Download Jovian Planets

Jovian Planets
• Far from the sun
• Large
– Mass
– Radius
• Low density
– Primarily gaseous
– No solid surface
• Strong magnetic
fields
• Many moons
• Many rings
Jupiter
Jupiter’s Red Spot
• The Great Red Spot, a
huge storm of swirling
gas that has lasted for
hundreds of years.
• Jupiter does not have a
solid surface. The
planet is a ball of liquid
surrounded by gas.
Saturn
• Saturn is the second largest planet and the sixth from
the sun.
• Saturn is made of materials that are lighter than
water. If you could fit Saturn in a lake, it would float!
Rings of Saturn
• Saturn’s rings are not
solid; they are
composed of small
countless particles.
• The rings are very thin.
Though they’re
250,000km or more in
diameter, they’re less
than one kilometer
thick.
Uranus
• Uranus is the third
largest planet and the
seventh from the sun.
• Uranus is one of the
giant gas planets.
• Uranus is blue-green
because of the methane
in its atmosphere.
Neptune
• Neptune is the fourth
largest planet and the eight
from the sun.
• Because of the orbits, from
1979 to 1999, Neptune was
the ninth planet.
• Like Uranus, the methane
gives Neptune its color.
What About Pluto?
• Pluto does not easily fit into
either category
–
–
–
–
–
Far from the sun (jovian)
Small (terrestrial)
Neither rocky nor gaseous (icy)
One moon
No rings
• It is similar is composition to some moons in
the outer solar system and its orbit is similar
to a group of objects called “Kuiper Belt
Objects” or KBOs
Asteroids
• Small bodies
• Believed to be left over from the
beginning of the solar system billions of
years ago
• 100,000 asteroids lie in belt between
Mars and Jupiter
• Largest asteroids have been given
names
Comets
• Small icy bodies
• Travel past the Sun
• Give off gas and dust as
they pass by
• Most famous is Haley’s
Comet