1. The Gas Giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) Pluto and Beyond
The Outer Planets
The Gas Giants
(Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune)
Pluto
and Beyond

2. The Gas Giants Located outside the asteroid belt
Much larger and more massive than terrestrial planets
Much less dense than terrestrial planets
Large size gives them huge amounts of gravity to retain gasses
Even though the thick atmospheres of hydrogen and helium make it difficult for scientists to directly view the surface of the gas giants, they believe each planet probably has a core made of rock and metals
All four gas giants have a ring system made of dust and icy debris

3. Jupiter Location: 5th planet from the sun Rotation: 9 hours 50 minutes
Revolution: 12 years
Temperature: -160°C (outer atmospheric layers)
as high as 30,000 °C in core
Its mass is more than 300 times that of Earth and is twice that of the other eight planets combined.
Jupiter has 60 moons, 4 of which are large and several thin rings.
Gravity: 2.54 times that of Earth
Diameter: 11 times Earths
Density: 24% of Earths

4. Jupiter’s Atmosphere
Jupiter’s atmosphere is much like the suns; 92% hydrogen and helium, however when it formed, it did not have enough mass for nuclear fusion to begin and never became a star.
The bands of color on Jupiter’s surface are most likely organic molecules mixed with ammonia, methane and water vapor.
Jupiter’s rapid rotation causes the gasses to separate into bands

5. Weather and Storms on Jupiter
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is a
giant rotating storm similar
to a hurricane.
This storm has been raging for several hundred years.
The Galileo space probe measured wind speeds of up to 540 km/hr.
Many storms occurring at once on Jupiter at all times, some small, and scientists believe the planets internal heat has a greater impact on the weather than the suns energy does.

6. Saturn Location: 6th planet from the sun Rotation: 10 hours 30 minutes
Revolution 29.5 years
Temperature: -176°C due to distance from sun
Saturn is the least dense of all planets
Saturn has at least 30 moons
Titan is the largest moon; it is half the size of Earth
Gravity: 1.07 times that of Earth’s
Diameter: 9.4 times Earth’s
Density: 13% of Earth’s
Saturn’s atmosphere is almost entirely Hydrogen and Helium

7. Saturn’s Bands and Rings
Saturn’s rings are 2 times its diameter.
The rings are made of billions
of dust and ice particles from
comets or other bodies.
The space probe Cassini was
what scientists used to learn
about Saturn and its large moon Titan

8. Uranus Location: 7th planet from the sun Rotation: 17 hours
Revolution: 84 years
Temperature:
cloud top temp:-214°C
center of core: 7,000°C
Uranus has 24 moons
It also has 11 rings
Uranus is the 3rd largest planet
Gravity: 91% of Earth’s
Diameter: 4 times that of Earth’s
Density: 24% of Earth’s
Atmosphere mainly H and He

9. Uranus’s Rotation
Most planets rotate with their axis perpendicular to their orbital planes as they revolve around the sun.
Uranus’s axis is almost parallel to the plane of orbit
Voyager 2 is the probe that made the discoveries about Uranus.

10. Neptune Location: 8th planet from the sun Rotation: 16 hours
Revolution: 164 years
Temperature: average cloud top -225°C
Moons: at least 8
Rings: possibly 4
Gravity: 1.2 times that of Earth’s
Diameter: 3.9 times that of Earth’s
Density: 30% of Earth’s
Images from Voyager 2 and the Hubble Space Telescope have helped scientists understand Neptune.

11. Neptune’s Atmosphere Made mostly of hydrogen, helium and methane.
The white clouds are frozen methane
Strong winds exceed 1,000 km/hr
The Great Dark Spot: a storm the size of Earth appeared and disappeared on Neptune’s surface.

12. Pluto demoted
Summer 2006, about 2,500 scientists met in Prague, Czechoslovakia to re-define what qualifies a celestial body as a planet. They came up with these:
1. It must be in orbit around the Sun.
2. It must be large enough that it takes on a
nearly round shape.
3. It has cleared its orbit of other objects.

13. More on Pluto
Pluto was automatically disqualified because its highly elliptical orbit overlaps with that of Neptune.
Another critical blow for Pluto was the discovery three years ago of the object designated 2003 UB313 or also called Eris, because it is 3,000 km (1,864 miles) in diameter which is bigger than Pluto.
Both Pluto and Eris will be called Dwarf Planets along with the biggest asteroid in the Solar System, Ceres which is found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter

14. Pluto’s Statistics Pluto and it’s moon Charon
Location: Beyond Neptune, near the Kuiper Belt
Rotation: 6.4 days
Revolution: 248 years
Temperature: -235°C
Gravity: 1% of Earth’s
Diameter: 20% of Earth’s
Density: 32% of Earth’s
Moon: Charon (1/2 Pluto’s size)
Pluto and it’s moon Charon

15. Kuiper Belt and Sedna
Kuiper Belt - A region of the solar system that is just beyond the orbit of Neptune and contains small bodies made mostly of ice.
Sedna – a celestial body ¾ the size of Pluto and orbits 3 times farther than Pluto. Located beyond the Kuiper Belt

16. Exoplanets Planets that orbit other stars than our Sun
Over 100 discovered
Found due the gravitational effect they have on the stars they orbit.
All exoplanets that have been identified are larger than Uranus

17. The New Solar System