Images

Background: USGS/NASA Photo of Venus. Foreground: A cartoon turkey wearing an astronaut helmet while floating in space looks towards Venus. Cartoon images of common Thanksgiving side dishes are also placed around the turkey (in this case, dinner rolls and a green bean casserole).

A simplified view of the classical model for terrestrial planet formation (not to scale). From top to bottom: The central star is surrounded by nebular gas and dust where early solids form.

Different giant-impact histories can result in an iron-rich body (indicated with the letter C):

Top: A catastrophic collision (e.g., Benz et al. 2007).

Middle: A hit-and-run collision (e.g., Asphaug & Reufer 2014).

Bottom: A chain of hit-and-run collisions (e.g., Chau et al. 2018).

USGS scientist, Brent Archinal, begins a tour from the lobby of Astrogeology Science Center during open house 

Left Photo: Visitors were amazed at seeing, reading, and learning about the kinds of fish that are native to Arizona.

Dr. Ryan Anderson interacts with River’s space science collection. Using LEGO bricks, River built his own version of a Mars rover, and Ingenuity, the helicopter. Also here is the space shuttle, LRV, a research base, and the lunar space station.

This is a photo of one of several boats GCMRC has that they take to do research on rivers. The boats are custom built to either carry research equipment, trip supplies, or navigate and assist in data collection. 

GMEG presented a collection of Arizona rocks and minerals keyed to a geologic map of the state. Rocks ranged from pieces of recent lava flows, thousand-year-old basalts, to the oldest rocks in the southwest, the Elves Chasm gneiss (1.84 billion years old).

Visitors attend the USGS Open House and look through outreach materials in the Astrogeology Science Center, 2023. Photo courtesy of Lori Pigue, USGS Astrogeology.

Astrogeology Science Center Director Dr. Justin Hagerty (nearest the table) and Research Geologist Dr. Greg Vaughan welcome Gerry Schaber, a retired USGS geologist. Gerry contributed to training the Apollo astronauts—an effort detailed in USGS Open-File Report 2005-1190 The U.S.

Lori Pigue is enjoying showing off a rock at Flagstaff Science Center’s Open House on September 5th.

If you tried to imagine what a “Gravity Van” was, what would you imagine? Visitors learned about the USGS’s Gravity Program Gravity Van, which holds special equipment for measuring ground water characteristics. The Gravity Van allows scientists to map changes in groundwater storage and to improve models that simulate groundwater flow.

Lori Pigue of USGS Astrogeology discusses planetary geology during the USGS Open House in 2023

Greg Vaughn at USGS Astrogeology talks to visitors at the 2023 USGS Open House. Grover is pictured to Greg's right. Photo courtesy of Lori Pigue, USGS Astrogeology.

Janet Richie, Greg Vaughn and a visitor at the Astrogeology Science Center during the USGS Open House in 2023. Photo courtesy of Lori Pigue, USGS Astrogeology.

This is a screenshot from the video "Two planets merging by giant impact".

Screenshot from a computer simulation of two planets undergoing a hit-and-run giant impact. This style of collision comprises around half of the giant impacts expected to occur during the latter stages of Solar System formation. The larger (target) body is one tenth the mass of the Earth and the smaller (impactor) body is 70% the mass of the target.

Screenshot of a computer simulation of two planets undergoing a disruptive giant impact. Disruptive collisions are not expected to be common in Solar System formation, and due to numerical effects, the amount of disruption shown here is likely overestimated.

This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3899 (July 26, 2023).

Photograph looking down the "solar system tour" hallway at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center. Images of Mercury and Venus are visible in the foreground on the left.

Photograph of the large topographic floor map of Mars at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center. A separate map of Arizona, printed to the same scale, allows visitors to compare the size of geographic features. In particular, the "grand canyon" of Mars, Valles Marineris can be compared to the Earth's Grand Canyon.