Transcript Saturn – “The Lord of the Rings”

My Very Early Morning Jam Sandwich Usually Nauseates People
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For the nine planets
Pluto no planet anymore
New one:
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Expensive
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Mandarin Juice
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Smells
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Ultra
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Natural
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Hades (Greek)/ Pluto (Roman):
• Not visible by Greeks/Romans
• After discovery named after this god
• God of the Underworld
Hades drawn by Rei
Inamoto
• Only visible with good telescopes
• 1919 scientists thought Pluto must exist
• Discovered in 1930 by Clyde W. Tombaugh
• First moon (Charon) discovered in 1978
• 2005 new moons discovered
• Latest mission to Pluto: New Horizons
• Will reach Pluto in 2015 (launched 2006)
• Will explore Pluto and Charon during a
Flyby
• Will then study one or more KBO
New Horizons near Pluto,
drawing
“Planetary”
Symbol
Diameter:
Mass:
Surface Gravity:
Distance from
Sun:
0,2 x Earth‘s
0,002 x Earth‘s
0,1 x Earth‘s
between 4,500
and 7,000
billion km
Revolution Period
around the Sun:
Rotation Period
around Axis:
Satellites / Rings:
Average
Temperature
248 years
more than 6
days
3 known
- 230 °C /
44K
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Pluto is no longer a planet
Differs very much from the others
• Mostly composed of rock with a water-ice mantle
• Its atmosphere contains methane ice (and perhaps N2, CO, CO2)
• Other outer planets mainly composed of gas
• Higher density than the other planets
• Biggest moon (Charon) very large in comparison to Pluto
0.5 : 1; Earth: Moon 1: 0.3
It’s more likely that it is a KBO than a planet
The dwarf planets and their moons in comparison to
the Earth, Mars and the Earth’s moon
(Earth’s moon)
• Three moons
• One, Charon, found earlier than other ones
• Other two found in 2005
• called S/2005 P1 and S/2005 P2
• don’t have real names yet because it isn’t proved they’re really Pluto’s
moons
• unofficial names are Nix and Hydra
• No rings discovered yet
Pluto and his moons
• Biggest moon
• much larger than the other moons
• Discovered June 22nd, 1978 by James
Christy
• orbits Pluto every sixth day
• Spins exactly the same time around
Pluto as Pluto spins around
One side of Pluto always sees Charon,
the other one never
• Like Pluto made up of ice and rock
• some astronomers think Charon was
separated by Pluto by a big object that
crashed into Pluto
• In Greek and Roman Myths Charon was
the Ferryman of the death
• brought the dead in his boat over
river Styx to the Underworld
Photo of Charon
• largest population of objects beyond Pluto (70,000)
• Three types:
•Plutinos (“Little Plutos”): Objects orbiting like Pluto (Charon, Orcus,
Ixion)
•Classical KBOs: Objects orbiting circular (2003 EL61, Quaoar,
Varuna)
•Scattered KBOs: Very far away KBOs (Eris, 2005 FY9, 2002
AW197)
• Very cold and primitive
• Many unproved theories about formation
• Pluto KBO as well, category Plutino
The Kuiper Belt
Cronos (Greek)/ Saturn (Roman):
• Greek identified Saturn with Cronos
• Son of Gaea and Uranus
• God of agriculture and time
• Roman name Saturn
Cronos drawn by Rei Inamoto
Shani (Hindu):
• Hindu identified Saturn with Shani
• Son of Surya, the sun god, and Chhaya
• Named “evil-eyed one”, could burn everything with
glancing at it
• In South India responsible for children’s diseases
Drawing of Shani
• Saturn visible without telescope
• Galileo saw unclear shadows at the sides of Saturn
• Christian Huygens identified them as rings in 1655
• Voyager spacecrafts (1980 & 1981) found out much about Saturn
• Took great pictures of rings
• Great divisions in rings visible (Cassini- and Encke-division)
• Before 1800 just seven moons, including Titan (biggest one) were
known
• Many moons (especially small ones) discovered by Voyager I & II
• Much research done on moons nowadays
• Newest mission to Saturn: Cassini
(with Huygens Lander)
• Reached Saturn in 2004, will explore it
• Huygens Lander will explore Titan
Cassini near Saturn, drawing
Planetary
Symbol
Diameter:
9 x Earth’s
Revolution Period
around the Sun:
Mass:
95 x Earth's
Rotation Period
around Axis:
Surface Gravity:
Distance from Sun:
0.92 x Earth's
1,425 billion km
(Earth: 149 million
km)
Satellites / Rings:
Average
Temperature
29.5 years
11hrs
59 known moons,
many rings
- 180°C
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Big planets (Saturn, Jupiter): other layer structure than terrestrial ones
Different evolution
Less solid material
Saturn contains many simple molecules (Hydrogen, Helium etc.), which are liquid
because of the high pressure within Saturn
Motions in Saturn contribute to the powerful magnetosphere
Heat produced in Saturn influences motions of atmosphere
Schematic overview of the interior
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Interesting appearance caused by rings
More Sulphur
less colourful atmosphere than Jupiter
atmosphere very thin compared to other big planets
Clouds in low regions
Smog in high regions
Very few changes since beginning of evolution
Some scientist think Saturn is
still forming
A photo showing cloud belts in the atmosphere
• Saturn 59 moons
• Largest ring system in solar system
• Middle sized moons: Rhea, Dione, Tethys, Enceladus, Janus and Epimetheus
• Small moons most big rocks in space
• Many moons named after characters of old myths
Saturn and Satelites, photo-montage
Mimas
• Medium-sized moon
• Sixth from Saturn
• Discovered in 1789 by William Herschel
• Icy surface
• Diameter as long as from Los Angeles to San Francisco
• Big crater makes it look like “Death star” from Star Wars movies
Titan
• Biggest moon
• Diameter as long as from East- to West coast of USA
• Bigger than Mercury and Pluto
• Second largest moon in solar system
• One of two with an atmosphere
• Thick atmosphere
good images of surface only from Huygens Lander
• Discovered in 1655 by Christian Huygens
• Very cold (-178°C)
• Some scientist think life could exist there
Phoebe:
• Middle-sized moon
• Discovered 1898 by Henry Pickinger
• Ninth largest moon
• Diameter 220km
• Very strange:
• Surface dark
• Farther away from planet than similar-sized
ones
• Orbits opposite of other moons
• Scientists think it’s asteroid or Kuiper Belt Object
captured by Saturn’s gravity long ago
Picture sources:
Google Bilder