Astronomy Quiz 4

Jupiter Characteristics

1) Jupiter is twice as massive as all the other planets combined 2) Jupiter is mostly dominated by gas throughout like the sun that is also majority gas 3) Jupiter is nearly a star because it radiates more energy than it receives throughout the solar system 4) The magnetic field of Jupiter is much grater than other planets because of its large mass and faster rotation 5) We don't know much about its interior structure because of lack of research/data (mystery)

Jupiter Fact Sheet

1) Physical Properties Relative to Earth- Density: 0.24 Mass: 318 Radius: 11.2 Gravity: 2.54 (100 lb > 254 lb) 2) Has a very fast prograde rotation that is about 10 hrs and varies with latitude 3) Orbital Period is 11.9 years 4) Distance from Sun: 5.2 AU (semi-major axis) 5) Jupiter Moons: Jupiter has more than 60 including the 4 Galilean Moons which is a "miniature solar system" 6) B-Field: 20-30 times Earth 7) Has a ring of small particles the size of dust in a room that must be temporary throughout

Evolution of Solar System

1) Strong initial Solar Wind caused high radioactive crusts of planets with no shielding by atmosphere or magnetic fields 2) Outgasing from interior volcanoes causes atmospheres with more massive having more geological activity 3) Bombardment from remaining debri causes cratering episode peaking about 4 billion years ago and triggers volcanic episode as "clean up phase" of land 4) Jupiter's Gravity: Because it is so strong it flings some planet materials around the solar system, creating collisions, moons, kuiper belt, and prevents formation of planet in asteroid belt

Facts about Solar System Needed Explanation

1) Sun has most of the mass 2) Orbits of planets lie roughly in the same pane 3) Rotational equator of the Sun is nearly in this plane which is the orbital plane of the planets 4) Planetary orbits are nearly circular 5) Most planets revolve around the Sun in the prograde sense (the same direction the Sun rotates) 6) Planets differ in composition 7) The composition of the planets varies roughly with the distance from the sun: dense, material rich planets lie close and giant, hydrogen-rich planets lie farther out 8) Meteorites differ in chemical and geological properties from all known planetary and lunar rocks 9) The sun and all the planets except Venus and Uranus rotate on their in the same prograde direction with similar tilt 10) Planets and most asteroids rotate with similar periods of 5-10 hours unless slowed by tidal forces 11) Distances between planets usually obey Bode's Law 12) Planet-moon systems resemble the solar system in minature 13) Most comets orbit in an almost spherical swarm around the Sun at great distance forming the Oort cloud and Kuiper Belt 14) The planets have most of the angular momentum (a measure of orbital speed, distance, and mass) the Sun has comparatively little

Uranus and Neptune

Although not popular, both of these planets have rings

Internal Structure of Giant Planets

Although we don't know the exact internal structure of Jupiter, we know that outer planets are predicted to have little rock in middle, then little ice, a lot of metallic hydrogen, and then some molecular hydrogen (gasses)

Jovian Large Planet Characteristics

Because they are farther from the sun, these Jovian planets tent to be colder than inner planets making atmospheric gas harder to escape and also ice common throughout these planets

Bode's Law Sequence

Begin with these numbers (twice the value of past number except 0,3): 0 3 6 12 24 48 96 192 384 Add 4 to each number: 4 7 10 16 28 52 100 196 388 Then divide all by 10: 0.4 0.7 1.0 1.6 2.8 5.2 10.0 19.6 38.8 These resulting numbers are very close to the distribution of mean distances of planets from the sun when compared to the Actual Distance in AU

Bode's Law on Moons

Bode's Law has been done on moons and proves that it also applies to the distances of moons

Interior of Ice Giants (Neptune/Uranus)

Both have a very small rocky core, dense liquid water and methane mantle after, and then base of atmosphere, cloud tops after, and then haze layer. With rock inside then ice then molecular hydrogen

Callisto (Jupiter Moon)

Characteristics: Farthest out of the four moons, size of Mercury planet, only slight erosion, no atmosphere, ice is as hard as rock at low temperatures but erosion happens because os sublimation of ice over billion of years that creates an ice crystal "soil" that buries parts of surface of eroded craters

Europa

Characteristics: Has few craters throughout meaning that it is geologically young, many cracks, looks like an old cue ball from distance, 20% ice, 80% rock, and lava here is water because tidal heating and radioactive decay combine to keep Europa looking young, has a broken floating ice crust the size of Nebraska and also has freezing and refreezing ice with slush/liquid water underneath which has caused debate on wether or not there is life

Ganymede (Jupiter Moon)

