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Name:____________________ Guided Notes: Greek Mythology of the 4 outer planets: Jupiter: Zeus (king of the gods) Saturn: Cronus (Titan of time) Uranus: Universe (sky god) Neptune: Poseidon (god of sea) Two Classes of Outer Solar System Planets: A. ___GAS GIANTS__ - The two Gas Giants in our solar system: 1. Jupiter 2. Saturn B.___ICE GIANTS__ - The two Ice Giants in our solar system: 1. Uranus 2. Neptune Gas Giant Structure: 1. Hydrogen Gas 2. Liquid Metallic Hydrogen 3. Ice 4. Rocky Core Liquid Metallic Hydrogen: The Hydrogen gas compresses so much that it turns into a liquid state. In this liquid state it takes on metal properties. Magnetic Fields: The liquid metallic hydrogen acts like a metal, and creates a large magnetic field around the gas giants. Ice Giant Structure: 1. Hydrogen Gas 2. Ice Layer 3. Rocky Core Atmospheres: Composition: Atmospheres are mostly composed of Hydrogen gas, with trace amounts of other gasses. The other gasses give the gas giants their individual colors. Belts – Dark Colored Bands Zones – Light Colored Bands Belt Zone Circulation: Since the outer planets spin so fast, the clouds smear out into bands. The Belts and Zones circulate in opposite directions Where do storms occur? Storms occur at the boundaries between the belts and zones, where turbulence occurs. Why do storms last so long? On Earth, there is land which causes friction, and dissipates the storms. On the outer planets, there is no land, so the storms last for large amounts of time. Example: The Great Red Spot on Jupiter has been around since: Galileo First used a telescope to look at Jupiter . (around 350 years ago) Why are belts and zones less evident on Uranus and Neptune? The Ice Giants have a layer of Methane covering the clouds, so it is more difficult to see. Also, they are colder, so there is less atmospheric turbulence to cause them. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Space Missions to Outer Solar System: Pioneer 10 & 11: 1970’s – These were test spacecraft to see if they could survive the large magnetic fields. They Flew past most the outer planets Voyager 1 & 2: 1970’s – 1980’s – Similar to the Pioneer crafts, but had more scientific instruments. They are still working, and are currently at the edge of our solar system. Together, they flew past all the outer planets Galileo: 1990’s – Sent into orbit around Jupiter to study it. At the end of the mission, astronomers flew it into Jupiter to directly measure the atmosphere. Cassini: 2000’s to Present – Send into orbit around Saturn to study it. (it is still orbiting, gathering data) This spacecraft carried a probe that landed on the moon Titan. New Horizons: 2010’s currently on it’s way to Pluto to fly past and take readings. Ring Systems: Which outer planets have rings? All outer planets have rings Roche Limit: The distance where gravity from the planet becomes so strong, it rips large objects apart. Distance - 2.5 radii from the CENTER of a planet Inside RL – No large objects can form or stay (therefore no large moons are found inside the roche limit), only tiny moons and rings. Outside RL- Large objects can form, no rings are found here, but large moons can exist . Why are Saturn’s Rings more visible than the other outer planets? Saturn ring composition: Saturns rings are composed of mostly Ice. Ice is highly reflective, so the rings are easy to see. Other outer planet ring composition: All the other outer planets rings are composed of rock. Rock is not reflective, so these rings are very difficult to see. Ring Structure: Shepherd Satellite: Small satellites (often captured asteroids a few km across) that are found within the ring systems. The gravity from these small satellites push and pull the ring material, helping maintain their shape. Ex: Any gap in a ring is caused by a shepherd satellite. Every ringles has two shepherd satellites, one on each side. The position of the shepherd satellites determine the ring structure. What do Shepherd Satellites do? 1. Maintains the ring shape, and keeps material from leaving the rings 2.Adds material to the ring system: Ex: the moon Io has volcanoes that shoot material into the rings _________________________________________ Natural Satellites (Moons) Each gas giant has ___DOZENS OF SATELLITES_______ Examples of Interesting Satellites of the Outer Solar System Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto - all discovered by Galileo Collectively, the four of Jupiter’s largest satellites are called: ___Galilean Satellites_____________ Saturn: Titan, Enceladus Neptune: Triton __________________________________________________________________________________ Satellites in Detail: Jupiter: 1. Io: Most volcanically active object in the solar system. Has more volcanoes than any other object The moon is just outside the roche limit, this means it is really stretched by jupiter. The stretching causes the interior rocks to melt into magma. The moon has no ice, all rock. 2. Europa: Has a liquid ocean under a crust of ice. The ocean has more water than all the water on Earth. It is just a little further than Io, so Jupiters gravity stretches it, causing The ice to melt into a liquid ocean. Iceburg like structures cover the icy surface. Very few craters due to water motion underneath. 3. Ganymede: Largest satellite in the solar system. Mostly Ice Further out that Io and Europa, so has less heating from Jupiter’s gravity. There may be some liquid water under the surface 4. Callisto: Similar to Ganymede, but smaller. Farthest away from jupiter, so no heating. Very cold, heavily cratered. Saturn: 1.Titan: Has the thickest atmosphere of any satellite in the solar system. Its atmosphere is even thicker than Earths. Atmosphere is mostly Nitrogen gas. It is created from Methane oceans/seas on it’s surface. Cassinni spacecraft launched a lander probe onto Titans surface 2.Enceladus: Was recently discovered (by cassinni spacecraft) to have Guysers of liquid water shooting off the surface. Hot liquid water is thought to be under its icy surface. ________________________________________________ Neptune: 1.Triton: Odd moon. It has guysers of nitrogen erupting from its surface. Astronomers are unsure as to why this occurs. It also rotates backward compared to all the other moons, which means it Was probably captured by Neptune, and use to be an Independent object (like pluto)