Transcript Quark Presents: Holiday Tour of the Star System Sol

Quark Presents:
Holiday Tour of the Star System Sol
Elegantly appointed spacebus every seat has a viewscreen!
Ample photo opportunities
A real live planetary Scientist
will be your guide!
FREE universal translator
Close approach to Sol during
a spectacular flare
Ð99.95 Latinum Bars or Federation Credit equivalent
Void where prohibited
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
Quark Presents:
Holiday Tour of the Star System Sol
Fly by each of Sol’s 9 planets
(and selected moons)
See all the major natural
wonders of this Star System
Optional 4-day extension on
Terra (home of strange
U-Manz creatures)
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Part I: Sol overview; the outer planets
Origin of Sol and its planets
Properties of Sol
Paired planets
Pluto - Charon
Jovian Planets
Neptune
Uranus
Saturn
Jupiter
Solar Corona
As seen by U-manz during a
lunar eclipse on Terra
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
The Outer Planets of Sol
Saturn
Jupiter
Uranus
Pluto
Neptune
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
SOL - THE STAR
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Average size star
Located in Milky Way
Galaxy
Formed by collapse of
cold stellar nebula
Radiates energy equal to
5 million tons of matter
each second
A middle-aged star - 4.6
billion years old
Will burn 4 billion more
years
CORONA
Prominence
Radiative
interior
Sun
Spots
Convective
Zone
Core
(Fusion)
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1999
STELLAR NEBULAE
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Primitive solar
systems condense
from stellar nebulae
like this one.
Disk is gaseous ring with
oxygen and nitrogen
Houghton-Mifflin - Dolgoff, 1998; N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1999
ORIGIN OF PLANETS
Quark’s Holiday Tour
A
Condensation Hypothesis:
A. Primitive solar nebula
B. Nebula flattens, forms rotating disk,
matter concentrates in center
C. Disk cools, forms particles that grow
into planetesimals - composition varies
with temperature/distance from star
B
C
D. Some planetesimals grow large enough
to attract others. These collide and
D
coalesce to become primitive planets.
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1999
PLUTO - CHARON
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Charon
Pluto
Approaching the outer edge of the Solar System:
Pluto and its moon Charon (“Karen”).
Charon is half as big as Pluto - one of two paired
planetary systems around this star.
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
PLUTO - CHARON
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Charon is bluer than Pluto:
they have different surface
composition and structure
Pluto has bright highlights: A
smooth reflecting surface
a
layer
a
a
Pluto and Charon always
keep the same face towards a
each other
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
PLUTO - CHARON
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Pluto’s atmosphere: Nitrogen;
some carbon monoxide, methane
Usually frozen, except when closest
to Sol in its irregular orbit
Pluto
Pluto’s density: 2.1 g/cm3
more than Jovian planets (0.7-1.7)
less than terrestrial planets (4-5.5)
Pluto’s composition: probably
about 70% rock, 30% water ice
Charon
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
JOVIAN PLANETS
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Uranus
Neptune
Low densities - 0.7-1.7 g/cm3
All have rings, although only
Saturn’s are spectacular
Saturn
All have multiple small moons
Most have small rocky cores
and dense hydrogen-rich
atmospheres
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
Jupiter
NEPTUNE: Atmosphere
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Hydrogen and helium,
minor methane
Blue color caused by absorption
of red light by methane
Rapid winds confined to bands
of latitude and huge storms or
vortices
“Great Dark Spot”
“Scooter”
Fastest winds in the Solar
System: 2000 km/hr
“Little Dark Spot”
NEPTUNE: Rings
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Barely visible rings
are dispersed clots of
dirty ice
Unusual twisted
structure of ring
Outermost ring has
three brighter arcshaped clumps - no
one knows why
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
NEPTUNE: Moons
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Triton is the largest of 8 known moons
Triton is probably about 75% rock, 25% water ice
Its surface is relatively young, with few impact craters
(Neptune’s 7 other
moons are small
and not very
interesting.)
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
NEPTUNE: Triton
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Volcanically active today
(like Terra, Venus, Io)
Ice Volcanoes erupt liquid
nitrogen, dust, or
methane compounds
from beneath the surface
Eruptions driven by
seasonal solar heating
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
URANUS: Atmosphere
Quark’s Holiday Tour
True color is blue-green due to
absorption of red light by
methane in upper atmosphere
False color image shows
brown haze or smog over the
south polar region
Hydrogen (83%), helium (15%), methane (2%)
Zoned into bands (visible in false color image)
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
URANUS: Rings
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Uranus has
multiple faint rings
of dark dust, ice,
and boulders
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
URANUS: Moons
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A dozen small dark inner moons
5 large outer moons - named from the writings of
Shakespeare and Pope, rather than classical mythology
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
URANUS: Miranda
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Half water ice, half rocks
Mixed up surface:
Heavily cratered terrain
Grooves, valleys, cliffs
Smooth plains
Caused by repeated
upwelling of melted ice?
