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Chapter 10: Worlds of Gas and Liquid- The Giant Planets

Chapter 10: Worlds of Gas and Liquid- The Giant Planets. The Giant Planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Some numbers on the giant planets. Uranus & Neptune are discovered worlds. Near IR and visible light images taken with the Keck telescope using adaptive optics.

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Chapter 10: Worlds of Gas and Liquid- The Giant Planets

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  1. Chapter 10:Worlds of Gas and Liquid-The Giant Planets

  2. The Giant Planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune

  3. Some numbers on the giant planets

  4. Uranus & Neptune are discovered worlds Near IR and visible light images taken with the Keck telescope using adaptive optics

  5. William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781 He tried to name it GeorgiumSidus after King George III (yes, it’s the same King George the American colonist called a tyrant). No one outside England liked the name so it became Uranus

  6. The discovery of Neptune is wrapped up in political intrigue

  7. John Couch Adams (England) & Urbain Le Verrier (France) independently predicted Neptune in 1846 based on the orbit of Uranus

  8. After receiving the predicted position from Le Verrier, Johann Galle actually discovered Neptune on September 23, 1846

  9. Jupiter and Saturn are mostly Hydrogen & Helium with other stuff deep in their interior • Atmospheric Composition by mass • 75% Hydrogen • 24% Helium • 1% Other • Overall Planet Composition by mass • 71% Hydrogen • 24% Helium • 5% Heavier elements

  10. Uranus and Neptune have much more heavy elements While the atmosphere is similar in composition to Jupiter and Saturn. The interior is much different. Both have a “rocky” core with a mass about that of Earth and an “icy” mantle with about 10 Earth masses. That makes the overall amount of hydrogen only about 15% of the total mass with helium being only a few percent

  11. Jupiter and Saturn rotate faster at the equator than at the poles Polar Rotation Period 9 hr 55 min 41 sec Equatorial Rotation Period 9 hr 50 min 28 sec Polar Rotation Period10 hr 39 min 25 sec Equatorial Rotation Period10 hr 13 min 59 sec

  12. Differential Rotation Uranus and Neptune probably have differential rotation too but we haven’t been able to measure it

  13. When we look at giant planets all we see are the cloud tops

  14. The wind patterns on Jupiter are extremely complex

  15. The Great Red Spotis a huge anticyclone

  16. Saturn’s Atmosphere: Similar to Jupiter but different

  17. Saturn’s polar vortex storm is very unusual

  18. The weather on Uranus and Neptune is best seen in IR Uranus, especially, has very few clouds and they are deep in the atmosphere. Neptune is more active.

  19. Neptune’s Great Dark Spot was actually a hole in the clouds

  20. The clouds on Jupiter and Saturn are not just water Because Saturn is colder, the layers are deeper down

  21. Uranus and Neptune have similar cloud layers Uranus and Neptune are colder than Saturn so you have to go even deeper down to find the clouds

  22. The winds on Saturn are actually stronger than those on Jupiter

  23. The strongest winds of all are found on Neptune

  24. The zonal winds on Jupiter are driven by strong storm vortexes

  25. Similar processes may drive the winds on Saturn

  26. Much of the internal heat comes from ongoing differentiation This is especially true for Saturn and Neptune

  27. Differentiation in Jupiter and Saturn has resulted in a layered interior structure Liquid metallic hydrogen requires extreme pressure and high temperatures

  28. Uranus & Neptune have more “icy” interiors The pressure inside Uranus and Neptune is never high enough to form liquid metallic hydrogen

  29. The result of all that liquid metallic hydrogen in Jupiter is an enormous magnetosphere

  30. Jupiter’s magnetic field creates radio waves by synchrotron emission

  31. The “donut” in the magnetosphere is created by particle spewed out of volcanoes on Io

  32. Io’s movement through Jupiter’s magnetic field creates a 5 million amp current

  33. Saturn’s Magnetosphere is not as strong as Jupiter’s Saturn’s liquid metallic hydrogen layer is smaller than Jupiter’s but it still creates a huge magnetic field

  34. Uranus & Neptune don’t have liquid metallic hydrogen The highly compressed liquid water and ammonia layer is a good conductor so it can create a magnetic field

  35. Uranus and Neptune have very unusual magnetospheres Their magnetic fields are tilted at an extreme angle from their rotation axis. They are also offset from the center of the planet

  36. A comparison of the orientation of the giant planets magnetic fields

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