1. Jovian Planets

2. Composition

3. Jupiter is composed of 97% H and He Saturn is composed of 90% H and He
Uranus and Neptune are CH4 H2O and NH3
Neptune and Uranus are more dense than Jupiter and Saturn
Jupiter is more dense than Saturn
Beyond frost line where it is possible for H compounds to condense.
Form around an icy planetesimal

4. Jupiter Saturn a = 5.20 AU R = 11.2REarth M = 318MEarth ρ = 1.33 g/cm3

7. Inside Jupiter
Formed around rock and metal core weighing about 10x Earth
The rest is H, compressed into strange phases

8. Inside Other Jovian Planets
Similar compositions, but less mass means less of the strange liquid and metallic H
(Uranus and Neptune have only gaseous H)

9. Magnetic Fields Rotating Metallic H creates strong field
~20,000x as strong as Earth’s

11. Jupiter’s Colors
Yellow = NH3
Rust = (NH4)SH
Blue/White = H2O

12. Neptune
CH4

13. Coriolis Effect From the ball’s perspective it makes a straight line
From the dot’s perspective, it makes a curve
Go to animated version at wikipedia

14. Jupiter’s fasts rotation creates extreme Coriolis Effect, stretching weather patterns all the way around the planet

15. The Great Red Spot
Been there as long as astronomers have looked at Jupiter
2-3x size of Earth

16. Similar Weather on Other Planets

17. Jovian Satellites

18. 150+ known satellites of Jovian planets
Largest satellites were likely formed with planets
Smaller ones were likely captured
Largest satellites resemble terrestrial planets
Spherical
Solid Surface
Geology
Hot interiors
Atmospheres
Magnetic fields

19. Galilean Satellites

20. Orbital Resonance
When orbital periods of two or more bodies are integer multiples
Causes orbits to be more elliptical

21. Io Most volcanically active body in the solar system
Great eruption in 1996 photographed by Galileo
Plume extends 60 miles above surface
Blue due to frozen sulfur dioxide

22. Tidal Heating Tidal Friction is caused by elliptical orbit
Stronger tides on one side of orbit than other
Cause by orbital resonances
Tidal Friction heats up the body

23. Europa Surface covered in water ice
Tidal stresses heat water, keep liquid layer under the surface
Very few craters, indicates geological activity

25. Titan
Thick atmosphere of 90% N, Hydrocarbons
Oceans of methane

26. Rings

27. Saturn’s Rings Large gap called “Cassini division”
Due to orbital resonance with satellite, Mimas
Made up of tons of tiny particles of mostly ice

28. Gaps
Rings caused by particles being bunched up into similar orbital distances
Gaps caused by:
Small “gap moons”
Orbital resonances with larger satellites

30. Cause of Rings All Jovian planets have rings
Not remnants of ancient formation material
That material would not last billions of years
Must be constantly resupplied
Constant collisions of small satellites
Get broken down into smaller and smaller pieces