Characteristics: Largest moon in the solar system (used to be and bigger than Mercury, heavily cratered, low density like Castillo with ice, 50% water ice and 50% rock, has ice lithosphere with plates with no relative motion meaning it went from geologically active to nonactive with a lot of fracture patterns seen

Io (Jupiter Moons)

Characteristics: Names the "volcano world" with many active volcanoes erupting, 120 currently known, all erupting continuously meaning that surface is recovered every million years, plumes of sulfur and gases rise 100 kilometers high, lots of sulfur and related compounds (yellow), has 4 "moonlets" which are small and not actual moons with Io ejecta material , creates Plasma Torus by interacting with Jupiter magnetic field, high density suggests iron core

Uranus Crazy Tilt

Compared to Earth that tilts sideways, Uranus tilts completely opposite up and down throughout with its rings

Fermi Paradox

If N is so large from the optimistic point of view then where is everyone? This is a mystery that needs to be solved but there are a lot of guesses of why we have not seen or contacted other civilizations

Larger Moons Gravity

Larger moons tend to be more round than smaller moons because there is more gravity force pushing on them

Lighting in Jupiter

Lightning happens in Jupiter with galileo probe that has shown this happening

Drake Equation

N = R * Fp * Ne * Fl * Fi * Fc * L N= Number of intelligent civilizations currently in our galaxy R= Rate of formation of stars Fp= Fraction of stars with a planetary system Ne= Average number of planetary environments suitable for life Fl= Fraction of planets with an environment suitable for life Fi= Fraction of planets with life on which intelligent life emerges Fc= Fraction of planets with intelligent life with civilization L= Average longevity of an intelligent civilization

Saturn Fact Sheet

Physical Properties Relative to Earth- Density: 0.13 (would float in your tub) Mass: 95.2 Radius: 9.41 Gravity: 1.07 (100 lb > 107 lb) Fast Prograde Rotation: Sideral Period is 10 hrs 40 mins with differences with latitude Orbital Period: 29.4 years Distance from Sun: 9.5 AU Moons: Has many moons with 18 large ones Magnetic Field: 2/3 of Earth's B-Field at Equator Extensive Complex Rings: Icy large particles from boulders to the size of dust in a room that have lifetime of millions of years

Uranus Fact Sheet

Physical Properties- Density: 0.24 Mass: 14.5 Radius: 4.0 Gravity: 0.8 (100 lb > 80 lb) Fast Retrograde Rotation: Different rotation that has sidereal period of 17 hrs 14 min Orbital Period: 83.8 years Distance from Sun: 19.5 AU Many Moons Complex Rings with large icy particles Magnetic Field: Large Magnetic Field

Neptune Fact Sheet

Physical Properties- Density: 0.32 Mass: 17.2 Radius: 3.9 Gravity: 1.2 (100 lb > 120 lb) Fast Prograde Rotation: Sidereal Period of 16 hrs 7 min Orbital Period: 163.7 years Distance from Sun: 30.1 AU Many Moons Complex Rings of icy large particles Magnetic Field: Strong B-Field

Pluto Fact Sheet

Physical Properties- Density: 0.38 Mass: 0.0025 Radius: 0.2 Gravity: 0.01 (100 lb > 1 lb) Retrograde Rotation: Sidereal Period is 6 days 9 hrs Orbital Period: 248 years Distance from Sun: 39.5 AU One Moon: Charon Magnetic Field: Not Known

Theory and Bode's Law

Seems to work for planets throughout and also moon systems but can probably apply to other stars as well which we don't know

Discovery History of Ice Giants

Sir William Herschel discovered Uranus by accident in 1781 which was the first known human to ever discover a planet and this fit Bode's Law Then Adams and Leverrier independently predict Neptune's location based on perturbations to the orbit of Uranus which challenged Newton's gravity laws Galle finally discovers Neptune in 1846

Bode's Law

The Bode Law is a rough rule that predicts the spacing of the planets in the solar system which was first pointed out by Johann Titius and then created as a mathematical expression by J.E. Bode. This lead to the belief of another planet between Mars and Jupiter which ended up being the asteroid belt. This law relates the mean distances of the planets from the sun to a simple equation of numbers.

The Galilean Inner Moons of Jupiter

The Galilean moons are the four large moons near Jupiter in the Inner group that all have no substantial atmospheres. All of these may have liquid salt water except Io: 1) Callisto 2) Ganymede 3) Europa 4) Io

Chemical Composition in Jupiter

The chemicals in Jupiter are mainly H (Hydrogen) and He (Helium) but there is also Ammonia and Methane present throughout which is organic material meaning life may be present.

