Planetary science, also known as planetology or planetary astronomy, is the science of planets, or planetary systems, and the solar system. Incorporating an interdisciplinary approach, planetary science draws from diverse sciences and may be considered a part of the Earth sciences, or more logically, as its parent field. Research tends to be done by a combination of astronomy, space exploration (particularly unmanned space missions), and comparative, experimental and meteorite work based on Earth. There is also an important theoretical component and considerable use of computer simulation. Astrogeology is a major component of planetary sciences. The scope of this article is limited to empirical sciences. ... A planet is generally considered to be a relatively large mass of accreted matter in orbit around a star that is not a star itself. ... An artists concept of a protoplanetary disk. ... Presentation of the solar system (not to scale) The solar system comprises the Earths Sun and the retinue of celestial objects gravitationally bound to it. ... Interdisciplinarity is a type of academic collaboration in which specialists drawn from two or more academic disciplines work together in pursuit of common goals. ... ... Lunar astronomy: the large crater is Daedalus, photographed by the crew of Apollo 11 as they circled the Moon in 1969. ... Space exploration is the physical exploration of outer space objects and generally anything that involves the technologies, science, and politics regarding space endeavors. ... Unmanned space missions are those using remote-controlled spacecraft. ... A meteorite is a small extraterrestrial body that impacts the Earths surface. ... Theory has a number of distinct meanings in different fields of knowledge, depending on the context and their methodologies. ... A computer simulation or a computer model is a computer program that attempts to simulate an abstract model of a particular system. ... Astrogeologist and NASA astronaut Harrison Jack Schmitt collecting lunar samples during the Apollo 17 mission Astrogeology is a planetary science discipline concerned with the geology of the celestial bodies such as the planets and their moons, asteroids, comets, and meteorites. ...

Planetary science studies objects ranging in size from micrometeoroids to gas giants, their composition, dynamics and history. A Micrometeoroid (also micrometeorite, micrometeor) is a tiny meteoroid; a small particle of rock from space, usually weighing less than a gram, that poses a threat to space exploration. ... A gas giant is a large planet that is not composed mostly of rock or other solid matter. ...

Terminology

When the discipline concerns itself with a celestial body in particular, a specialised term is used, as shown in the table below (only Heliology, Earth science (synonymous with geoscience), Selenology, and Areology are currently in common use):

The Sun is the spectral type G2V yellow star at the center of Earths solar system. ... Helios in Greek In earlier Greek mythology, the sun was personified as a deity called Hêlios (Greek for the sun), whom Homer equates with the sun titan Hyperion. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure trace Potassium 31. ... Of all the terrestrial planets in the Solar System, the geology of Mercury is the least understood. ... Hermes bearing the infant Dionysus, by Praxiteles Hermes (Greek IPA ), in Greek mythology, is the god of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of orators, literature and poets, of athletics, of weights and measures and invention and commerce in general, of liars, and of... (*min temperature refers to cloud tops only) Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 9. ... A global view of Venus made from a mosaic of radar images from the Magellan spacecraft, centred at 90 degrees longitude. ... Kythira, also seen as Kythera, Cythera or Tsirigo, is an island, one of the Ionian Islands. ... Earth is the third planet in the Solar system. ... ... Geo- is a word prefix from the Greek word ge meaning earth in the sense of ground or land. Geo-can be a prefix for many words, including: Geography Geology Geometry Geothermal Geocentric Geopolitics Geodesy (Geodetics) Geocaching MUST SEE! This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with... Geology (from Greek γη- (ge-, the earth) and λογος (logos, word, reason)) is the science and study of the Earth, its composition, structure, physical properties, history and the processes that shape it. ... Gaia (pronounced //, sometimes also // or //) (land or earth, from the Greek ; variant spelling Gaea—see also Ge from ) is a Greek goddess personifying the Earth. ... Bulk composition of the moons mantle and crust estimated, weight percent Oxygen 42. ... For other moons in the solar system see natural satellite. ... Roman statue of the moon goddess Luna, who was equated with the Greek Selene. ... Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ... In Greek mythology, Ares (battle strife; in Greek, Ἀρης), is the god of war and son of Zeus(king of the gods) and Hera . ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ... Statue of Zeus Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall statue of Zeus at Olympia about 435 BC. The statue was perhaps the most famous sculpture in ancient Greece, imagined here in a 16th-century engraving. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 140 kPa Hydrogen >93% Helium >5% Methane 0. ... In Greek mythology, Chronos (often mythologically confused with the Titan Cronus), properly spelled Kronos, was the father of Zeus, and in pre-Socratic philosophical works he is said to be the personification of time as Chronos. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 120 kPa Hydrogen 83% Helium 15% Methane 1. ... Uranus is the Latinized form of Ouranos, Greek name of the sky. ... Atmospheric characteristics Surface pressure ≫100 MPa Hydrogen - H2 80% ±3. ... Neptune reigns in the city centre, Bristol, formerly the largest port in England outside London. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 0. ... Hades, Greek god of the underworld, enthroned, with his bird-headed staff, on a red-figure vase made in the 4th century BC. Hades (From , Hadēs, or , Háidēs, Greek for unseen) refers to both the ancient Greek abode of the dead and the god of that underworld. ...

Basic Concepts

• Asteroid
• Brown dwarfs
• Comets
• Earthquake
• Equatorial bulge
• Extrasolar planets
• Gas giant planets
• Icy moons
• Kuiper belt
• Magnetosphere
• Planet
• Planetary differentiation
• Planetary system
• the Pluto debate
• Precession
• Solar-terrestrial interaction
• Space weather
• Star system
• Sun
• Synchronous rotation
• Super Jupiter
• Terrestrial planets

This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Spiral Galaxy ESO 269-57 // Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties (luminosity, density, temperature and chemical composition) of astronomical objects such as stars, galaxies, and the interstellar medium, as well as their interactions. ... Cosmology, as a branch of astrophysics, is the study of the large-scale structure of the universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its formation and evolution. ... Galactic astronomy is the study of galaxies, their formation, structure, components, dynamics, interactions, and the range of forms they take. ... Extragalactic astronomy is the branch of astronomy concerned with objects outside our own Milky Way Galaxy (the study of all astronomical objects which are not covered by galactic astronomy). ... REDIRECT [[ --68. ... Stellar astronomy is the study of stars and the phenomena exhibited by the various forms/developmental stages of stars. ... In astronomy, stellar evolution is the sequence of changes that a star undergoes during its lifetime, the hundreds of thousands, millions or billions of years during which it emits light and heat. ... Star formation is the process by which gas in molecular clouds change into the ball of plasma we call a star. ...

See also

• Astrogeology
• Planetary habitability