1. The Outer Planets p. 575

2. The Inner Planets to Scale
3,031 mi ,521 mi ,926 mi ,222 mi
5.4 g/cm g/cm g/cm g/cm^3

3. The Outer Planets to Scale
88,700 mi ,000 mi 31,700 mi 30,200 mi
1.3 g/cm g/cm g/cm g/cm3

4. 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?

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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?

10. 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

11. 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?

12. 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?

13. The S.S. Family Portait

14.
– jupiter, saturn, uranus, neptune, outer solar system
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