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Moons of our Solar System
Moons of our Solar System

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Acknowledgements

This free course was written by David Rothery and Simon Kelley. Further contributions were made by Susanne Schwenzer, Jessica Barnes, Jean-David Bodénan, Catherine Hill, James Mortimer, Elena Nickson, Phillipa Smith, Beth Steer and Felicity Williams.

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] ), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.

The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course:

Week 1

Figures

Figure 1, 19, 30, 33 Images courtesy of NASA

Figure 2 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/Ted Stryk

Figure 3, 4, 27, 28, 37, 38, 30 40, 41 © The Open University

Figure 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Images courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Figure 11, 12, 14, 15 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Figure 13 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/Cornell

Figure 16, 17 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Figure 18 Image courtesy of JAXA/NHK

Figure 20 Image courtesy of NASA/Space Exploration Resources/Adler Planetarium/Arizona State University

Figure 21 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Figure 22, 31 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL

Figure 23, 36 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/USGS

Figure 24 Image courtesy of NASA, ESA, and L. Frattare (STScI)

Figure 25 Image courtesy of NASA-JHUAPL-SwRI

Figure 26 Image courtesy of Cassini NASA/ESA Mission/Fabio Di Donato

Figure 27 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Figure 30 Image courtesy of NASA/University of Arizona

Figure 33 Courtesy of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Figure 36 Courtesy of NASA/CXC/M. Weiss

Figure 40 Courtesy of NASA-JHUAPL-SwRI

AV

Week 1 guide © The Open University

Fascinating bodies © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

Mythbusting moons © The Open University

Moons and planets © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

The Moon’s orbit © The Open University

Prograde orbits © The Open University

Retrograde orbits © The Open University

Synchronous rotation © The Open University

Moon phases and libration courtesy of NASA

The Moon’s origin © The Open University

Bombardment history © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

A very Nice model © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

Tidal heating explained © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

Tidal effects on Io and Europa © The Open University

Investigating orbital resonance © The Open University

Week 2

Figures

Figure 1, 17, 28, 38, 40, 42, 43 Image courtesy of NASA

Figure 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53 © The Open University

Figure 12 Image courtesy of ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Figure 13 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/ DLR (German Aerospace Center)

Figure 14 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Figure 15 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/SSI/ESA

Figure 16 Image courtesy of Cassini Imaging Team/SSI/JPL/ESA/NASA

Figure 18, 45 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/SSI

Figure 19 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Figure 20, 21, 22, 23, 44 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Figure 24, 36, 37, 39, 46 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL

Figure 25, 47 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/USGS

Figure 29 Image courtesy of NASA/LRC

Figure 30 Image courtesy of USGS

Figure 41 Image courtesy of NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL/MISR Team

Figure 54 Image courtesy of JAXA/NHK/SELENE

AV

Week 2 guide © The Open University

Ice and Ganymede © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

Icy moons © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

Naming moons © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

Our Moon and its craters © The Open University (some materials courtesy of NASA)

How impact craters form © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

Gene Shoemaker at Meteor Crater © The Open University

Making an impact © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

Impact mechanics © The Open University

One ‘big’ impact Courtesy of Science @ NASA

Week 3

Figures

Figure 1, 4, 6, 9, 18 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/USGS

Figure 2 Image courtesy of The Galileo Project/JPL/NASA

Figure 3 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Figure 5, 12, 13, 21, 22, 24, 25, 27, 28, 40, 41, 48 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL

Figure 7, 8, 14, 29, 58 Image courtesy of NASA

Figure 10 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Figure 11 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/Ames Research Center

Figure 17 © Jan Sandberg

Figure 19 Image courtesy of NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Figure 20 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/Ted Stryk

Figure 23 Image courtesy of JPL

Figure 26, 34, 35 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/Orion Moon

Figure 30, 31 © The Open University

Figure 32 Image courtesy of W.R. Normak, USGS.

Figure 33 Image courtesy of NASA/ESA/L. Roth/SWRI/University of Cologne

Figure 36, 37, 38, 39 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/ASU

Figure 42 Images courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems/Texas A&M Univ.

Figure 43 Image courtesy of Cassini Imaging Team/SSI/JPL/ESA/NASA

Figure 44, 45, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 56, 57 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Figure 47 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Figure 55 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/SSI

Figure 59 Image courtesy of NASA, ESA, H. Weaver (JHU/APL), A. Stern (SwRI), and the HST Pluto Companion Search Team

Figure 60 Image courtesy of BBC

Figure 61 and 62 courtesy of NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

AV

Week 3 guide © The Open University

Volcanic eruptions on Io © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

Cryovolcanism on Enceladus © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

How Enceladus works © The Open University

Nobody expects the Italian inquisition © The Open University

Is Europa habitable? © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

Phobos and Deimos © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

Phobos seen from the surface of Mars Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems/Texas A&M Univ.

