- Industry: Astronomy
- Number of terms: 6727
- Number of blossaries: 0
- Company Profile:
Planetary Science Research Discoveries (PSRD) is an educational site sharing the latest research by NASA-sponsored scientists on meteorites, asteroids, planets, moons, and other materials in our Solar System. The website is supported by the Cosmochemistry Program of NASA's Science Mission ...
Theory formulated in the late 1960s that states the Earth's crust and upper mantle (a layer called the lithosphere) is broken into moving pieces called plates. The formation of mountains and volcanoes, and the occurrence of earthquakes have been explained using this theory.
Industry:Astronomy
A unit of energy equal to a thousand electron volts (eV). According to the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures: "The electron volt is the kinetic energy acquired by an electron in passing through a potential difference of one volt in vacuum. The electron volt is often combined with the SI prefixes. "
Industry:Astronomy
Small grains of magnetite occurring in sedimentary rocks and thought to have been produced by bacteria. (Some bacteria, called magnetobacteria, make magnetite, presumably as an aid to determining directions. )
Industry:Astronomy
The acquisition of information on some property of a target object or material without being in physical contact with it. In the broadest terms, this is done by using instruments or scanners to sense and record reflected or emitted energy from the target and then processing the data in order to better analyze and understand the property in question.
Industry:Astronomy
An instrument that analyzes the chemistry of very small spots by bombarding the sample with electrons and measuring the X-rays produced.
Industry:Astronomy
Sudden motion or trembling of Earth caused by the abrupt release of slowly accumulated elastic energy in rocks.
Industry:Astronomy
The degree to which fine details in an image are separated or resolved.
Industry:Astronomy
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the SELENE (Kaguya) mission to the Moon in September 2007. Its instruments were designed to provide scientific data from a polar orbit of lunar origin and evolution and to develop the technology for future lunar exploration. In addition to the main spacecraft two smaller relay satellites provided real-time radio transmissions from the far side of the Moon to Earth. The mission lasted 21 months and ended June 10, 2009 with a controlled crash onto the lunar nearside.
Industry:Astronomy
Rocks or processes involving the formation and solidification of hot, molten magma.
Industry:Astronomy
Fine-grained, dark-colored extrusive igneous rock with less than about 52 weight percent silica (SiO<sub>2</sub>). Because of its low silica content, basalt has a low viscosity (resistance to flow. ) Basalt is composed primarily of plagioclase feldspar and pyroxene; other minerals such as olivine and ilmenite are usually present. Basalt is the most common volcanic rock on the terrestrial planets.
Industry:Astronomy
