The atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn are made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium , although there is some evidence they contain hydrogen compounds. Uranus and Neptune are made primarily of hydrogen compounds, with smaller traces of hydrogen, helium, metal and rock. The farther away a planet is from the Sun, the cooler its atmosphere will be. This means that the same gases will condense to form clouds at different altitudes on different planets because the condensation of a gas requires a specific amount of pressure and temperature.
Ammonia, ammonium hydrosulfide and water make up the 3 cloud layers of Jupiter and Saturn. You can see from the graph to the right that these condense at lower altitudes in Saturn's atmosphere than they do in Jupiter's atmosphere. The cores of all four jovian planets are made of some combination of rock, metal and hydrogen compounds. Jupiter and Saturn have similar interiors, with layers extending outward of metallic hydrogen, liquid hydrogen, gaseous hydrogen, and topped with a layer of visible clouds.
Unlike Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus and Neptune have cores of rock and metal, but also water, methane and ammonia. The layer surrounding the core is made of gaseous hydrogen, covered with a layer of visible clouds similar to Jupiter's and Saturn's. Just like the terrestrial planets, the deeper you go, the hotter and denser it gets. An increase in temperature and density means an increase in pressure.
The Jovian Planets click to enlarge. Back to top. How Rotation Affects Planet Shapes click to enlarge. Learn about the Moon in a great new book New book chronicles the space program. Dave's Universe Year of Pluto. Groups Why Join? Astronomy Day. The Complete Star Atlas. Or do they have solid cores? The gas giant planets are made up of layers of gas and liquid that surround probable solid rocky cores.
Astronomy: Roen Kelly. Anything that has mass produces a gravitational field. Some 4. The gravity of these protoplanets pulled in tremendous amounts of gas from the nebula to make the gas giant planets we see today. From ultra-high-pressure laboratory experiments and calculations, we estimate what these cores are like now. The rock and iron would still be solid, but the ice would have melted to liquid and could be getting dredged up into the atmosphere slowly over time.
Snapshot : ALMA spots moon-forming disk around distant exoplanet. Ask Astro : Does dark energy create the voids between galaxy clusters? Looking for galaxies in all the wrong places. Capturing the cosmos: How to be an astrophotographer. Sky This Month : November Chiricahua Astronomy Complex: An observing mecca for amateurs.
Neutron stars: A cosmic gold mine. These exoplanets as they are called are being examined to learn more about how our solar system came to be. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. It has a radius almost 11 times the size of Earth. It has 50 known moons and 17 waiting to be confirmed, according to NASA. The planet is mostly made of hydrogen and helium surrounding a dense core of rocks and ice, with most of its bulk likely made up of liquid metallic hydrogen, which creates a huge magnetic field.
Jupiter is visible with the naked eye and was known by the ancients. Its atmosphere consists mostly of hydrogen, helium, ammonia and methane. Saturn is about nine times Earth's radius and is characterized by large rings; how they formed is unknown. It has 53 known moons and nine more awaiting confirmation, according to NASA. Like Jupiter, it is mostly made up of hydrogen and helium that surround a dense core and was also tracked by ancient cultures.
Its atmosphere is similar to Jupiter's. Uranus has a radius about four times that of Earth's. It is the only planet tilted on its side, and it also rotates backward relative to every planet but Venus, implying a huge collision disrupted it long ago.
The planet has 27 moons, and its atmosphere is made up of hydrogen, helium and methane, according to NASA. It was discovered by William Herschel in Neptune also has a radius about four times that of Earth's. Like Uranus, its atmosphere is mostly made up of hydrogen, helium and methane. It has 13 confirmed moons and an additional one awaiting confirmation, according to NASA.
It was discovered by several people in Super-Earths: Scientists have found a multitude of "super-Earths" planets between the size of Earth and Neptune in other solar systems. There are no known super-Earths in our own solar system, although some scientists speculate there may be a "Planet Nine" lurking in the outer reaches of our solar system.
Scientists are studying this category of planets to learn whether super-Earths are more like small giant planets or big terrestrial planets.
0コメント