The Jovian Planets
Far beyond Earth in the solar nebula lies an ice belt and beyond that lay the four Jovian planets. They are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Jovian means "Jupiter- like" in which the rest of the jovian planets do coincide with the name. Uranus Neptune and Saturn, all carry the same traits as Jupiter. The jovian planets are large gas giants that contain mainly a thick atmosphere of Hydrogen and helium. These planets do not have solid surfaces, rather they just get denser with depth. They contain high mass and are usually anywhere from 15 to 318 times the mass of earth. They also contain many satellites and the gravity is much stronger than that of earth. The jovian planets inner structure probably consists of a rocky core of metals, water, ammonia and methane. Usually these cores are about the same size as earth possibly a little larger. It is also possible that Uranus and Neptune's core is a liquid instead of a solid. The Jovian planets also have about the same rotational characteristics and all have rings around them. Jupiter, the first of the jovian planets, reigns supreme throughout the solar system. Named after the Roman god Jove, the ruler of Olympus; Jupiter is the fifth planet from the s
Maran, Stephen P. , The Astronomy and Astrophysics Encyclopedia, Like all Jovian planets, Jupiter has it's own ring system. Jupiter's rings are less than 30 kilometers thick and with a distance of 1.81 planetary radii. The rings are at least 100 times harder to see than Saturn's rings. Most of the particles found in Jupiter's rings are small and have a diameter about the same size as a light wave length. This causes the light to bounce off of the particles and scatter making the rings look bright. The particles found in Jupiter's rings are believed to be the remains of a moon that moved in too close to the Roche limit and was torn apart. In addition to Titan there are eight smaller moons and many more minor satellites. Most of these moons are geologically dead. Few show some signs of cracks and fissures. It is also interesting top point out that the moons are not all spherical in shape, there are a few that are highly irregular. Overall, these moons wobble and move about in a crazy orbiting pattern , unfortunately we have not learned enough to give much information about them. Saturn one of the most beautiful planets was discovered by Galileo with a telescope in 1609. Saturn is a very unique planet in that it is "lighter than water, with a density of .7 gram per cubic centimeter." ( Considine) Saturn is only slightly smaller than Jupiter and has many of the same attributes that Jupiter has. Saturn is thought to have a liquid metallic region and a small silicate core. It has also been shown that with "infrared observations that Saturn radiates 2.5 to 3 times more energy than it gets from the Sun..." (Seeds, 529) Like Jupiter, Saturn has belts and zones but they lie much deeper in the Atmosphere and contrast less. The atmosphere of Saturn is slightly different from Jupiter's atmosphere. Saturn is much colder and the temperature seems to change as if there were seasons. The winds also blow much harder than on Jupiter . They can exceed 500 meters per second and they blow primarily in an eastward direction. Saturn also contains less helium in it's composition than Jupiter. Saturn also has a large magnetoscope allowing the rings to exist but it is largely influenced by the solar winds. Different from the terrestrial planets, the Jovian planets are basically big balls of gas. The jovian planets seemed to be formed around the same time from the solar nebula. Jupiter and Saturn are the closest in nature to each other with Neptune and Uranus taking on a few of their traits. They all carry the same characteristics in their Classification. The Jovian planets are composed mainly of helium and hydrogen. They have a liquid or small rocky core. They are usually high in mass and low in density. They have many satellites and the gravity is much stronger than Earth's. They also all share the same banding and zoning winds. With these characteristics defined with each description given it is easy to see how the planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are Jovian or "Jupiter - like". Seeds, Michael A., Foundations of Astronomy; copyright 1994, Wadsworth inc. The last and final Jovian Planet is Neptune. Neptune was named for the sea god and is the eighth planet from the sun. Neptune was discovered in 1843 by two people Adams and Galle. Like a great king with many followers, Jupiter also has an extremely large amount of satellites orbiting around it. Jupiter's satellites can be divided into two groups. The smaller moons are merely captured asteroids but the larger moons are like a small planet. Callisto is one of the larger moons orbiting around Jupiter. It is slightly larger than the earth's moon and has rocky core topped by a mantel of ice. Photographs of Callisto has shown that it is a dead world that is mostly dark and full of pot marks from meteors. Ganymede, the next moon of Jupiter is also an icy world. It is about fifty percent larger than the earth's moon. Ganymede is full of craters but i
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2982
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)
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