Download Chapter 8 Lecture 3

Chapter 8c
Jovian Planet Systems
8.3 Jovian Planet Rings
Our Goals for Learning
• What are Saturn’s rings like?
• Why do the jovian planets have rings?
What are Saturn’s rings like?
• They are made up of numerous, tiny
individual particles
• They orbit over Saturn’s equator
• They are very thin
Earth-based view
Spacecraft view
Artist’s interpretation of a closeup view
Saturn’s rings
• Many particles of ice and dust orbit Saturn.
• Many particle collisions cause the rings to
be very thin (tens of meters!)
• Gap moons and orbital resonances create
the effect of rings and gaps.
Why do the jovian planets have
rings?
• They formed from dust created in impacts
on moons orbiting those planets
How do we know?
• Rings aren’t leftover from planet formation- the particles are too small to have survived
this long.
• There must be a continuous replacement of
tiny particles.
• The most likely source is impacts with the
jovian moons.
Implications
• Jovian planets all have rings because they
possess many small moons close-in
• Impacts on these moons are random
• Saturn’s incredible rings may be an ‘accident’
of our time
What have we learned?
• What are Saturn’s rings
like?
• Saturn’s rings are
made up of countless
individual particles,
each orbiting Saturn
independently like a
tiny moon. The rings lie
in Saturn’s equatorial
plane, and they are
extremely thin.
What have we learned?
• Why do the jovian planets have rings?
• Ring particles probably come from the dismantling
of small moons formed in the disks of gas that
surrounded the jovian planets billions of years ago.
Small ring particles come from countless tiny
impacts on the surfaces of these moons, while
larger ones come from impacts that shatter the
moons.