Terrestrial World Atmospheres Image Page
Atmospheric origin processes:
Atmospheric loss processes:
Maxwellian distribution:
Generic planetary
atmospheric structure:
Terrestrial
planet atmospheric structures, Earth, Venus, Mars:
Note that this diagram shows
Venus with lower temperatures than the Earth without the greenhouse effect.
This value was calculated using
the assumption that Venus without its greenhouse atmosphere would still
have
a reflectivity (albedo) of 72%
which would probably NOT be true since it would probably not be completely
covered with sulfuric acid clouds.
The
"atmospheres" of the Moon and Mercury:
The tenuous exospheric "atmospheres"
of Mercury (a) and the Moon (b) as imaged by the light of sodium
emission lines. The central
circles (Mercury is drawn in gibbous phase) show the relative sizes of
the planets to
their atmospheres.