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
SATURN
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Sol’s second largest planet
Oblate shape - smaller across
poles than equator
Shape due to rapid rotation
and fluid, low density state
Radiates more energy into
space than it receives from Sol
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
SATURN
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Interior - rocky core,
surrounded by layers of:
liquid metallic hydrogen
molecular hydrogen
Overall density: 0.7 g/cm3
(less than water)
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
SATURN:
Atmosphere
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Hydrogen (75%),
helium (25%),
traces of water,
ammonia, methane
Zoned atmosphere is
sometimes marked by
huge storms
The Great Red Oval consists of
gases that absorb more blue and
violet light than the rest of the
atmosphere - possibly brought up
from deeper in the atmosphere
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
SATURN: Rings
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Most
spectacular
ring system in
the Solar
system
Tethys
Dione
Rings are ice
particles, silt
to boulder size
Saturn with two of its moons
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
SATURN: Moons
Quark’s Holiday Tour
18 named moons
(and at least a dozen
more unnamed ones)
Most are small, icy,
low density
Impact craters are
visible on Dione
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
SATURN’S MOONS: Titan
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Size: larger than Mercury,
slightly smaller than Mars
The only satellite with a
significant atmosphere
Thick, opaque orange smog of
nitrogen (>90%), argon (6%),
traces of hydrocarbons
(methane, ethane)
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
SATURN’S MOONS: Titan
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Surface:
Light and dark areas continents, oceans,
impact craters?
Oceans of liquid
hydrocarbons
Hydrocarbon rain
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
JUPITER
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Largest planet of Sol
Twice the combined
mass of the other planets
Colors of outermost layers due to chemical reactions of
trace elements like sulfur
Colors correlate with cloud’s altitude: blue lowest, then
browns and whites, reds highest
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
JUPITER: Energy
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Still undergoing gravitational
contraction
Gives off twice as much
energy as it receives from Sol
If a little larger, would have
become a star itself
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
JUPITER:
Atmosphere
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Hydrogen (90%),
helium (10%),
traces of water, ammonia, methane
Great Red Spot
High velocity winds confined in wide bands of latitude.
Winds blow in opposite directions in adjacent bands.
Complex vortices (storms) at boundaries, turbulent to
great depths and driven by internal heat.
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
JUPITER:
Atmosphere
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Great Red Spot
A high pressure region whose cloud tops are higher
and colder than surrounding regions
Has persisted for over 300 years, according to historic
records of the U-manz (or Terrans)
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
JUPITER: Rings
Quark’s Holiday Tour
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
Fainter, smaller, and darker
than Saturn’s rings
Mostly rock dust rather than ice
JOVIAN MOONS
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16 known satellites:
12 small moons
Four large “Galilean” moons:
Io
Europa
Ganymede
Callisto
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
JOVIAN MOONS: Io
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Io’s surface is unique - very young lava flows of sulfur
compounds, heated by Jupiter’s tidal action
Smooth surface lacks
impact craters
Lake of molten sulfur
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
JOVIAN MOONS: Io
Quark’s Holiday Tour
The most volcanically active body around Sol
Surface covered with calderas
and lava flows of
silicates and sulfur
Some eruption
plumes are
300 km high
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
JOVIAN MOONS: Callisto
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Callisto has an icy crust
over a salt-water ocean
Heated by radioactive
decay
A magnetic field is
generated by circulation of
the salt water
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
JOVIAN MOONS:
Europa: ice
ridges
Europa and Ganymede
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Ice tectonics rule the surface:
Ridges and rafts of water ice
formed when meltwater
erupted, then froze
Heated by Jupiter’s tides
Rocky mantle of silicate rock
with small metallic core
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
Ganymede
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Part II: the Inner Planets of Sol
Mars
Venus
Mercury
Terra
Jupiter
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
Geology of Terrestrial Planets
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Composition - All have:
metallic core
siliceous mantle
basaltic crust
Relatively dense: 4 - 5.5 g/cm3
Different history from Jovians
All shaped by:
1. Impact cratering
2. Volcanism
3. Tectonism
4. Erosion and deposition
Terra
(“Earth”)
Luna
(“Moon”)
Venus
Mars
Mercury
Houghton-Mifflin, Dolgoff, 1998; N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1999
Evolution of Terrestrial Planets
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A planet’s evolution is controlled by how long internal heat lasts
Luna (Earth’s Moon) is small, became quiet 3 b.y. ago
Terra (“Earth”) is large, stilll hot, remains dynamic today
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1999
Atmospheres - Venus, Earth, Mars Quark’s Holiday Tour
Venus - runaway greenhouse effect
No plate tectonics
Too much Solar energy
Earth - plate tectonics recycles oxygen
by subducting and remelting
oceanic lithosphere and sediments
Carbon dioxide trapped biogenically
Size and mass just right to maintain
internal heat that drives tectonic cycle
Mars - water, oxygen locked up in rocks
No plate tectonics
Too small to hold dense atmosphere
Houghton-Mifflin, Dolgoff, 1998; N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1999
Venus - carbon dioxide
Earth - nitrogen/oxygen
Mars - carbon dioxide
LUNA
Crater Density and Age of Surface
Many craters on older, original lunar crust
(anorthosite brecciated by repeated impacts)
Crater Density
(arbitrary units)
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A
Fewer craters on younger crust of basalt in
the lunar mare (dark colored basins)
Crater density provides relative dating for
lunar surfaces
B
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1999
C
b.y. ago
D
TERRA: Unique!
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Oxygen-rich atmosphere
Over 70% surface is water
Plate tectonics recycles
oxygen and water
Only known life in Solar System (but is it intelligent?)
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998