The Outer Planets p. 575

The Inner Planets to Scale 3,031 mi 7,521 mi 7,926 mi 4,222 mi 5.4 g/cm3 5.2 g/cm3 5.5 g/cm3 3.9 g/cm^3

The Outer Planets to Scale 88,700 mi 75,000 mi 31,700 mi 30,200 mi 1.3 g/cm3 0.7 g/cm3 1.3 g/cm3 1.6 g/cm3

Outer Planet Similarities All are tens of thousands of miles across Much larger than the inner planets All are made of gas - hydrogen and helium No rocky surface like the inner planets Call GAS GIANTS All have many moons and is surrounded by rings All are not very dense (b/c made of gas) Why do the outer planets share these similarities? Why don’t the outer planets have more in common with the inner planets?

Jupiter Largest planet and most massive planet Its mass is 2 ½ times all the planets combined. Colorful cloud bands Thick atmosphere of hydrogen and helium Rapid rotation (9h50m) -250°F at cloud tops Pressure at core is approx. 30 million X greater than earth’s pressure. Has 63+ moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto Jupiter

Great Red Spot Hurricane-like storm, fueled by heat inside of Jupiter Large enough to cover 3 Earths Discovered by Galileo nearly 400 years ago Why can it last so long compared with hurricanes on the Earth? No land to weaken it.

Saturn Least dense planet - Would float on water! 2nd largest planet Atmosphere is hydrogen and helium Bulges because of rapid rotation (10h30m) Large, broad rings

Saturn’s Rings Made of countless small chunks of ice and rock each travelling its own orbit around Saturn. Why don’t the chunks combine to form a moon? Why doesn’t Earth have rings? 170,000 miles wide, <1 mile thick Largest moon-Titan is larger than Mercury Has 60+ moons

Uranus Discovered by accident (1781) Blue-green color from methane in its atmosphere 4X diameter of earth Could hold 1300 Earths Thick atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. -350°F at cloud tops Twice as far from sun as Saturn. Almost featureless; little weather Why might Uranus lack distinctive weather patterns?

Uranus’ Axis Axis tilted 98° from its orbit (rotates top to bottom) Orbits Sun every 84y How would these factors affect its seasons? At least 27 moons

What’s Wrong with Uranus? Following its discovery, astronomers calculated its orbit Uranus mysteriously speeded up, then slowed down Why might Uranus have deviated from its calculated orbit?

Neptune Discovered at its predicted position (1846) At least 13 moons Blue color from methane -370°F at cloud tops Great Dark Spot in 1989, but not 1994 How is this different from the Great Red Spot? Why is its weather different from Uranus? Jupiter?

The S.S. Family Portait

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q www.brainpop.com – jupiter, saturn, uranus, neptune, outer solar system Login-lmscatoosa_teachers pw: warriors