergoing a hit-and-run impact | U.S. Geological Survey
The disruption of two planets in a giant impact: The disruption of two planets in a giant impact | U.S. Geological Survey
Trick! Ina Irregular Mare Patch
Irregular mare patches are interesting features on the lunar surface, the origins of which have been debated for decades. Even more interesting is how strange their topography looks. Do you see this D-shaped feature as having lots of irregular-shaped mounds or irregular-shaped pits? Here’s a hint: there’s a crater in the bottom left of the image, which is a depression, so the shadow tells you where the sun is coming from.
“I’ve never been able to see the true topography of Ina, it always looks inverted to me,” says Physical Scientist Lori Pigue, who has even done a compositional and thermophysical analyses of this and other irregular mare patches. “I have to see Ina, specifically, in oblique images to see the mounds as mounds and the total mare patch as a sunken feature.”
Dr. Pigue gave us the answer: the irregular features inside the D-shaped mare patch are mounds! Did you see it, or did Ina trick you?
Spiders on Mars? These are no ordinary spiders!
These are not the creepy, hairy, web-building, eight-leggers that we are familiar with on Earth. Mars’ spiders have alien features and ghostly movements, stretching across the southern hemisphere of the Red Planet for miles. And they typically reveal themselves in the springtime.
NASA scientists pondered how these alien spiders were created and worked tirelessly in the Pasadena lab to recreate them, using a containment chamber called Dusty. Their efforts were achieved.
To learn more about how NASA scientists were able to replicate Martian spiders, click the link for a thrilling treat. NASA Scientists Re-Create Mars ‘Spiders’ in a Lab for First Time - NASA
The Tricks and Treats of Venusian Volcanism!
As beautiful as this colorized version of the surface of Venus is, it’s not a place we’d want to be! Some planets in the Solar System may be too hot for comfort, even for landers. Here’s a free spooky treat to volcanic activity on Venus, where the temperature can exceed 470° degrees, and it’s hot enough to melt lead.
Planets like Venus have numerous volcanoes that can spew lava and toxic gases, creating an eerie landscape of thousands of small shield volcanoes, larger edifices up to several hundred kilometers in diameter, massive outpourings of lavas, and local pyroclastic deposits.
Trick or Treat? Is this a skylight or a portal to hell?
When I first laid eyes on this photo,” said Janet Richie, cartographic technician, at Astrogeology, “I had to give it a second look. It is a photo of a skylight where pareidolia has tricked many people into thinking that they see massive grey bodies falling into a pit of fire.”
Although skylights aren’t typically scary, they can be. Do you know they can be found on Earth?
Dr. Laszlo Kestay, a volcanologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center, provides a warning and gives an explanation about them here.
The Solar System is full of tricks and treats, and we hope your Halloween is too! Happy Halloween from all of us at Astrogeology!
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