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General Astronomy I. Saturn (& Voyagers) Chapter 23. Rotation of Jovians. Jupiter solar system's fastest slightly less than ten hours creates equatorial bulge easily seen from Earth centripetal acceleration at equator ~1.67 m/s² equatorial surface gravity ~24.79 m/s² - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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General Astronomy ISaturn (& Voyagers)
Chapter 23
Rotation of Jovians Jupiter
solar system's fastest slightly less than ten hours
creates equatorial bulge easily seen from Earth centripetal acceleration at equator ~1.67 m/s² equatorial surface gravity ~24.79 m/s²
net acceleration at equator ~23.12 m/s² equatorial diameter greater than polar
equatorial diameter is 9275 km longer
Rotation of Jovians Jupiter
not solid – differential rotation in upper atmosphere
rotation of polar atmosphere ~5 minutes longer three systems are used
System I applies from the latitudes 10° N to 10° S 9h50m30.0s
System II elsewhere 9h55m40.6s
System III – first defined by radio astronomers corresponds to the rotation of magnetosphere “official” rotation
Rotation of Jovians Saturn
System I – equatorial zone 10 h 14 min 00 s
System II – all other latitudes 10 h 39 min 24 s
System III – based on radio emissions 10 h 39 min 22.4 s
very close to System II, it has largely superseded it.
Rotation of Jovians Saturn
System III – based on radio emissions from the planet
10 h 39 min 22.4 s very close to System II, it has largely superseded it.
While approaching Saturn in 2004, Cassini found radio rotation period had increased slightly
to ~10 h 45 m 45 s (± 36 s) cause unknown
thought due to movement of radio source to different latitude inside Saturn (with a different rotational period)
Rotation of Jovians Saturn
March 2007, announced rotation of the radio emissions did not actually trace the rotation of planet
produced by convection of the plasma disc, independent of rotation
variance may be caused by geyser activity on Enceladus
water vapor emitted into Saturn's orbit becomes charged and “weighs down” Saturn's magnetic field
If true, no known method of determining actual rotation of core
Rotation of Jovians Saturn
Rotation of Jovians Saturn
Rotation of Jovians Saturn
Rotation of Jovians Saturn
Jupiter Missions
Pioneer 10 – Dec 1973 Pioneer 11 – Dec 1974 Voyager 1 – Mar 1979 Voyager 2 – Jul 1979 Galileo – Dec 1995* Ulysses – Feb 1992/Feb
2004 Cassini – Dec 2000 New Horizons – Feb 2007
Voyager Voyager 1
launched Sept 1977 currently operational
longest-lasting farthest from Earth
Voyager Voyager 1
to be Mariner 11 alignment of planets
Grand Tour gas giants in 12 yrs
instead of 30
Jupiter Jan 1979 Saturn November 1980
Grand Tour terminated
Voyager Voyager 1
As of May 22, 2008 106.4 AU (9.90 billion miles) from Sun
more distant than any known solar-system object light takes over 14.6 hours to reach spacecraft
from Earth Moon ~1.4 light seconds Sun ~8.5 light minutes Pluto averages ~5.5 light hours
Voyager Voyager 1
as of May 2008 17.1 km/s relative to the sun 3.6 AU/year 38,400 miles per hour
Voyager Voyager 1
most distant man-made object most distant known Solar System object
Voyager Voyager 1
2003 terminate scan platform ~2010 terminate gyro ops >2020 power won’t operate any single
instrument RTG
Plutonium-238
Voyager Voyager 1
estimated sufficient power for radio transmitters until at least 2025
48 years after launch
Voyager Web site
Voyager Voyager 2
was to be Mariner 12 launched Aug 1977 most prolific probe ever
completed Grand Tour problems
ground crews forgot to send important activation code
caused the probe to shut down its main high-gain antenna
crews established contact through low-gain antenna and activated it
Voyager
Voyager
Jupiter – Galileo probe Galileo
launched Oct 18 1989 shuttle Atlantis STS-34 arrived Dec 7, 1995 firsts
discovered asteroid moon orbit jupiter launched probe into atmosphere
mission terminated Sep 14, 2005
