The Outer Planets

The 4 inner planets are the closest to the Sun, and the outer planets are the other four – Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The outer planets are also called the Jovian planets or gas giants.
Like the inner planets, the outer planets have similar characteristics to one another.

The outer planets are so much larger than the inner planets that they make up 99 percent of
the mass of the celestial bodies that orbit the Sun. Although mainly composed of gas, the outer
planets also have other ingredients. Somewhere at the center is what scientist refer to as a
rocky core, although it is actually composed of liquid heavy metals.

Jupiter

 Is the largest planet in the solar system.

 Its radius is 43,440.7 miles. Jupiter is 11 times wider than Earth.
 It is 778,330,000 km away from the Sun.
 Discovered in the prehistoric times.
 Average Temperature is 448 degree Celsius.
 Mass is 300 times than the mass of Earth.
 Named after the Greek god Zeus.

Orbit and Rotation

 Takes 12 years to rotate around the sun
 One day of Jupiter takes about 10 hours
 Jupiter makes complete orbit around the sun (one year of Jovian time) in about 12 years (1,333
Earth Days).

Atmosphere and Structure

 Atmosphere: clouds of colored dust, hydrogen, helium, methane, water and ammonia.
 90% hydrogen and 10% helium
 Surface: Hot liquid and gas
 In 1995 the Galileo space probe plunged into the planet Jupiter.
 It measure the atmospheric structure of Jupiter.

 Thermosphere absorbs Solar X-rays.

 Stratosphere absorbs Solar UV.
 Troposphere greenhouse gases trap heat from both Jupiter and the Sun
 These are the same structures found in Earth atmosphere.
 Atmosphere are governed by interactions between sunlight and gases.

Jupiters Great Red Spot

  Jupiter also experience weather phenomena that are similar to those of Earth. These are
lightning storms, which have been detected in Jupiter’s atmosphere. Scientist believe that this
may due to a thin layer of water clouds underlying the ammonia layer.
 One Storm, the Great Red Spot has been raging since at least late 1600’s –when Italian
astronomer Giovanni Cassini made the first observation of it.
 The storm has been shrinking and expanding throughout history. But in 2012, it was suggested
that the Giant Red Spot might eventually disappear.

Moons
 63 moons
 4 largest moons known as the Galilean moons
o Io
o Europa
o Calisto
o Ganymede
 Discovered by Galileo in 1610
 Largest Moon: Ganymede, also it is the largest in the Solar System

Rings
 Has 4 Rings
 Has 1 main ring which is very thin but 7000 km across
 Made up of tiny dust particles
 Can’t be seen on Earth
 Outer ring: Gossamer Rings

Interesting Facts
 Jupiter spins on its axis faster than the other planet
 Jupiter’s moons are named after things in the life of Zeus
 Jupiter has more moons than any other planet in the Solar System.

Saturn
 Is the only planet with visible rings
 Atmosphere: hydrogen and helium
 About 75% hydrogen and 25% helium
 Rings are almost 250,000 km or more in diameter and almost 1 km thick
 Surface: Liquid and Gas

Orbit and Rotation

 Second largest planet in our solar system
 1,429,400,000 km from the Sun
 First Visited by NASA Pioneer II in 1979
 First observed in 1610
 Takes 29.49 years to orbit the Sun
  Average temperature: 178 C
 Greek Name: Kronos
 One day on Saturn takes 10.7 hours (the time it takes for Saturn to rotate or spin)
 Saturn makes a complete orbit around the sun ( a year in Saturnian time) in 29.49 Earth year
(10,756 days).

Saturn’s Atmosphere
 Saturn’s atmosphere is 25% hydrogen and 25% helium.
 It also has water ice and methane.
 It contains ammonia, methane and water vapor.

Saturn’s Seasons
 Saturn has a tilt like earth that causes seasons.
 Since it takes a long time for Saturn to Orbit the Sun, its seasons take long time to come.
 Saturn has seasons just like Earth.
 A giant Hexagon is swirling at Saturn’s north pole, and scientists don’t fully understand it, despite
years of observation by NASA Cassini spacecraft.
 The Hexagon –a jet stream that traps an entire polar weather system. It is as wide as 2 planet
Earths. It is so big, in fact that small vortices inside of it are often as wide as the largest
hurricanes on Earth.

Saturn Rings
 Identified in 1655
 Has 7 main rings, about 270,000 in diameter
 Made up of particles of water, ice and dust
 The only planet with visible rings
 Rings has many gaps in between which discovered in1675
 Pheobe is the Saturn largest ring.

Saturn’s Moons
 About 56 moons
 Saturn largest moon is Titan, also the second largest moon in the solar system.
 4 inner moons: also called Shepherd Moon
o Pan
o Promethesus
o Atlas
o Pandora

Interesting Facts
 Saturn passes Earth every few years as it moves in its orbit.
 Saturn’s inner rings orbit faster than it outer rings
 Sometimes Saturn rings fade
 Only a few mission have visited Saturn
o Pioneer 11
 o Voyager 1
o Voyager2
o Cassini Huygens
 Since 2004 Cassini Huygens has been exploring Saturn, its moons and rings.
 When Galileo Galilei was observing the planet Saturn in 1600s, he noticed strange objects on
each side of the planet and drew in his notes a triple-bodied planet system and then later a
planet with arms or handles. These “handles” were in fact the rings of Saturn.

