The Gas Giant Planets

Jupiter

• Origin of name: From the king of the gods, Zeus or Jupiter

• Orbit: Radius 5.20 AU [period 11.9 yr, eccentricity 0.05].

• from space, its moons look like a complex miniature solar system.

• Size: 11.2 Earth radii, 318 Earth masses• More mass than all the other planets together• Low density

Composition• Mostly H2 (70%)• Dense core • Surrounding layer of liquid metallic hydrogen

Thin ring system

Magnetic field• 14 times stronger than Earth's• Filled with energetic charged particles

emitting radio waves• Deformed by the solar wind, has a long tail

extending beyond the orbit of Saturn!

Jupiter’s atmosphere

• http://haydenplanetarium.org/resources/ava/page/index.php?file=P0413jupispot

• http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001123.html

Great red spotA thunderstorm larger than EarthAt least 300 years old

Moons

• At least 63• 4 large moons called the Galilean moons, discovered by Galileo

• Io, • Europa, • Ganymede (largest moon in Solar System, larger than Mercury)• Callisto.

Io

Europa

Ganymede

Callisto

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imbxqv_5TJU&feature=related

Saturn

Distance of 9.5 A.U. from Earth95 Earth masses 9.4 Earth radii

Atmosphere

• Hydrogen (94%)• Small amounts of helium (6%) and methane

• http://science.discovery.com/videos/space-school-saturn.html

Cassini –Huygens spacecraft

Saturn’s rings

• Made of particles and water ice

Saturn’s Moons• 50 known moons (the most recent ones

announced in 2005)• Pan (20 km in diameter)• Titan

Titan

• Seen by Huygens in 1655• Bigger than Mercury• Thick atmosphere (with N, Ar, methane,

ammonia, and 470 mph winds!)• May have lakes of liquid methane and pre-life

conditions

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html

Uranus

Uranus

• Discovered by William Hershel in 1781

• Almost 20 AU from the Sun• 4 times the Earth's size• 29 known moons, likely more• Atmosphere is mostly H and He• Thin ring system

http://science.discovery.com/videos/space-school-uranus.html

Neptune

• first planet found by mathematical prediction rather than by empirical observation (1846)

Urbain Le Verrier

• Orbit: Radius about 30 AU• More distant than Pluto• 4 times the Earth's size • 17 times the mass• Smaller and more massive than Uranus.

Atmosphere

• 80% hydrogen• 19% helium• Trace of methane

Great Dark Spot

1. Upper atmosphere, top clouds.2. Atmosphere consisting of hydrogen, helium, and methane gas.3. Mantle consisting of water, ammonia, and methane ices.4. Core consisting of rock (silicates and nickel-iron).

• 13 known moons

Proteus

Triton

http://science.discovery.com/videos/space-school-neptune.html

Pluto• Not visible with the naked eye• Predicted in the 1800‘s• Observed in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh

• Named by Venetia Phair

• Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, are sometimes treated as a binary system

• Pluto's orbit is highly inclined relative to the ecliptic (over 17°) and highly eccentric (elliptical)

Pluto from Hubble

http://video.pbs.org/video/1425502261/

Kuiper belt

• Home to at least three dwarf planets – Pluto, Haumea, and Makemake

• 70,000+ objects over 100 km (62 mi) in diameter

http://video.pbs.org/video/1511285532/