Can the Planets Support Life?

1. Can the Planets Support Life? By MS332 Fall

2. Qualities Necessary to Life • Liquid H2O • Appropriate temperature for proteins • An Energy Source • Material – CHNOPS • A protective magnetosphere • A protective atmosphere

3. Liquid Water Brittany Arcila Teri Benedetti Michelle Giffin

4. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars • Mercury: No, too hot • Venus: No, it is 4x water’s boiling point • Earth: Yes • Mars: Not for long terms, it freezes

5. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune • Jupiter: No • Saturn: Yes, small amounts • Uranus: Yes • Neptune: No

6. In Conclusion, Planets With Water Planets Without Water Mercury Venus Mars Jupiter Neptune • Earth • Saturn • Uranus

7. Temperature Eleinnee Thomas Terrellidris Coles-Faulcon Lenore Montalvo

8. Mercury Venus • One of the hottest places in the solar system. 426 C • At equator at noon 820F. • Night time among coldest in solar system -320F. • Poles are very cold. • High temps. All around Venus is 460 C or 900 F. • The carbon dioxide traps in heat.

9. Earth Mars • YOUR LAME!! • I’m Kidding….I promise • Warm day; equator 50F or 10C. • Average -80 F or -62 C

10. Jupiter Saturn • Core and upper atmosphere are different. • Clouds thought -145 C • In atmosphere thought 20 C; average room temp on earth. • -270 F or -168 C • A gas giant

11. Uranus Neptune • -214 C to -224 C or -353 F to -371 F • Clouds -350 F or -193 C • On a wobble • Lowest -218 C or -360 F • Average -200 C or -328 F • South pole -10 C warmer than rest of planet.

12. Magnetosphere • “a region of space surrounding a celestial object (as a planet or star) that is dominated by the object's magnetic field so that charged particles are trapped in it” • http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/magnetosphere http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetosphere Reiman, Bredthauer, Brunson

13. Earth’s Magnetosphere • Prevents most of the particles from the sun, carried through solar wind, from hitting earth • Earth has the strongest magnetosphere of all the rocky planets http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov/science/module4_solarmax/solarmax_planets.html Reiman, Bredthauer, Brunson

14. Terrestrial Planets • Mercury • 1% the strength of Earth’s • Strong enough to trap some atoms from solar wind, but too weak to sustain life • Venus • No more than .09% the strength of Earth’s • Well developed bow shock in outer atmosphere, no evidence charged particles are being trapped • Mars • Too weak, atmosphere to thin to protect from solar flares http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov/science/module4_solarmax/solarmax_planets.html Reiman, Bredthauer, Brunson

15. Jovian Planets • Jupiter • 100x larger and 20,000x greater than Earth’s • If it was a sustainable planet, the magnetosphere would be able to sustain life • Saturn • 500 to 1000x stronger than Earth’s • Uranus • Aurora like emissions in its upper atmosphere leading us to think it has a magnetosphere • Voyer II found the magnetic field is about .01 that of Saturn, which is larger than the sun’s • Neptune • Magnetic field is tilted and offset from the center of the planet • Causes marked changes in the magnetic field as the planet rotates in the solar wind • Field strength varies from 0.1 in the northern hemisphere to more than 1.0 in the southern hemisphere • Has auroras similar to Earth’s http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov/science/module4_solarmax/solarmax_planets.html Reiman, Bredthauer, Brunson

16. Energy Source Junior Rivera Thad Steffen Caylie Seeger

17. Energy Source

21. Atmospheres • Lucero, Alvarez

22. Atmosphere Mercury Venus Atmospheric composition: Major: 96.5% Carbon Dioxide (CO2) 3.5% Nitrogen (N2) Minor Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) – 150 Argon (Ar) – 70 Water (H2O) – 20 Carbon Monoxide (CO) - 17 Helium (He) - 12 Neon (Ne) – 7 Venus has a thick and hot atmosphere and you wouldn’t survive because you couldn't breathe the air and you would be crushed on by the weight of the atmosphere. http://www.solstation.com/stars/venus.htm • Atmospheric composition: • Carbon dioxide: 95.32% • Nitrogen: 2.7% • Argon: 1.6% • Oxygen: 0.13% • Carbon monoxide: 0.07% • Water vapor: 0.03% • Nitric oxide: 0.0013% • Trace gases (including krypton and methane among others) • Mercury has very thin atmosphere because it gets “blown away” by the Sun’s pressure and solar wind. http://thesoultrain.net/tag/how-to-cope-with-mercury-in-retrograde/

