Jupiter and Saturn: Lesson

Jupiter

-Largest planet in the solar system

-The giant red spot is a giant storm

-Stripes and swirls are windy clouds of ammonia and water

-atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium

Saturn

-Most developed set of rings (ice and rock)

-Least dense planet

Jupiter

The Planet Jupiter

• Jupiter is the fifth planet from our Sun and

is named for the king of ancient Roman
gods.

• It is the biggest planet in our solar system.

More than 1,300 Earths could fit inside.

• Jupiter is more than five times farther than

the sun than Earth. That's 484 million miles
away or 5.1 Astronomical Units (AU).

The Planet Jupiter

• Jupiter – 11 times wider than Earth.

– Mostly Hydrogen and Helium.
– Sea of liquid molecular H2 & He 12,000km

deep

• At the bottom, 30,000o C under 100

trillion times Earth normal pressure.

✔Liquid metallic hydrogen
✔Generates Jupiter’s massive magnetic

field

The Planet Jupiter

• In essense, on Jupiter, the pressure is so strong it

squishes gas into liquid.

• Jupiter's stripes and swirls are cold, windy

clouds of ammonia and water.

• Jupiter has its own 'mini solar system' with

80 confirmed moons.

• Ganymede is the solar system's largest

moon. It is bigger than Pluto and Mercury.

​This image of a "jet" in Jupiter's atmosphere was taken by the JunoCam public engagement camera aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft on May 23, 2022.

Jupiter's atmosphere is organized into belts and zones, separated by jets, which are associated with turbulence along belt-zone boundaries, leading to chaotic regions of multicolored clouds. In this image, the color in these two regions has been enhanced to bring out detail and show the different layers of cloud decks.

This image of Jet N3 was acquired on PJ42, Juno's 42nd pass by Jupiter, at an altitude of 2,361 miles (3,800 kilometers).

​Zoomed in of the previous image. You can easily see the tops of the clouds.

Jupiter

• Jupiter (cont)

– Rocky core 10-20x Earth size
– Atmosphere is verified H2, He, with NH4,

H2O, CH4

– Great Red Spot – Earth would fit into it!

• Spot and bands have existed for centuries
• Galileo’s probe stopped transmitting at 130km

in at 150oC (300oF) with 650km/hr winds at
22 bars.

• Winds likely driven by heat from below.

Jupiter

The image of the comet
Comet Shoemaker-Levy ,
showing 21 fragments, was
taken on 17 May 1994. The
image of Jupiter was taken
on 18 May 1994; the dark
spot on the planet's disc is
the shadow of the inner
moon lo.

Moons of the Jovian Planets

• Moons of Jupiter – Galileo saw 4 in 1610 A.D.

– The count is up to 53, with 14 provisional moons.

• Io – the innermost, about the same size as our own

– Volcanic eruptions observed (sulfur volcanism)
– Driven by heating from tidal stress

• Europa – rocky body covered with water, but frozen

– Fractured water ice terrain with slurry beneath likely
– Environment could be favorable for life
– May have more water than Earth…interesting!

• Ganymede & Callisto – both heavily cratered

– Both have water (ice) under the rocky surface.

The moon Ganymede

• Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar

system. It is larger than Mercury and Pluto,
and three-quarters the size of Mars.

• Ganymede has three main layers.

– A sphere of metallic iron at the center
– A spherical shell of rock (mantle) surrounding

the core, and…

– A spherical shell of mostly ice. (yes, water ice!)

• The moon has its own magnetic field.

The moon Ganymede

• Astronomers, through the Hubble Space Telescope,

found evidence of thin a oxygen atmosphere in 1996.

• The atmosphere is far too thin to support

life as we know it.

• In mythology, Ganymede was a beautiful

young boy who was carried to Olympus by
Zeus disguised as an eagle.

Olympian gods.

This is an image taken
by the Cassini
spacecraft upon its
approach to Jupiter.
Jupiter's moon
Ganymede is shown.

