Planetary geology

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

Planetary geology, alternatively known as astrogeology or exogeology, is a planetary science discipline concerned with the geology of the celestial bodies such as the planets and their moons, asteroids, comets, and meteorites. The study of rocks originated with studying rocks on Earth, and due to the types of investigations involved, planetary geology is closely linked with Earth-based geology.

Eugene Shoemaker is credited with inventing the Branch of Astrogeology (now called the Astrogeology Research Program) within the U.S. Geological Survey. He made important contributions to the field and the study of impact craters, lunar science, asteroids, and comets.

The Visitor Center at Barringer Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona includes a Museum of Astrogeology.

See also

• Geology of Mercury
• Geology of Venus
• Geology of the Moon
• Geology of Mars
• Geology of Callisto
• Geology of Europa
• Geology of Ganymede
• Geology of Io
• Geology of Titan
• Geology of Triton
• Geology of Pluto

References

• J. F. Bell III, B. A. Campbell, M. S. Robinson (2004). Remote Sensing for the Earth Sciences: Manual of Remote Sensing. 3rd, John Wiley & Sons.
• Roberge, Aki The Planets After Formation. Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. Retrieved on 2006-08-23..

See also

• Geological features of the solar system
• Planetary science
• Geological history of Earth
• Impact gardening

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Monday March 10, 2008 at 09:47:05 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation