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The Outer Planets The Inner Planets to Scale 3,031 mi 5.4 g/cm3 7,521 mi 7,926 mi 5.2 g/cm3 5.5 g/cm3 4,222 mi 3.9 g/cm^3 The Outer Planets to Scale 88,700 mi 75,000 mi 31,700 mi 30,200 mi 1.3 g/cm3 0.7 g/cm3 1.3 g/cm3 1.6 g/cm3 Outer Planet Similarities • All are tens of thousands of miles across – Much larger than the inner planets • All are made of gas - hydrogen and helium – No rocky surface like the inner planets • All are not very dense (b/c made of gas) • Why do the outer planets share these similarities? • Why don’t the outer planets have more in common with the inner planets? Jupiter • Largest planet • Colorful cloud bands • Rapid rotation (9h50m) • -250°F at cloud tops • Great Red Spot Great Red Spot • Hurricane-like storm, fueled by heat inside of Jupiter • Large enough to cover 3 Earths • Discovered by Galileo nearly 400 years ago – Why can it last so long compared with hurricanes on the Earth? Saturn • Least dense planet Would float on water! • Bulges because of rapid rotation (10h30m) • Large, broad rings Saturn’s Rings • Made of countless small chunks of ice and rock – Why don’t the chunks combine to form a moon? – Why doesn’t Earth have rings? • 170,000 miles wide, <1 mile thick Uranus • Discovered by accident (1781) • Blue-green color from methane in its atmosphere • -350°F at cloud tops • Almost featureless; little weather – Why might Uranus lack distinctive weather patterns? Uranus’ Axis • Axis tilted 98° from its orbit • Orbits Sun every 84y • How would these factors affect its seasons? What’s Wrong with Uranus? • Following its discovery, astronomers calculated its orbit • Uranus mysteriously speeded up, then slowed down – Why might Uranus have deviated from its calculated orbit? Neptune • Discovered at its predicted position (1846) • Blue color from methane • -370°F at cloud tops • Great Dark Spot in 1989, but not 1994 – How is this different from the Great Red Spot? – Why is its weather different from Uranus? Jupiter? The S.S. Family Portait