Characteristics of Outer Planets By Holly Fowle Jupiter

Characteristics of Outer Planets By: Holly Fowle

Jupiter • Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun. • It takes 11. 9 Earth years just to complete one full orbit. • It is the biggest planet in the solar system, with twice the mass as all of the other planets combined!

Jupiter’s atmosphere • Jupiter has a very gaseous surface. • It contains alternating light- and dark-colored bands. • The dark bands areas of sinking gas and light bands areas of rising gas.

Jupiter’s Winds • Jupiter’s winds blow parallel to its equator • Winds at the equator move east at the average speed of 400 kilometers per hour. • Winds traveling north and south move at 100 kilometers per hour.

Great Red Spot • Jupiter’s “Great Red Spot” is the most striking feature on Jupiter’s surface. • It rises 8 kilometers above its clouds. • It is just one of Jupiter’s several different spot.

Jupiter’s Magnetic Field • Jupiter has the strongest known magnetic field. • The interaction between solar wind and the magnetic field cause Jupiter to have auroras. • It also has intense lightning storms

Jupiter’s Radiation • Jupiter radiates between 1. 5 and 2. 0 times as much heat back into space as it obtains from the sun. • The extra heat is thought to come from Jupiter’s original heat of formation and from contraction due to its gravity.

Saturn • Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun. • It takes nearly 30 Earth years to complete one full orbit. • It turns on its axis once every 10. 7 Earth hours.

Saturn’s bands • Saturn has colored bands like Jupiter, which are different areas of rising and sinking air. • Saturn has fewer bands than Jupiter and its wind speed is faster: about 1800 km. per hour. • Saturn’s density is low like Jupiter’s – less than 1 gram per cubic centimeter.

Saturn’s Radiation • Saturn radiates between 1. 5 and 2. 5 times as much energy as it receives from the sun. • Similar to Jupiter, it obtains sources of internal heat. • It has a weak magnetic field.

Uranus • • Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun. It takes 84 Earthly years to complete one full orbit. It turns on its axis once every 17. 2 hours! Its axis of rotation is very unusual; Uranus is tipped almost completely over!

Uranus’s Magnetic Field • Uranus’s magnetic field is produced at its core, which rotates at the same rate as the planet itself. • The spiral pattern traced by the magnetic field made it possible to figure out Uranus’s rate of rotation precisely.

Uranus’s Temperature • Uranus’s temperature is very strange. • The side of Uranus facing the sun is not hotter than the side not facing the sun; they are the same temperature.

Neptune • Neptune is the eighth planet from the sun. • It was discovered in 1846. • It takes 16. 1 Earth years to complete one full orbit

• Neptune’s magnetic field is tipped 47 degrees. • Its wind speeds up to 2200 kilometers per hour. • Neptune gives off 2. 7 times more energy than it obtains from the sun. • Its temperature was once measured at – 214 o. C.

• Pluto is the coldest, smallest, and most distant known planet in our solar system. • It was discovered in 1930. • Its surface temperature is below – 220 o. C.

Pluto’s Atmosphere • Most of its atmosphere of helium and methane is frozen to its surface. • That’s why Pluto seems to be made of just water, ice, and rocks.

• Pluto takes 248 Earth years to complete an orbit. • At one point, Pluto’s orbit comes closer to the sun than Neptune’s.

Pluto Now • Right now, though, Neptune is closer to the sun than Pluto. • Pluto was closer to the sun between the years 1969 and 1999.

Bibliography íMalin, Stuart. The Planets. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1989. 15 -18. íSpaulding, Nancy E. , and Samuel N. Namowitz. Earth Science. Dallas: Mc. Dougal Littell, 1999. 386 -418.

Interactive Websites • http: //liftoff. msfc. nasa. gov/academy/space/solar system/solarsystemjava. html • http: //www. brainpop. com/science/ seeall/