Exploring Jovian Planets: Deep Dive into Interiors, Moons, Atmospheres, and Features, Slides of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences

Download Exploring Jovian Planets: Deep Dive into Interiors, Moons, Atmospheres, and Features and more Slides Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences in PDF only on Docsity!

Jovian Planet Systems

(Chapter 11)

Based on Chapter 11

• This material will be useful forunderstanding Chapters 12 and 13 on“Remnants of ice and rock” and“Extrasolar planets”• Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 on“Why does the Earth go around theSun?”, “Momentum, energy, and matter”,“Light”, “Telescopes”, “Our planetarysystem”, “Planetary geology”, and“Planetary atmospheres” will be useful forunderstanding this chapter.

Jupiter and Saturn are mostly H, He with few percent ofices/rock/metalUranus and Neptune are mostly H

O, CH 2

, NH 4

(compounds of 3

hydrogen, ices) with some hydrogen/helium and few percentof rock/metalsWhy are J/S different from U/N?

Jupiter: 318 M

, 1.33 g/cmEarth

3

Saturn: 95 M

, 0.71 g/cmEarth

3

Jupiter is 3x heavier than Saturn. Why isn’t it 3x larger?Same chemical compositions, why are the densities so different?

If you add a little moremass to Jupiter, then itsradius will still increaseIf you add a lot more massto Jupiter, its radius willactually get smallerReason:How materials, such ashydrogen, respond tochanges in pressure atVERY high pressures

Gravity pulls material inwardsRotation flings material outwardsnear the equator

Rapid rotation andrelatively weakgravity makeSaturn 10% widerat equator than polesThis equatorial bulgekeeps moons andrings in the equatorialplaneThe shapes of rockyterrestrial planetslike Earth and Marsare also affected bythis process –despite havingsurfaces of solid rock

Other Interiors

• Saturn = same as Jupiter• Uranus = same as Neptune• U/N:

Hydrogen gasWater/methane/ammonia mantleRock/metal core

• Is mantle liquid or solid?

Neptune

Global Winds on Jupiter

• One convection cell per hemisphere on anon-rotating planet, three per hemisphereon Earth, many on Jupiter – why?• This leads to alternating bands of risingand falling air• On Earth, rising air at equator makes lotsof clouds and rain forests, falling air at 30Nmakes few clouds and deserts• What do you expect to happen on Jupiter?

Brown middle cloud layer is warmer than white, high altitude ammonia cloud layerCompare visible and infra-red imagesVery fast winds, hundreds of miles per hour all the time

Visible

Infra-red

Great Red SpotAn old, big storm

Textbooks say “Jupiter has onlyone Great Red Spot”

Weather on other jovian planets• What causes bands on Jupiter? Should wesee them on the other jovian planets?• Which of the jovian planets have seasons?What information do you need to answer?

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune all havedramatic weather patternsJupiter, Saturn, and Neptune all have bandingSaturn and Neptune don’t show seasonal changes,despite 20

o^ axial tilt – internal heat? Large storm, Great Dark Spot, seen on Neptune, butvanished 6 years laterUranus had no storms/banding 20 years ago, but doesnow. Strong seasons likely due to large axial tilt andlack of any internal heat.