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Giant Gas Planets

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

I.

GAS GIANTS
o Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus
o Saturn is 9x wider and 95x more massive than the Earth
o Jupiter is 11x wider and 318x more massive than the Earth

II.

JUPITER'S GREAT RED SPOT


o A gaseous island 2-3x larger than the diameter of the Earth
o Vortex of a violent, long lasting storm
o Rotates counterclockwise
o High, not low, pressure
o Has been visible for 150-300 years
o Contains mass, heat, and energy, making it stable
o Jupiter has no continents or structures to break up the storm
JUPITER'S ATMOSPHERE AND RINGS
o Rings recognized 1600s
o Bright bands (zones) and dark bands (belts) represent different cloud layers
o Stripes more prominent near equator, and less prominent at the poles
o Belts are of interest
o Light areas = upwelling, Dark areas = downwelling
o Eddies are areas that do not fall within a belt or zone; little activity
o Atmosphere consists of water droplets, trace compounds, ammonia hydrosulfate, ice crystals, then
goes down to fluid molecular hydrogen; transition zone ---> fluid metalic hydrogen (shiny), then a
possible core
o Besides Great Red Spot, has brown and white ovals showing other small storms
o Each hemisphere of Jupiter has half-a-dozen currents blowing east or west
o Probe from Galileo measured temperature, density, and composition
o Winds were stronger than expected and increased with depth
o Huge lightning storm clouds and superbolts found
JUPITER'S INTERIOR
o Mostly made of liquid (gas/liquid giant)
o Because of its high pressure, the interior is probably composed of compressed hydrogen surrounding
a rocky core
o Fluid molecular hydrogen flows, and is not hot enough to break up bonds
o Fluid metallic hydrogen is hot and has enough pressure to cause electrons to "jump", making it shiny
o Radiates 1.6x the energy it receives from the sun; still contracting inside and releasing energy
o Core has been augmented from when it was first created because dense materials hit the planet and
move to the center

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VIII.

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XII.

SATURN'S ATMOSPHERE AND STRIPES


o Has stripes that go all the way to the poles
o Stripes are more subtle than Jupiter's
o Few small storms in clouds (near "squiggle area")
o Rotates quickly on its axis (period of 10hrs)
o The quick rotation causes it to be larger across the equator than at the poles
o Has extremely high winds (1800 km/hr)
o Wind speed does not seem to correlate with positions of bands, unlike Jupiter
o Rotating eddies get energy from interior
SATURN'S INTERIOR
o Similar to Jupiter in that it has molecular hydrogen
o Helium droplets within, then metallic hydrogen, then a rocky iron core
URANUS'S ATMOSPHERE
o Blue is a result of methane absorption of other wavelengths and reflected blue-green
o Thick clouds of methane ice crystals with a clear atmosphere of hydrogen
o Distance from the sun makes it very cold
o No evidence of an internal heat source that affects atmosphere
o Deep clouds with not much chemical reactions because of the low temperature
o Large clouds rotate individually
URANUS'S RINGS
o Eleven rings known; dark, reflecting only 2% of light
o 1.7-2.1 times the radius of the planet
o Ring system changes; is relatively young
URANUS'S INTERIOR AND MAGNETIC FIELD
o Has a magnetic field 50x greater than Earth's
o Incredibly tilted by 60
o Voyager 2 detected radio bursts every 17.24 hours; comes from interior and magnetic field as it
rotates
o Interior rotates slightly slower than its atmosphere
o Has molecular hydrogen, water, and an iron, rocky core
o Contains mostly silicon and iron probably surrounded by ices
o Core makes up a substantially larger amount than other giants
NEPTUNE'S ORBIT
o Incredibly cold with a high amount of methane
o Has a Great Dark Spot the size of Earth; is a high pressure region that rotates counterclockwise
o Has disappeared, so was much shorter-lived
NEPTUNE'S INTERIOR AND MAGNETIC FIELD
o Has a temperature 59C from absolute zero
o Has an internal source of heating
o Has a higher percentage of heavy elements
o Detection of radio bursts every 16.11 hours shows that the interior rotates at that rate
o Magnetic field is also greatly tipped and offset from center
BROWN DWARFS
o Considered to massive to be true planets, but are more like "failed stars"
o Do not have a high enough temperature or pressure to sustain nuclear fusion
o Considered missing links between stars and planets
o Many are found in the Orion Nebula
o Form from disks, similar to how stars form
o Could possibly have their own small planet
o A normal star has at least 7.5% of sun's mass
o The detection of lithium is usually an indicator of a brown dwarf

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