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14.4 The Solar System Outer Planets (page 562). Planets. There are 8 planets: Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus (YOOR uh nus) Neptune Pluto --- dwarf. Terrestrial Planets. Gas Giants. **You are responsible for knowing the planets in order!!!!
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Planets • There are 8 planets: • Mercury • Venus • Earth • Mars • Jupiter • Saturn • Uranus (YOOR uh nus) • Neptune • Pluto --- dwarf Terrestrial Planets Gas Giants • **You are responsible for knowing the planets in order!!!! • A good way to remember the order is through a pneumonic. (My Very Energetic Mom Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas)
The Gas Giants • The last four outer planets are much larger and more massive than Earth, and they do not have solid surfaces. • For these reasons they are called the “Gas Giants” • They have many moons. • They are also surrounded by a set of rings.
Jupiter • The largest planet: 318x Earth • Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in the sky (after the Sun, Moon and Venus) • Galileo discovered four of Jupiter’s moons in 1610 • Jupiter has 63+ moons (Ganymede is the largest with a mass 2x that of Earth’s moon)
Jupiter Thick atmosphere of hydrogen and helium • The atmosphere has many colorful bands of swirling clouds • The Great Red Spot: a giant area of swirling clouds many times bigger than Earth (a storm similar to a hurricane) • Jupiter is a gas planet and does not have a solid surface (though it most likely has a solid core 10-15x the mass of Earth)
Jupiter • Jupiter radiates more energy into space than it receives from the Sun!!!!! • It’s interior is hot, due to gravitational compression. • It has a huge magnetic field. • It has rings, but much fainter and smaller than Saturn’s.
Saturn • Saturn is the 2nd largest planet • It is easily visible in the night sky • It is the least dense of all the planets. It is less dense than water. • Its atmosphere is about 75% hydrogen; 25% helium • It probably has a rocky core
Saturn • There are 100s of rings that are made up of ice and rock, each traveling in its own orbit • The rings are very thin (less than 1 km) • Saturn has 30 moons: Titan (the largest), Tethys, Iapetus, Dione, and Rhea.
Uranus • 4x the diameter of Earth • It is a bluish color due to traces of methane (CH4) in its atmosphere. • Twice as far away from the Sun as Saturn (next to it). • Discovered in 1781by William Herschel • Uranus’s axis of rotation is tilted at an angle of about 90 degrees from vertical
Uranus • Uranus is the coldest of all the planets • It is also the second-least dense planet after Saturn • Its atmosphere is about 83% hydrogen, 15% helium, 2% methane • Like other gas planets, Uranus has rings • Uranus has 27 moons (21 named, 6 unnamed)
Neptune • Neptune is the fourth largest planet • It is often called the “cold, blue planet” • It also has rings. • It is possibly shrinking and growing warmer • Neptune possibly has a rocky core
Neptune • Neptune's most prominent feature was the Great Dark Spot (left) in the southern hemisphere. It was about half the size as Jupiter's Great Red Spot (about the same diameter as Earth). • Neptune has 13 known moons. • Neptune was discovered in 1846 due to a mathematical prediction involving Uranus
Pluto • Only has 1 moon: Charon • Pluto has a solid surface (probably rock and ice) is less than 2/3 the size of Earth’s moon. • Pluto is not considered a planet • Orbit very elliptical • Not like gas giants • Just rock and ice
Assignment • Do the review questions for 14.4 on page 569