Uranus
 Third Largest planet
 Discovered on March 31, 1781
 Uranus is an Ice Giant.
o Most (80 % or more) of the planet’s mass is made up of a hot dense fluid of icy
materials.
 Distance from the sun is 1.78 billion miles
 Cloud Temperature = -353 F
 Diameter = 31,763 miles
 Gravity = .89 that of Earth at cloud tops
 Twice as far from the sun than Earth
 4 times the size of the Earth

Atmosphere Of Uranus
 Made up of hydrogen, helium and methane
 About 83% hydrogen, 15% helium and 2%methane
 Blue color due to its methane composition

Layer of Uranus
 The composition of Uranus
o Rocky Core
o Mantel –water methane and ammonia
o Atmosphere of hydrogen, helium and methane

Rotation and Revolution

 The mass is 14.5 times bigger than the Earth
 1 day on Uranus is 17.24 Earth Hours
 Perion of revolution is 81.4 Earth years
 It is tilted 98 degree
 Retrograde Revolution which means that it revolves the opposite direction of the other planets.

Moons of Uranus
 Has 27 moons
 5 largest moons called the major moon
 o Miranda
o Ariel
o Umbriel
o Oberon
o Titania –largest moon

Rings
 Has about 11 rings
 Particles are dark than Saturn
 Most of it are greater than 1.4 meter across

Interesting Facts
 Uranus has actually been seen many times but simply ignored as a star
 Uranus was the first planet discovered on the modern age.
 Uranus is the oldest planet in the solar system.
 It took the Voyager II 8 ½ years to reach Uranus.

Neptune
4th largest planet
Discovered on September 23, 1846
4,504,000,000 km from the sun
Visited by only 1 spacecraft on August25, 1989
Takes 165 years to revolve around the sun
Average temperature : -214 C

How Big is Neptune?

It has a diameter of 49,000 km and a polar radius of 24,431 km,
Neptune is 3.9 times bigger than Earth

Orbit and Rotation

The tilt of Neptune’s axis is 28.32 degrees compare that of the Earth tilt of 23.5 degrees
Neptune follows an elliptical path around the sun varying its distance to the sun at different point along
its orbit.
Neptune is approximately 4.4 billion km away from the Earth.
Neptune distance from the sun is 4.5 billion km.
A day on Neptune is 16 hours, 6 minutes and 36 seconds.
Neptune equatorial zone takes about 18 hours to complete a rotation .
And polar region can take just 12 hours to rotate much quickly than the average.
A year on Neptune is 60,190 days or 164.79 Earth year.

Who Discovered Neptune?

Britain’s John Couch Adams and Frances Urbain le Verrier were worked out the position of the
hypothetical 8th planet independently from each other. And both has a difficult time in convincing their
colleagues to spend any time to actually looking where they suggested the planet maybe.
Johann Gottfried Galle –used the calculation of le Verrier to find Neptune within just 1 degree of its
predicted location and just 12 degree of Adams location.

Howe did Neptune Got its name?

Shortly after the discovery, Neptune was only reffered to as “ the planet exterior to Uranus” or as “Le
Vierrer’s Planet”.
The first suggestion name came from Galle , who proposed the name Janus.
Another proposal was Oceanus.
Urbain le Verrier who discovered the planet claimed the right to name his discovery as Neptune.
It was named after the Roman god in Roman mythology, Neptune is the god of sea.
Known as Poseidon in Greek Mythology.

Neptune is one of the four Gas Giant in the Solar System as well as being one of the four Jovian planets.
It has no solid Surface.
Neptune
Cannot be seen by naked eye.
Although Neptune is a gas giant , it is actually a subclass of gas giants known as “ice giants”. It has a
higher temperature of ices on its atmosphere.

Atmosphere; hydrogen, helium, methane and ammonia

Has a dark spot about half the size of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.
Surface: Liquid layer covered with thick clouds and storms

Chemical Composition
Ammonia and methane is under Neptune’s atmosphere and is roughly 17 times of Earth’s mass and
merely 58 times its volume.
Ammonia ice, water ice, ammonia hydrosulfide and methane ice also compose it atmosphere.
Neptune has 10-100 times more methane, ethane and ethyne at its equator than it does at it poles.
Neptune’s Mantle
Has a superheated liquid region where temperatures can reach 2000 Kelvin to 5000 Kelvin.
It consist of water, ammonia, methane and other compound.
Neptune’s Core
Made up of iron, nickel and other silicates , that made up about 1.2 times the mass of the Earth.

Climate Of Neptune
Neptune has internal heat source which radiates more energy than the energy Neptune is receiving from
the sun.
This causes surface winds to reach extremely high speeds.
Many of the wind interfere with one another causing small storms or large storms.