The Jovian Planets

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Lecture 24: The Jovian Planets Astronomy 141 – Winter 2012 This lecture compares and contrasts the properties of the four Jovian Planets of the Solar System. Jupiter and Saturn are Gas Giants: mostly hydrogen & helium with deep metallic hydrogen mantles and rocky cores. Uranus and Neptune are Ice Giants: thin hydrogen & helium atmospheres over deep ice & rock mantles. All have reducing atmospheres dominated by Hydrogen chemistry. All Jovian planets have extensive moon systems, including 6 of the 7 giant moons of our Solar System. The Outer Planets are gas giants and ice giants Neptune Gas Giants: Uranus Jupiter & Saturn 5 & 10 AU from the Sun Saturn Jupiter Ice Giants: Uranus & Neptune 20 & 20 AU from the Sun Jupiter The Gas Giants Saturn 318 ME 11.2 RE 95.2 ME 9.44 RE Jupiter and Saturn are Gas Giants: deep H & He atmospheres with metallic hydrogen mantles. Cloud Tops Molecular Hydrogen Metallic Hydrogen Rock & Ice Cores Jupiter Saturn Jupiter and Saturn radiate more energy than they receive from the Sun. Slowly contracting under their own weight. Gravitational contraction releases energy that heats their interiors and powers their weather. The Ice Giants Uranus Neptune 14.5 ME 17.1 ME 4.01 RE 3.88 RE Uranus and Neptune are Ice Giants, with deep, slushy mantles of H2O, NH3, and CH4 ices. Molecular Hydrogen Rocky Core Slushy “Ice”Mantles Uranus Neptune The giant planets have H- and He-rich atmospheres because they are large enough to hold onto them. Ice Giants Gas Giants The Jovian Planets have no solid surfaces, and atmospheres dominated by Hydrogen Chemistry Earth Uranus Neptune Saturn Jupiter Reducing Atmospheres rich in H2, H2O, CH4, NH3 and He Terrestrial Planets have Oxidizing Atmospheres rich in H2O, CO2, and N2 (O2 on Earth). Jupiter has 63 named moons, four of which are the giant Galilean Moons. 4 Galilean moons: Large (>3000 km) Spherical Differentiated 59 Small moons: Small (<200 km) Irregular in shape Undifferentiated Total mass <0.1% mass of Europa The Galilean Moons are giant moons, three larger than our own Moon. Io Europa (3130 km) Ganymede Callisto (3642 km) (5262 km) (4806 km) Io and Europa are mostly rocky Ganymede and Callisto are mixed rock and ices Moon (3474 km) Saturn has 61 moons, including the Giant Moon Titan and 6 spherical icy moons. Sizes: 1 – 1500 km >300 km are spherical <300 km are irregular Density: 0.3 – 1.5 g/cc Rock+Ice or mostly Ice Ancient, heavily cratered surfaces. The Large Moons of Saturn Diameter > 200 km Titan Mimas Enceladus Tethys Dione Rhea Hyperion Phoebe Iapetus Uranus has 27 known moons, none large enough to be Giant Moons. Oberon Titania Umbriel Miranda Ariel Neptune has 13 known moons, the largest is the Giant Moon Triton. Most of the moons are tiny, icy, and irregular in shape. Triton Triton most resembles the icy Larissa Dwarf Planets Pluto & Eris Proteus The Giant Moons are larger than most of the Dwarf Planets. The moon Titan is big enough to have a heavy atmosphere of Nitrogen (N2) and Methane (CH4)..

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