Ganymede

Io

Io

An active volcanic eruption on Jupiter's
moon Io was captured in this image taken
by NASA's Galileo spacecraft.

Europa

The moon Europa

• Jupiter's moon Europa is slightly smaller

than Earth's moon.

• Its surface is smooth and bright, consisting

of water ice crisscrossed by long, linear
fractures.

• Like our planet, Europa is thought to have

an iron core, a rocky mantle and an ocean
of salty water beneath its ice crust.

The moon Europa

• One of Galileo’s mission showed how Jupiter's

magnetic field was disrupted in the space
around Europa.

• This measurement strongly implied that a

special type of magnetic field is being created
within Europa by a deep layer of some
electrically conductive fluid beneath the
surface.

• Based on Europa's icy composition, scientists

think the most likely material to create this
magnetic signature is a global ocean of salty
water.

The moon Europa

• In 2013, NASA announced startling evidence

from researchers using the Hubble Space
Telescope that Europa might be actively
venting plumes of water into space.

• This is evidence that the moon is geologically

active in the present day.

The spots and pits visible in this region of Europa's northern
hemisphere are each about 6 miles across. The dark spots
are called "lenticulae," the Latin term for freckles.

Europa

Callisto

The moon Callisto

• Callisto is the third largest moon in our solar

system and is almost the size of Mercury.

• Callisto is the outermost moon of Jupiter,

and orbits beyond Jupiter's main radiation
belts.

• Its interior is probably similar to Ganymede

except the inner rocky core is smaller, and
this core is surrounded by a large icy mantle.

Saturn

The Planet Saturn

• Saturn – the 2nd largest planet and the 6th planet

from the sun. Some say Saturn is the Jewel of the
solar system.
– Lowest density – would float
– Much like Jupiter

• Made up of mostly Hydrogen and Helium.
• Bands, clouds, storms, magnetic field strength is high.

• Saturn's rings span up to 175,000 miles.

The Planet Saturn

• There are 83 are moons that are named. (9 moons

await naming-provisional)

• There are 7 major rings around Saturn. (Labeled

A-G)

• Saturn spins very fast as one day on Saturn is 10.7

Earth hours.

• There have been 5 missions to Saturn.
• The current mission is the spacecraft Cassini.
• Saturn’s volume is 755 times greater than that of

Earth.

Saturn - "Ringed Planet"

• Second largest planet

• Atmosphere is composed of hydrogen and helium

• The North Pole has strange hexagon-shaped clouds

• Has the most complex set of rings.

Saturn continued...

• From Earth, it appears to have 7 main rings but actually, there is between 500-1000

• Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is the larger than Mercury and the only moon with a thick atmosphere

• Titan's atmosphere is composed mostly of nitrogen and methane

The Planet Saturn

• There are 7 major rings around Saturn. (Labeled

A-G)

• Saturn spins very fast as one day on Saturn is 10.7

Earth hours.

• There have been 5 missions to Saturn.
• The current mission is the spacecraft Cassini.
• Saturn’s volume is 755 times greater than that of

Earth.

Moons of Saturn

• Saturn’s Moons – 53 at most recent count.

~with 9 Provisional.
– Titan – larger than the Planet Mercury, is the

2nd largest moon in solar system.

• Has a thick atmosphere.
• Appears to have feature caused by flowing

liquids like streams.

• Could have some water in the atmosphere.
• Possibly the most earth-like moon in the solar

system.

Titan

• Titan's atmosphere is mostly nitrogen (about 95

percent) and methane (about 5 percent), with
small amounts of other carbon-rich compounds.

• High in the atmosphere, methane and nitrogen

molecules are split apart by the sun's ultraviolet
light and high-energy particles accelerated by
Saturn's magnetic field; the products of this
splitting recombine to form a variety of organic
molecules.

Moons of Saturn

• These organic molecules contain carbon and

hydrogen, and often include nitrogen, oxygen
and other elements important to life on Earth.