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Transcript
28.3 THE OUTER PLANETS THE OUTER PLANETS Main Idea: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune have large masses, low densities, and many moons and rings You should be able to: Compare and contrast the gas giant planets Identify the major moons Explain the formation of moons and rings Compare the composition of the gas giants to the sun THE GAS GIANT PLANETS Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are all known as the gas giants They are very large! From about 15 to more than 300 times the mass of Earth Their interiors are either gases or liquids, and they may have small, solid cores GAS GIANTS They are primarily made up lightweight elements such as hydrogen, helium, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen They gas giants all have many satellites as well as ring systems JUPITER Jupiter is the largest planet Its diameter is 1/10th of the sun and 11 times larger than Earth Jupiter makes up 70% of all planetary matter in the solar system JUPITER Jupiter seems bright because its albedo is 0.52 Jupiter has a banded appearance, as a result of flow patterns in its atmosphere Jupiter has a Great Red Spot This spot is an atmospheric storm that has raged for more than 300 years! JUPITER’S RINGS Galileo spacecraft observed Jupiter and its moon during a 5 year mission in the 1990s. It showed two faint rings around the planet in addition to a 6400km wide ring around the Jupiter ATMOSPHERE AND INTERIOR Jupiter is lighter than it may appear in size because it is composed mostly of hydrogen and helium in a gaseous or liquid form Below the liquid hydrogen is a layer of liquid metallic hydrogen Jupiter has a magnetic field due to this metallic hydrogen Earth-sized core JUPITER’S ROTATION Rotates very quickly for its size It spins once every 10 hours, giving it the shortest day in our solar system Because Jupiter rotates so quickly, the clouds slow rapidly as well, in bands of alternating dark and light colors These light and dark colors are known as belts and zones JUPITER’S ROTATION Belts are low, warm, dark coloured clouds that sink Zones are high, cool, light coloured clouds that rise JUPITER’S MOONS Jupiter has more than 60 moons, most of which are really small Jupiters four largest moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto All 4 of the moons are made up of rock and ice JUPITER’S MOONS Because of the gravitational pull of Jupiter, scientists believe the they have been squeezed and heated when they were formed Io, is almost completely molten inside and undergoes constant volcanic eruptions! JUPITER’S MOONS Europa has many cracks and water channels because it is thought that gravitational heating has melted the ice on Europa’s surface Astronomers hypothesize that it still has subsurface oceans of liquid water SATURN Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system Five space probes have visited Saturn including 1. Pioneer 10 2. Pioneer 11 3. Voyagers 1 and 2 4. Cassini ATMOSPHERE AND INTERIOR Saturn is slightly smaller than Jupiter It has a layered cloud system and the planet spins quite quickly for its size Saturn’s atmosphere is mostly made up of hydrogen and helium with ammonia ice near the cloud tops Magnetic field similar to Jupiter that has a small solid core and fluid throughout RINGS The rings of Saturn are large chunks of ice and dust with ice attached to the particles The rings are more visible than other planets because it has 7 major ring systems As you move closer to the planet, the rings get narrower called ringlets RINGS You will never see satellites or moons forming in the rings because the gravitational force and prevented them from forming. The satellites will form just past the ring systems MOONS Saturn has more than 55 satellites including the giant Titan, which is larger than the planet Mercury In 2005, scientists sent a probe to collect data on Titan and found it has a dense atmosphere made up of nitrogen and methane URANUS The blue color of Uranus is caused by methane in its atmosphere, which reflects blue light Uranus’ average temperature is -215°C In 1986, Voyager 2 flew by Uranus which provided detailed information about the planet ATMOSPHERE Uranus is 4 times larger and 15 times more massive than Earth. Uranus is made up of mostly helium and hydrogen There are few clouds STRUCTURE The structure is very similar to that of Jupiter and Saturn It is completely fluid except for a small, solid core It also has a strong magnetic field MOONS AND RINGS Uranus has at least 27 moons and a faint ring system Uranus’ rings are very dark, almost black and faint ROTATION Uranus is tipped so far the its north pole lies on its orbital plane! Scientists believe the planet had a large collision with an asteroid which caused it to be ‘knocked over’ Each pole spends 42 Earth years in darkness and 42 years in sunlight due to this tilt NEPTUNE Few details can be observed with an Earth-based telescope, but in 1989 Voyager 2 flew past and took a picture of its cloud-streaked atmosphere Neptune is the last of the gas giant planets and orbits the sun almost 4.5 billion km away ATMOSPHERE Smaller and less dense than Uranus Radius is 4 times larger than Earth’s Neptune also looks blue due to the methane in the atmosphere Neptune has distinctive clouds and belts and zones like Jupiter ATMOSPHERE In fact, Neptune once had a persistent storm, called the Great Dark Spot, similar to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot It disappeared in 1994 MOONS AND RINGS Neptune has 13 moons, the largest which is called Triton Triton has a retrograde orbit, which means that it orbits backwards compared to the other moons Triton has geysers caused by polar ice made from nitrogen expanding and erupting when heated by the sun RINGS Neptune has 6 rings made up of microscopic dust particles, which do not reflect light well, therefore the rings are not visible from Earth like Saturn’s are