Allison Thompson Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Jovian Planet System

What are Jovian planets made of?
-Jupiter and Saturn
Mostly H and He gas.
-Uranus and Neptune
Mostly hydrogen compounds; water, methane, ammonia
Some H He and rock.
-Jovian planets formation
Jovian cores are similar
Jovian planets are different because of the h/he gas

-Differences in jovial planet formations
Timing, the planet that forms earliest captures the most h/he gases
Location, the planet that forms the denser core in the nebula.
Density -Uranus and Neptune are denser than Saturn.
-Sizes of Jovian planets
Adding mass to Jovian planets compress the underlying gases
Greater compression is Why Jupiter is not Much larger than Saturn, but is denser.
Jovian planets with even more mass can be smaller than Jupiter.

What are Jovian planets like on the inside?
-Jupiter and Saturn cores are made of rocks, metal, and hydrogen compound.
-Uranus and Neptune cores are made of metal rock water methane.
-Interior of Jovian planets
No solid surface
Layers under high pressure and high temperature
Cores made of hydrogen compounds, metals, rocks
Layers are different for different planets.
-Inside Jupiter
High pressure inside of Jupiter causes Phases of hydrogen to change depth
Hydrogen acts like a metal at great depths because electrons move freely.
Core is thought of to be made of rock, metals, hydrogen compounds
-Comparing Jovian interiors
Jupiter’s strong magnetic fields gives it an enormous magnetosphere
Gases escaping Io feed donut shaped Io torus.

What is the weather like on Jovian planets?
-Jupiter's atmosphere
hydrogen compounds in Jupiter form clouds
Different layers correspond to freezing points of different hydrogen compounds.
other Jovian planets have similar cloud layers.
Ammonium sulfide clouds reflect brown/red
Ammonia the highest coldest layers reflect white.
Saturn's layers are similar but are deeper and farther from the sun.
Jupiter's great red spot , twice as wide as earth has existed for 3 centuries
-Methane on Uranus and Jupiter
-Weather on Jovian planets
All the Jovian planets have strong winds.

8.2

What  kinds of  moons orbit the Jovian planets?
-sizes of moons
 Small have No geological activity
Far more numerous than large and medium
Not enough gravity
Medium
 Large

Why are Jupiter’s Galilean moons geologically active?
-Io is the most volcanically active body in the solar system.
-Volcanic eruptions
-Tidal heating
Io squished as it orbits Jupiter
-Every seven days these three  moons line up
- tugs add up over time making

What geological activity do were see on Titan and other moons?
- Titan is the only moon in the solar system that has a thick atmosphere
-It consists of mostly of nitrogen with argon methane and ethane
-Surface;
the Huygens probe provides the first look at titan's surface in early 2005
Had liquid methane rocks made of ice
Radar images imaging of titans surface has revealed dark smooth regions that maybe lakes of liquid methane.
-Moons of Saturn
Almost all show past activity of volcanic activity
Fountains of ice particles and water vapor from the surface.
-Medium moons if Uranus
Varying amounts of geological activity
-Triton
Similar to Pluto but larger
Evidence for past geological activity

Why are Jovian planet moons more geologically active than small rocky planets?
-Rocky planets vs. Icy moon
rocks melt at higher temperature vs. ice melts are lower temps
only large rocky planets have enough heat for activity vs. tidal heating can melt internal ice driving activity.

8.3

What are Saturn rings like?
-Numerous tiny particles
-Orbit over Saturn’s equation
-Very thin
-Gap moons
small moons create gaps within rings

Why do the jovial planets have rings?
-All 4 Jovian planets have ring systems
-form from dust crated in Impacts on moons orbiting those planets
-rings aren't left over from planet formation to small to survive this long
-continuous replacement if particles
-Jovian planets all have rings because They posses many small moons close in
-impacts on these moons are random
-Saturn incredible rings maybe an accident