Shielding Effect of Solar System Material

The inner solar system can shield the outer solar system throughout

Interiors of Galilean Moons of Jupiter

The interior of Io has a large core and solid surface The interior of Europa is the same but with small water underneath The interior of Ganymede has a lot of water underneath, Callisto has just solid surface inside with small water layer inside lithosphere (look at slides Notes 8)

Saturn Moons

The major large moon in Saturn's orbit is Titan and then there are several other large ones. These moons are divided into two groups: 1) Small Rocklike: Little is known about these 2) Intermediate between Galilean and smaller Jupiter moons with low density and lots of water ice

Colors and Red Spot of Jupiter

The relative colors and patterns shown from Jupiter change every year from observations but there is always the Giant Red Spot on the planet. These different patterns represent high and low pressures that create belts and zones in Jupiter that are not Storm systems. However, there different storms including the Red Spot that are capable of merging because there is storms that take several years because there is no land and just gas to stop these storms like in Earth

Sun Ionizes Gases

The sun ionizes gasses and causes planets to catch these as they rotate creating friction throughout that carry off gas ions and angular momentum

Saturn's Three Major Icy Moons

The three major icy moons are Mimas, Tethys, and Rhea that all have bright ice surface and dark asphalt like deposit that can have possible extraterrestrial life (debate)

Theory and Facts

Theory MUST explain the facts to be true/successful/correct

Saturn Characteristics

There are gaps on Saturn that are believed to be caused by moon's gravitational pull with equatorial zones throughout and its many rings throughout. The rings of Saturn are not solid and transparent with the shadow of Saturn covering the rings. Saturn also has relatively small particles in the rings with two Shephard moons there which are super small

The 3 Groups of Jupiter's Moons

There are three groups of moons that orbit around Jupiter but are a lot with more than 60: 1) Outer Moons: Believed that formed close to Sun and then captured by Jupiter with no surface ice and retrograde orbit with large inclinations and eccentric orbits with retrograde orbit 2) Middle Moons: Possibly also captured by Jupiter with same composition that are eccentric, highly inclined, and have normal prograde orbit 3) Inner Moons: Probably formed with Jupiter and are now near with circular orbits in small inclinations with normal prograde orbit

Neptune Moons

There is one main one named Triton which is one of the most interesting in solar system because it is the only moon known to orbit in opposite direction of planet =Neptune (retrograde) The other moons fall into two groups: 1) Small Rocklike: Little known about these 2) Intermediate between Galilean and smaller moons of Jupiter with low density and lots of water ice

Accretion Phase

These dusts revolving around the sun collect different materials throughout and become so big with gravitational pull and mass to create protoplanets

Gravitational Contraction of Giant Nebula of Gas and Dust

These giant nebulas of gas and dust keep contracting because of supernova shock and because they are getting smaller they are rotating faster throughout like an ice skater until the formation of central condensation from the gravity and faster rotation that flattens plane like a pizza dough with the sun forming in the center surrounded by gas and dust to have most of the mass in the solar system including these chemicals: H2O, NH4, CH4, CO2. Compressing the gas heats up causing the gravitational energy to be converted to heat energy so the sun evaporates gasses and nearby dust losses more gasses than farther away

Triton (Neptune Moon)

This moon has erupting volcanoes meaning there could be chance of life and shows to have an atmosphere. This moon is larger than Pluto, has a retrograde orbit probably because it formed elsewhere but captured in orbit, dense nitrogen atmosphere thicker than Mars, has clouds of "smoke" ice from volcanoes, Density twice water, 75% rock, Basins like Earth's moon, Polar cap of Nitrogen, Methane, and Water ice, Has liquid nitrogen oceans throughout

Tidal Forces

Tidal forces slow down the inner planets more than the outer plants which are faster because of difference force pull

Titan (Saturn Moon)

Titan is one of the largest moons that has a thick atmosphere which is x9 that of Earth but sunlight can still pass through. The atmospheric pressure is 1.5 of Earth with mostly nitrogen, some methane, and other gases. Methane is in solid, liquid, and gas form. There are also oceans and "icebergs" of methane and "smog" which can have possible life. Can have possible life because of HCN chemical which is in DNA

Uranus Moons

Titania is the largest of the 5 moons that has icy moons with densities only 1.5 times that of water. Other 10 are moonlets that are small and rocklike with little known

Ice Giants

Uranus and Neptune are very similar in appearance when far away because they are both solid blue and boring

Sun vs. Planet Atmosphere

Very different atmospheres with chemical composition because the sun ignites Hydrogen (H) which turns into Helium by contracting so much which creates a stable star and then solar wind is so strong causing the crust to be radioactive with many materials