Our solar system consists of eight planets, which can be separated into two categories.
Those which reside inside the asteroid belt named the 'Inner Solar System' namely Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars designated the terrestrial or rocky planets whilst those orbiting beyond the asteroid belt, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune classified as the 'Jovian Planets comprise the 'Outer Solar System'. The term Jovian is derived from Jupiter, which describes the remaining three planets as Jupiter-like.
Unlike the inner terrestrial planets, the Jovian worlds are composed of gas, primarily hydrogen and helium and therefore do not have a solid surface.
They are the four largest planets in our solar system if not by mass, then by diameter with Jupiter having the status of being the giant among the giants by acquiring greater than twice the mass of all the other planets in the solar system combined. Just using Earth as a comparison, Jupiter's mass is more than three hundred times larger.
These planets became so massive because they were able to incorporate huge amounts of volatiles, gases, when they formed; with some hypotheses suggesting they may also have been the first planets in our solar system to evolve.
Therefore, to explore the nature and formation of these categories of planets we have to go back to the primordial solar nebula to ascertain the materials available and environmental conditions needed for their eventual evolution.
From many observations and studies it now appears certain, that stars comparable to our Sun formed in the centres of cold dense molecular clouds. Consisting mainly of hydrogen, helium with smaller amounts of heavier gases and dust; the residue of minerals and elements left by explosions from...
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...nary nature of Jupiter's interior and structure.
It will be able to look beneath the observable cloud layers for the first time and gather data relating to composition, temperature and atmospheric movement to unprecedented depths.
Juno will also sample and monitor the planet's huge magnetosphere with particular attention being applied to its relationship with the large metallic hydrogen level below its surface.
More importantly for the theories of how the Jovian planets formed it will attempt to clarify whether or not Jupiter has a solid core and if so its composition.
If not it could profoundly upset the theories regarding the role planetesimals play in planet formation and possibly infer that the Jovian planets evolved instead from a gravitational collapse in unstable regions of the protoplanetary disk or a completely new explanation for their formation..
Overall we can get a pretty good insight on how or Solar System was formed, yes there are still certain aspects of it that are hard to make sense of, as well as debates over which theory is correct, such as Core Accretion vs. Disk Instability, but overall I feel it is pretty amazing what we have learned about the nature of system and look forward to future discoveries.
Saturn, although the second largest planet in the solar system, still comes above all with its remarkable traits. As a result of Saturn’s magnificent size, rare atmosphere, and its variety of its rings shapes and sizes, scientists are still trying to figure out how some of the features can be
Supernovas are accountable for the birth of new galaxies and stars, including the Milky Way and its planets. Jupiter is the center of many theories. One speculation considers Jupiter’s core to be solid diamond, or highly compressed carbon. Due to the abnormal mass of the planet, Jupiter has strange weather conditions that lead to large storms, including its Great Red Spot, an anti-cyclonic storm.
All planets orbit within 3 of the plane of the ecliptic. In addition, all planets also orbit in a prograde orbit which means they all orbit in the same direction. There is a total of four terrestrial planets and 5 Jovian planets. A terrestrial planet is a rocky planet that is composed of rocks or metals. For example, Mercury, Venus earth, and Mars are examples of terrestrial planets because they are small rocky and contain an atmosphere. Earth and Mars, for instance, has a thin atmosphere whereas Venus has a hot thick atmosphere. Jovian planets are the giant planets such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto all have big gasses and many moons. Jupiter, for instance, is a big gas ball mad up of the elements Hydrogen and Helium. All five planets also have rings which mean the planet has a disc orbiting around the
Indeed, most of the problem is that there is no formal definition of a planet. Furthermore, it is very difficult to invent one that would allow the solar system to contain all nine planets. I suggest that for an object to be classified as a planet, it must embody three characteristics. It must be in orbit around a star (thus removing the larger satellites from contention), it must be too small to generate heat by nuclear fusion (so dwarf stars are excluded) and it must be massive enough to have collapsed to a more or less spherical shape (which excludes comets, and most of the asteroids). These criteria would admit a few of the larger asteroids and probably some of the Kuiper belt objects as well, but adding a requirement for a planet to have a minimum diameter of 1,000 km would remove the larger asteroids from contention while retaining Pluto.
Jupiter has many moons, Sixty-seven actually. There are only four moons that scientists are very interested on. These four moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. The reasons scientists are so interested in these moons are since they might have found evidence of small life forms, such as bacteria and planets on these moons. The moon Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system. It would be interesting to find life on these planets.
In 1609, Galileo Galilei, using “spyglass” which allowed one to see things closer than they appeared, made an early version of the telescope. With it, he observed the skies in a way no one had before. He discovered the moon isn’t perfectly globular, it has craters, the Sun has sunspots, Venus orbits the Sun (contrary to widespread belief in his time), and then he observed four “stars” around Jupiter (“Our Solar System”). Within days, he realized that these objects were not stars, they were moons. Io, Ganymede, Castillo, and Europa are known as the Galilean Moons or Satellites, collectively. During the 19th century, the first measurable physical studies of these moons became achievable when Simon de Laplace derived the satellite masses from their shared gravitational perturbations and afterward, other workers used a new generation of telescopes to measure the mass of these moons. The data collected showed that the density declined from the inner to the outer satellites. According to Adam Showman, “More recent observations of water ice on the surfaces of the outer three moons led to the inference that the satellite compositions range from mostly silicate rock at Io to 60% silicate rock and 40% volatile ices (by mass) at Ganymede and Callisto” ( 77). The Voyager flybys of Jupiter in 1979 exposed indication of extensive geological activity like Europa's fractured terrains, which probably result from tidal heating and bending...