The moons of asteroids © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA/Lance Benner/Marina Brozović/Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology)

Week 4

Figures

Figure 1 Image courtesy of NASA/NOAA

Figure 2 Image courtesy of Museum of Modern Art, New York

Figure 3, 6, 7, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 Images courtesy of NASA

Figure 4, 5 © The Open University

Figure 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Image courtesy of PD-USGOV-NASA

AV

Week 4 guide © The Open University

Looking at the Moon Courtesy of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Going to the Moon © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

Race to the Moon © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA/Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics/University of Manchester/John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)

Falling objects on the Moon Courtesy of NASA

Departure from the Moon Courtesy of NASA

Bringing Moon samples to Earth Courtesy of NASA

Week 5

Figure 1, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24 © The Open University

Figure 2, 4, 5, 6, 14, 22 Image courtesy of NASA

Figure 3 Image courtesy of JAXA/SELENE

Figure 7 Image courtesy of USGS

Figure 9 Image courtesy of NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University

Figure 16 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL

AV

Week 5 guide © The Open University

What we’ve learned about the Moon © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

The Genesis Rock — how it was found Courtesy of NASA

Anyone for golf? Courtesy of NASA

Moon rocks — a scientists’s view © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

Moon rocks under the microscope © The Open University

Remote sensing — crater countinga scientists’s view Courtesy of JAXA/SELENE

Week 6

Figures

Figure 1, 6, 7, 19, 21 Image courtesy of NASA

Figure 2, 3 © The Open University

Figure 4 Image courtesy of History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries

Figure 5 Image courtesy of NASA/Apollo 17 crew

Figure 8 Image courtesy of Clementine Team/JPL/NASA

Figure 9 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL

Figure 10, 16 Image courtesy of NASA/LCROSS

Figure 11, 12 Image courtesy of JAXA

Figure 13 Image courtesy of ISRO

Figure 14 Image courtesy of ISRO/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Brown Univ./USGS

Figure 15 Image courtesy of ESA/MPAe, Lindau

Figure 17 © mariusFM77 (via iStockphoto.com)

Figure 18 Public domain

Figure 20 Image courtesy of NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

AV

Week 6 guide © The Open University

A paradigm shift? © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

The future of lunar exploration © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

Week 7

Figures

Figure 1 Image courtesy of NASA/ESA/M. Showalter (SETI Institute)

Figure 2 Image courtesy of NASA/Ames Research Center

Figure 3, 4, 6, 30 Image courtesy of NASA

Figure 5 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/SSI

Figure 7 Image courtesy of PD-USGOV-NASA

Figure 8, 26, 27 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Figure 9, 10, 22, 24, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL

Figure 11 © The Open University

Figure 12 Image courtesy of ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Figure 13 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Figure 14 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/University of Idaho

Figure 15, 16, 17 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Figure 18, 19 Image courtesy of ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Figure 20, 21 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/USGS

Figure 23 Image courtesy of NASA / Text © The Open University

Figure 24, 25 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

AV

Week 7 guide © The Open University

Voyager — inspiring generations Courtesy of NASA/JPL

Voyager — last picture show Courtesy of NASA

Cassini-Huygens — 15 years of exploration Courtesy of NASA

Descent to Titan Courtesy of ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Making plans for Titan © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

Week 8

Figures

Figure 1 Image courtesy of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Figure 2 Image courtesy of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Figure 3, 5 Image courtesy of NASA

Figure 4, 9, 11 © The Open University

Figure 6 Image courtesy of NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

Figure 7 © stacey_newman (via iStockphoto.com)

Figure 8 © agsandrew (via iStockphoto.com)

Figure 10 Image courtesy of Prof. Frances Westall, CNRS, Orleans, France

Figure 12 Image courtesy of Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team/NASA/GSFC

Figure 13 Image courtesy of DLR

Figure 14 Image © _thinrhino via Flickr.com

Figure 15 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech

Figure 16 Image courtesy of NASA/JPL

Figure 17 Image courtesy of ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

AV

Week 8 guide © The Open University

Humans or robots? © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

The JUICE mission to Jupiter © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

Penetrators at work © ESA/Astrium UK/QinetiQ

Icy penetrators © Astrium UK

New Horizons Pluto-Charon flyby Courtesy of Science @ NASA

Lessons from Earth Courtesy of NASA

What Huygens found on Titan © The Open University (some materials by courtesy of NASA)

What’s the Buzz? © The Open University

End-of-course Guide © The Open University

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