What a great photo of the atmosphere of Mars. This was taken by the Viking I orbiter. Mars' atmosphere is composed of 95% carbon dioxide, molecular nitrogen (2.85%), and argon (2%). There is trace amounts of water vapor, oxygen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and noble gases. It is a much thinner atmosphere that Earth's, and much colder. The temperature is generally below zero to -60 degrees Celsius. The Martian atmosphere doesn't prevent Sun's radiation from getting to the surface. The thin atmosphere also cannot retain heat at the surface. It also prevents the existence of liquid water on the surface. Studies suggest that the Martian atmosphere was much thicker in the past.  Science fiction has written about terraforming Mars in order to make it into a planet able to sustain life, mainly human life. In the real world, it is consider infeasible using present day technology. There is also ethical reasons for not terraforming Mars and the considerable cost an undertaking wou...

This is a photo of the asteroid called Vesta. Vesta is the second most massive object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The dwarf planet, Ceres, in the largest. Vesta has diameter of 525 km. It was discovered in 1807 by German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthais Olbers. Vesta is from Roman mythology and is the virgin goddess of home and hearth.  NASA's Dawn Spacecraft orbited Vesta for one year beginning in July 2011. Detailed maps were created from the photographs taken by Dawn. Compositional information was also taken using a spectrometer, and gamma-ray and neutron detector (GRaND), and a framing camera. 

LaFayette is a small town of 5000 people located just south of Syracuse in Upstate New York. It was named after the Marquis de Lafayette, who is considered a national hero in France and in the United States. He was a key figure in both the French and American Revolutions.  The photo on the card is of the Occator Crater on Ceres. Ceres is a dwarf planet in our solar system. It is found in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It was first discovered in 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi in Sicily and thought to be a newly discovered planet. By 1851, it was reclassified as an asteroid. In 2006 NASA said it would use the guidelines set out by the International Astronomical Union and refer to Ceres (and Pluto) as unterplanets (dwarf planets).