Jupiter – Galileo probe
Jupiter – Galileo probe
Jupiter – Galileo probe
Jupiter – Galileo probe
Jupiter – Galileo probe Malfunctions
high-gain antenna 134,000 bits/sec low-gain 8-16 bits/sec data compression
160 bps
tape recorder radiation anomalies parachute near-failure
Jupiter – Galileo probe
Jupiter – Galileo probe End of mission
cameras deactivated 17 Jan, 2002 irrecoverable radiation damage
Io
damaged tape recorder electronics recovered
deorbited 21 Sept 2002 14 yrs in space/8 yrs around Jupiter crashed into Jupiter’s atmosphere final mission: measure Amalthea’s mass
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Jovians
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Jovians much larger than terrestrial planets
thick atmospheres, but very inhospitable no solid surfaces mostly hydrogen and helium strong atmospheric circulation
(winds/storms) cloud belt patterns rings multiple moons
Saturn
Cassini-Huygens NASA/ESA/ASI joint mission
named for Giovanni Domenico Cassini French-Italian
Christiaan Huygens Dutch astronomer
launched 15 Oct 1997 reached Saturn Orbit 1 July 2004
Saturn
eclipsing Sun
eclipsing Sun
Changing views
Saturn Named for Roman god Saturn
greek Kronos symbol is stylized sickle
known for magnificent rings 56 confirmed satellites
Saturn – physical data Orbit
9.537 AU 1.427 million km
eccentricity 0.054 orbital inclination 2.48° orbital period 29.45 years period of rotation 10h47m6s axial tilt 26.73°
Saturn – physical data Characteristics
Equatorial diameter 120,536 km 9.449 Earths
Mass 5.685x1026 kg 95.162 Earth density 0.6873 g/cm3 surface gravity 0.914 gee
mean cloudtop temperature: 93 K albedo 0.47
Saturn comparison
~1/3 mass of Jupiter ~16% smaller rotates as rapidly, but twice
as oblate no large heavy-element core
radiates ~1.8 x energy received from Sun
likely heated by liquid He droplets falling toward center
Saturn Magnetosphere
~20 x weaker than Jupiter’s weaker radiation belts not inclined against rotation axis
aurorae centered around poles
Saturn
Saturn Atmosphere
cloud-belt structure not as distinct as Jupiter’s colder: less energy to drive weather
Planetary Atmospheres
Saturn Atmosphere
Three-layered cloud structure, just like on Jupiter
Fewer wind zones much stronger winds winds up to ~500 m/s
near the equator
Saturn
Cassini images northern hemisphere is changing colors
now appears a bright blue similar to Uranus unobservable from Earth – rings in the
way one theory: shadows cast by rings cause
yellow clouds to cool & sink, revealing deeper blue atmosphere
Saturn’s colors
Saturn’s neighborhood
Saturn
Saturn’s Rings Composition
ice & dust observed 1610 Galileo 1655 Christiaan Huygens
proposed ring several gaps
Saturn’s Rings A ring
outermost bounded by
Cassini division & Atlas
10-30 meter thick
outer edge 7:6 resonance with Janus
Saturn’s Rings B ring
innumerable ringlets
some eccentric orbits
spokes… 5-10 m thick resonance with
Mimas
Saturn’s Rings spokes
Voyager 2 22 Aug 1981
Spokes Until 1980, the structure of rings
explained exclusively as the action of gravitational forces Voyager spacecraft found radial features in
the B ring, called spokes not explainable in this manner persistence and rotation around the rings
were inconsistent with orbital mechanics
Spokes Until 1980, the structure of rings
explained exclusively as the action of gravitational forces spokes assumed connected to
electromagnetic interactions rotate almost synchronously with the
magnetosphere of Saturn precise mechanism remains unknown
Spokes imaged by Cassini 2005
appear to be a seasonal phenomenon disappear Saturnian midwinter/midsummer reappear as Saturn comes closer to
equinox not visible when Cassini arrived early 2004
Spokes imaged by Cassini 2005
some scientists speculated that the spokes would not be visible again until 2007, based on models attempting to describe spoke formation
reappeared in images taken September 5, 2005
Saturn’s Rings C ring
wide & faint discovered 1850 5 meter thick
Saturn’s Rings Cassini Division