Saturn is a gas-giant planet and has no solid surface but has a solid core and a thick layer of liquid. Saturn is mostly made of hydrogen and an outer layer of gas making it the least
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun and the largest planet in the solar system. It is known as a gas giant and its mass is one thousandth of the mass of the sun, however, its mass is two and a half times the mass of all the planets in the solar system combined. It is considered a gas giant along with the three other planets Uranus, Saturn, and Neptune. These four planets are referred to as the Jovian planets or outer planets. The planet was known by astronomers since ancient times which may be one of the reasons the Romans named the planet after their Roman god Jupiter.
Understanding more about sunspots, their cycle, radiation, and magnetic properties will facilitate scientists to unlock the mysterious workings of the Sun. With today’s technology this understanding will come more quickly. Knowledge of sunspots may lead us to be able to predict when solar activity could affect the Earth like it did during the solar max in 1989. Information like this could eventually allow us to be able to protect ourselves from solar radiation.
Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, has yet to be discovered as in depth as Juno will. NASA New Frontiers recently established the Juno Mission to observe Jupiter (Ionescu 1). The spacecraft is currently on route to Jupiter and it is set to arrive in 2016. Juno will orbit Jupiter thirty-three times total before shutting down (Ionescu 1). Juno will observe Jupiter with deeper observation than can be seen by a telescope. The Juno Spacecraft is a project made to discover Jupiter’s high winds, a possible water source, and the planetary structure.
One of the first ways is appearance; in our own solar system, we have varying planets such as gas giants like Jupiter or Saturn, and more terrestrial or rock based planets like Earth or Mars. What makes these large differences is the distance from the sun, in which varies with the planets; the planets that are closer to the sun are more condensed and Earth like from the heat, while the planets that are farther from the sun are more gas like and have ice particles forming in them. So one of the main components that causes the difference between the planets in our solar system is heat from the
A star begins as nothing more than a very light distribution of interstellar gases and dust particles over a distance of a few dozen lightyears. Although there is extremely low pressure existing between stars, this distribution of gas exists instead of a true vacuum. If the density of gas becomes larger than .1 particles per cubic centimeter, the interstellar gas grows unstable. Any small deviation in density, and because it is impossible to have a perfectly even distribution in these clouds this is something that will naturally occur, and the area begins to contract. This happens because between about .1 and 1 particles per cubic centimeter, pressure gains an inverse relationship with density. This causes internal pressure to decrease with increasing density, which because of the higher external pressure, causes the density to continue to increase. This causes the gas in the interstellar medium to spontaneously collect into denser clouds. The denser clouds will contain molecular hydrogen (H2) and interstellar dust particles including carbon compounds, silicates, and small impure ice crystals. Also, within these clouds, there are 2 types of zones. There are H I zones, which contain neutral hydrogen and often have a temperature around 100 Kelvin (K), and there are H II zones, which contain ionized hydrogen and have a temperature around 10,000 K. The ionized hydrogen absorbs ultraviolet light from it’s environment and retransmits it as visible and infrared light. These clouds, visible to the human eye, have been named nebulae. The density in these nebulae is usually about 10 atoms per cubic centimeter. In brighter nebulae, there exists densities of up to several thousand atoms per cubic centimete...
This project for Earth Science proved to be quite engaging. At first, I thought that the project was going to be long and arduous, however, being able to choose my topic for the project actually helped in galvanizing interest in it. Through this project, I learned a whole lot about the Jovian planets that fascinated me when I was a child. From gargantuan Jupiter, ringed Saturn, peculiar Uranus, and stormy Neptune, I learned many facts that I couldn’t discover outside of Earth Science. I learned many facts like how the Jovian planets got their colors, and whether or not Gas Giants are solely made of gas. I enjoy the fact that we are able to choose what we want to research about, choosing what interests us the most. Thanks to this project, I feel that I know just a bit more about the vast amount of knowledge of our Universe.
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and by far the largest mass object in the solar system of all the other planets. Jupiter is twice the size of all the other planets combined. It is as 318 times the sizes of earth. The distance that Jupiter orbits the sun is 778,330,000 km (Gallant pp154). The diameter is 142,984 km and the mass that it has is 1.900e27 kg. Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in the sky after the Sun, the Moon and Venus. Mars is some times brighter. Galileo discovered Jupiter in 1610(Gallant); another interesting fact is that Jupiter has 4 large moons. Which are known as the Galilean moons. They were named Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. The first mission that went to Jupiter was Pioneer 10 in 1973 and later by Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2(Gallant). There is currently a spacecraft named Galileo that is currently in orbit around Jupiter and is sending data for the next two years. In Dec 7, 1995, Galileo probe entered the atmosphere at a rate of 106,000 mph and survived. Also in the upcoming years a probe will go around the moon Europa. We will be able to see if there is actually an ocean in that moon (National Geographic Jan 2000). Many scientist did not believe that it would make do to the gravity force which is 228 times that of Earth. Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus are known as the gas planet they do not have a solid surface. Jupiter is made up of 90% hydrogen and 10% helium(Gallant). This is very close to the composition of the primor...