This Powerpoint

presentation, on

Jovian
Planets
is copyrighted by Not to
Lauren Likkel,
scale
University of Wisconsin
--
Eau Claire
2009
 Jovian Planets: Jupiter-like
• Huge “gas giants”
• No solid surface
• low density
• rings
• many moons
• far from sun

• large distances
between them
composition: Jovian
hydrogen, helium, planet
methane, ammonia; s
some water
Jupiter: the biggest Jovian
planet

• Revolution: 12 years
How many constellations does
Jupiter pass through each year?
 Composition of Jupiter
86% H
most of the rest is Helium,

This is similar to the composition the

solar nebula had!
 Jupiter
Note a moon, and the
shadow of the moon

Contrast with Earth:

11D® 318M®
“surface” gravity:
2.5 times Earth’s,
twice that of any planet!
Jupiter, animated image

• Fast rotation
• (~ 10 hour day)
 Jupiter’s Great Red Spot
animated

• A storm that has lasted >300 years

 Storm systems: hurricanes
• Neptune’s Dark Spot

• Hurricane Katrina • Great Red

Spot
 Jupiter:
• Rings discovered by Voyager:
thin; dust particles

All four Jovian planets have rings

 Jupiter: Galilean moons
• Moons: over 50
Galilean moons:
Io, Europa,
Callisto, Ganymede
 Galilean moons: Europa
I

Very icy!
• Believed to have oceans under the ice layer
• Looks like road map
Io
Galilean moons: Io
Active volcanoes
Tidal stretching
 Saturn
Lowest density planet
(lower than water!)
density=mass/volume

Compare to Earth:
9.5 D® 95M ® 9.5AU
rotation: 10h 14min
revolution 29.5 years
Relative size of Earth
Would take most of the space between
Earth and moon
Different view depending on where
Saturn is in its orbit
 Crescent Saturn: Voyager 1980

Note Cassini
Division

Best known ring system!

What causes the rings to glow?
 Saturn
Rings:
• Shine by reflected
sunlight, like planets
• thin (1-2 miles thick)
• Why the ring particles
haven’t formed moons:
tidal forces • dust, rocks, boulders
> ring particles orbit
> Kepler’s third law
 Titan atmosphere:
nitrogen and methane

Titan is larger than our moon, Mercury or Pluto.

 Saturn’s Moons

Shown here are a few of the most recognizable moons of Saturn.

This image is to scale.
Titan’s surface is hidden by clouds. Huygens
probe landed in January 2005.
 The smaller
gas giants:
Uranus and Neptune

Both about: 4DEarth 15MEarth

Blue planets: more methane (CH4)
What colors does methane absorb?
Uranus and Neptune
Neptune was discovered in 1846, based on
predictions calculated by perturbations in the
orbit of Uranus.
It was almost discovered by Galileo in 1613
(if it was clear for a few more days he would
have noticed that it moved).
Neptune is smaller in diameter but larger in
mass than Uranus.
 Uranus
• 84 years to orbit Sun
• huge axis tilt
• Retrograde rotation
 Neptune

Almost 165
years to
orbit the Sun
 Neptune
proposed
structure;
similar to
Uranus

Jupiter;
similar to Saturn.
Less water, more
compressed H