4800 km across 1675 Giovanni Cassini full of tiny rings
Saturn’s Rings Encke Gap
gap in A ring Pan Cassini observes
2 knotted ringlets
Saturn’s Rings Keeler Gap
42 km gap in A ring Daphnis
discovered May 1 2005
Saturn Keeler Gap
shepherd moon Daphnis
Saturn
Saturn Shepherd Moons
F-ring shepherds Prometheus (102 km) Pandora (84 km)
image 15 Aug 1981 Voyager 2
Saturn Shepherd Moons
F-ring shepherds Prometheus (102 km) Pandora (84 km)
image 1994 Cassini
Saturn Shepherd Moons
Prometheus 14.7 hr orbit periodic ‘gores’
Saturn Shepherd Moons
Pandora (84 km) Janus (181) Prometheus (102 km)
Saturn Shepherd Moons
Prometheus (102 km)
Saturn Shepherd Moons
Keeler Gap Keeler moon (7 km
across) Enke Gap (at right)
Pan
Saturn Shepherd Moons
Pan (26 km across) Spiral density waves
propagate outward
Pan
Saturn Shepherd Moons
Keeler Gap
Saturn Shepherd Moons
Pandora in the F-ring 84 km
Saturn Shepherd Moons
Pandora in the F-ring 84 km
Saturn’s Moons
Saturn’s Moons Enceladus
6th largest water ice surface albedo ~1 terrain old cratered to
tectonically deformed non-global
atmosphere 2:1 resonance with
Dione
Saturn’s Moons
Saturn’s Moons Cryovolcanism
Saturn’s Moons Tethys
icy heavily cratered regions some less cratered
active in past
Saturn’s Moons Tethys
Odysseus crater 400 km ~2/5 of Tethys
Saturn’s Moons Dione
mostly ice rocky interior varied terrain
Saturn’s Moons Rhea
ice small rocky core evidence of
cryovolcanism
Saturn’s Moons Iapetus
3rd largest peculiar shape
neither spherical nor ellipsoid leading hemisphere dark
albedo ~ 0.03-0.05 slight reddish-brown
poles & trailing hemisphere bright albedo 0.5-0.6
Saturn’s Moons Iapetus
no bright craters on dark side indicates recent deposits
equatorial ridge Cassini Dec 2004 some parts 20 km high
Saturn’s Moons
Saturn Resonances
orbital period of a moon is a small-number fractional multiple (e.g., 2:3) of the orbital period of material in the disk
resonance material is cleared out
division!
Saturn Resonances
That’s no moon – that’s a battle station…
Mimas
Saturn’s Moons Mimas
mostly water ice small rock
component Herschel crater
130 km ~1/3 diameter
Cassini division 2:1 orbital
resonance
Saturn’s Moons Smaller moons
Mimas
Saturn Smaller moons
Mimas
Saturn Smaller moons
Enceladus non-global
atmosphere
Saturn Smaller moons
Dione (1118 km)
Saturn Smaller moons
Dione (1118 km)
Rings edge-on dominated by F-ring
Saturn Smaller moons
Telesto (24 km)
Saturn Smaller moons
Hyperion too small to pull into
spherical shape
Saturn Smaller moons
Tethys (1071 km) Craters
Penelope Antinous
Saturn Smaller moons
Tethys & Mimas
Saturn Smaller
moons Atlas (32 km)
between broad A & F
Saturn Origin of Moons
no evidence of common origin, as for Jupiter’s moons
probably captured icy planetesimals moons interact gravitationally, mutually
affecting each other’s orbits Co-orbital moons (orbits separated by only
100 km) periodically exchange orbits Small moons are also trapped in Lagrange
points of larger moons Dione and Tethys
Saturn’s Moons Titan & Enceladus
icy jets at south pole (down)
Saturn’s Moons
Saturn Titan
Explored in detail by the Cassini 2005
Huygens probe about size of
Ganymede 2nd largest in solar
system rocky core/large
amount of ice
Saturn Titan
thick atmosphere hides surface from
direct view
Saturn Titan
Atmosphere mostly nitrogen, methane and ethane
Surface pressure 50% greater than Earth’s
Surface temperature: 94 K (–290° F)
Saturn Titan
Atmosphere methane and ethane
can condense and lead to rain of methane and ethane
Methane is gradually converted to ethane in the atmosphere
Saturn Titan
Atmosphere Methane must be
constantly replenished, probably through breakdown of ammonia (NH3).
Saturn’s Moons
Epimetheus (116 km across) as it passes in front of Titan (5,150 km) and then Dione
(1,126 km)
Saturn’s Moons
Janus and Epimetheus swinging around Saturn's rings
and past Dione
Saturn’s Moons
crater-covered moon Rhea slips between the moons Mimas (top) and Enceladus (bottom)
Saturn’s Moons
far-off Dione slips behind Rhea
Wow!