23. Atmosphere Earth Mars Atmospheric composition: Carbon dioxide: 95.32%   Nitrogen: 2.7%   Argon: 1.6%  Oxygen: 0.13% Carbon Monoxide : 0.07% Water vapor: 0.03% Mars has a thin atmosphere. Although is small, this is thought to be enough to allow water ice to be frozen into the surface of the planet. http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar_system_level1/mars.html • Atmospheric composition: • Nitrogen - 78.084% • Oxygen - 20.95% • Argon - 0.934% • Carbon Dioxide - 0.036% • Neon - 0.0018% • Helium - 0.0005% • Methane - 0.00017% • Hydrogen - 0.00005% • Nitrous Oxide - 0.00003% • Ozone - 0.000004% • Earth has a thick atmosphere. It blocks some of the Sun’s dangerous rays and it traps heat. http://themeathouseblog.com/2012/04/19/earth-day-2012/

24. Atmosphere Jupiter Saturn Atmospheric composition: Hydrogen: 96.3% Helium: 3.3% Methane: 0.4% Ammonia Water vapor Trace elements Saturn has a thick atmosphere and by that the clouds of Saturn are less colorful than those of Jupiter (more sulfur). http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/investigate/explore/solarsystem/sunplanets/saturn • Atmospheric composition: • Major: • Molecular hydrogen (H2) - 89.8% (2.0%) • Helium (He) - 10.2% (2.0%) • Minor: • Methane (CH4) - 3000 (1000) • Ammonia (NH3) - 260 (40) • Hydrogen Deuteride (HD) - 28 (10) • Ethane (C2H6) - 5.8 (1.5) • Water (H2O) - 4 (varies with pressure) • Jupiter has a thick and most atmospheric motion. http://starryskies.com/solar_system/Jupiter/jupiter.html

25. Atmosphere Uranus Neptune Atmospheric composition: Hydrogen (H2) 80% Helium (He) 19% Methane (CH4) 1.5% Neptune has a thick atmosphere and it shows a striped pattern of clouds. https://www.geology.ucdavis.edu/iype/sept/9_23.html • Atmospheric composition: • Hydrogen: 83% • Helium: 15% • Methane: 2% • Uranus has a thick atmosphere. The planet appears to be blue-green because the methane gas of the atmosphere traps red light and does not allow that color to escape. http://www.officialpsds.com/Planet-uranus-PSD20012.html

26. CHNOPS Mercury Venus Carbon: 96.5% carbon dioxide Hydrogen: small amount in water vapor Nitrogen: 3.5% Oxygen: small amount in water vapor Phosphorus: trace Sulfur: 0.015% sulfur dioxide • Carbon: trace amounts in form of carbon dioxide • Hydrogen: 22% • Oxygen: 42% • Phosphorus: Potentially rich • Sulfur: trace

27. CHNOPS Earth Mars Carbon: 95.32% carbon dioxide Hydrogen: .021% water vapour Oxygen: 1.3% Phosphorus: rich Sulfur: abundant in compounds • Carbon: .035% carbon dioxide, .00001% methane, largely captured by plants • Hydrogen: .00005%, contained in water vapor and methane • Nitrogen: 78.084% • Oxygen: 20.946% • Phosphorus: 1.5% • Sulfur: .05% but more abundant in compounds

28. CHNOPS Jupiter Saturn Carbon: small amounts Hydrogen: NH3 Ammonia gas Nitrogen: NH3 Oxygen: small amount H2O Ice crystals Phosphorus: small amount Sulfur: ammonium hydrosulfide gas clouds-red color • Carbon: small amounts • Hydrogen: NH3 Ammonia gas • Nitrogen: NH3 • Oxygen: small amount H2O near core • Phosphorus: small amount • Sulfur: ammonium hydrosulfide gas clouds-red color

29. CHNOPS Uranus Neptune Carbon: small amount Hydrogen: CH4 - methane Nitrogen: NH3 - ammonia Oxygen: small amount Phosphorus:? Sulfur: ? • Carbon: tiny amount • Hydrogen: CH4 - methane • Nitrogen: NH3 - ammonia • Oxygen: small amount • Phosphorus: ? • Sulfur:?