Download Section 14.4 Outer Planets

Outer Planets
Outer Planets
The gas giantsJupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, and
Neptune
Much larger than
Earth and do not
have solid surfaces
Atmospheres are
all very similar to
each other
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Mostly hydrogen
and helium gas
Jupiter (Roman Supreme God)
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Very thick atmosphere-mostly hydrogen and
helium
Great Red Spot - ongoing storm that is at
least twice the size of Earth.
The largest of all the planets
Has 67+ moons
The Great Red Spot
Jupiter’s Moons
The 4 Galilean Moons
The Great Red Spot
Saturn (Roman God of Agriculture)
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Second largest planet
Has 63+ moons
Rings of ice and rock orbit the planet and can
be seen from earth without special optics
Saturn’s Moons
Saturn’s Rings
High resolution
photographs from the
Voyager missions indicate
that the rings of Saturn
are composed of
hundreds of thousands
of "ringlets", and that
regions like the largest
"gap" called the Cassini
division, also contain
fainter rings. They may
possibly be either a moon
torn apart by tidal forces,
or material that was never
allowed to turn into
moons because of the
tidal forces.
Uranus (Roman’s Earliest Supreme
God – Grandfather of Jupiter)
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Rotates from top to bottom-tilted 90
Looks bluish because of methane in
atmosphere
Has 27+ moons
Uranus’s Moons
Voyager 2 obtained
clear, high-resolution
images of each of the
five large moons of
Uranus known at the
time: Miranda, Ariel,
Umbriel, Titania,
and Oberon . The two
largest, Titania and
Oberon, are about
1,600 kilometres (1,000
miles) in diameter,
roughly half the size
of Earth's Moon.
Neptune (Roman God of the Sea)
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Atmosphere similar to other gas giants and has
visible clouds
Had a Great Dark Spot - storm the size of
earth that is now gone
Has 13+ moons
Pluto (Roman God of the
Underworld)
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Is now a dwarf planet – it orbits the sun, is near
spherical shape, does not “clear it’s neighborhood”
(meaning it has become gravitationally dominant, and
there are no other bodies of comparable size other
than its own satellites or those otherwise under its
gravitational influence), and is not a satellite
Has a solid surface
Size is less than 2/3 Earth’s moon
Takes 248 years to revolve around the sun once
Has 3 moons