- caldera
- crater formed by an explosion or collapse of a
volcanic vent.
- carbonate
- a compound containing carbon and oxygen (i.e.
calcium carbonate a.k.a. limestone).
- Cassini, Giovanni Domenico
1625-1712
- (a.k.a. Jean Dominique) Italian-born French
astronomer and first director of the Royal Observatory in
Paris; discoverer of four of Saturn's moons
(Tethys, Dione, Rhea and Iapetus) and the major
division in its rings.
- catena
- chain of craters.
- cavus
- Hollow, irregular depression.
- chaos
- distinctive area of broken terrain.
- chasma
- canyon.
- Christy, James W.
- discoverer of Pluto's moon
- chromosphere
- the lower level of the solar atmosphere between
the photosphere
and the corona
- colles
- small hills or knobs.
- coma
- the dust and gas surrounding an active comet's
nucleus
- comet
- a medium-sized icy object orbiting the Sun;
smaller than a planet
- Congress
- the legislative branch of the US Government; has
proven to be a much more hostile environment for
scientific spacecraft than the vastness of space.
- convection
- fluid circulation driven by large temperature
gradients; the transfer of heat by this automatic
circulation.
- Copernicus, Nicolaus
1473-1543
- Polish astronomer who advanced the heliocentric theory
that the Earth and other planets revolve around
the Sun. This was highly controversial at the
time as the Ptolemaic
view of the universe, which was the prevailing
theory for over 1000 years, was deeply ingrained
in the prevailing philosophy and religion. (It
should be noted, however, that the heliocentic
idea was first put forth by Aristarcus of Samos
in the 3rd century BC, a fact known to Copernicus
but long ignored.)
- corona
- ovoid-shaped feature.
- corona
- the uppermost level of the solar atmosphere,
characterized by low densities and high
temperatures (> 1.0E+06° K).
- coronagraph
- a special telescope which blocks light from the
disk of the Sun in order to study the faint solar
atmosphere.
- cosmic ray
- an extremely energetic (relativistic) charged
particle.
- crater
- bowl-shaped depression formed by the impact of a
meteoroid; depression around the orifice of a
volcano.
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