Transcript Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto!

Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto:
Their Properties and How They Are Similar to One Another
By Maria Tomas
Three planets,
one powerpoint,
awesome.
Uranus
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Seventh planet from the sun and third
largest
Named after Roman God of the heavens
Is as big as approx. 63 Earths
1,784,860,000 miles away from sun
First planet discovered ever (out of all
other planets) by William Herschel on
March 13, 1781
Made up of gases(83% hydrogen, 15%
helium, and 2% methane) ice, and rock
Has rings like Saturn, but very faint
Has 27 named moons (named after
Shakespeare and Pope writings)
Picture of Uranus (YOOR-a-nus)
Uranus
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Gases rotate inside at varying intensities and speeds
Center of gravity is not oriented in center of planet, but about 60 degrees from axis.
84 Earth year rotation around the sun
Has a core of rock and ice, and mantle consisting of water, methane, and ammonia
-355 degrees on outside, approx. 4,200 degrees inside, and 12,000 in core.
Tilted at about a 90 degree angle (north and south are at 90 degrees)
Tilt of Uranus and orbit around sun.
Thermal imaging of Uranus
Why is Uranus blue?
• Methane in outer atmosphere absorbs red
light from sun, but not blue, which it reflects
back into space, making the planet appear
blue.
Neptune!
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Eighth and last planet from the sun, and the fourth largest.
4.5 billion km. away from the sun
Orbit spans about 164Earth years
Named after Roman God of the sea, Neptune
As big as approx. 57 Earths
Discovered by Galle and d’Arrest on September 23, 1846
- found planet by discovering that something was disturbing Uranus’ orbit
- essentially mathematically calculated that Neptune (as well as Jupiter and
Saturn) existed
Beautiful Neptune
• Made out of ice, rock, and gases
- gases rotate rapidly and at different speeds in different places
- winds can reach up to 2000 km/hr on the surface
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Has a Great Dark Spot
- similar to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot
- disappeared in 1994, but reappeared later in a different location
- this led scientists to believe that Neptune’s atmosphere changes very rapidly
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Great and Small Dark Spots on Neptune
Also has Small Dark Spot
Similarities to Uranus
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Blue like Uranus for the same reason (Methane absorbs red, but not blue)
Also has a cold outer atmosphere, but very hot in center
Very similar composition to Uranus
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Methane, helium, and hydrogen in atmosphere
Mantle made of methane, ammonia, and water
Core of ice and rock
Also has magnetic center of gravity at a tilt (47 degrees)
Has rings like Saturn and Neptune of space debris, but, again, still smaller than Saturn’s
Differences between Neptune +
Uranus
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Neptune has a more dynamic weather system (Uranus has bland weather)
Smaller than Uranus, but denser.
Pluto!
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Not officially a planet anymore, but was ninth planet.
- orbits outside of Neptune
- farthest away from the sun of all solar objects in the solar system
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Named after god of the underworld
7.3 billion km. away from the sun (at farthest)
248 Earth year orbit
As big as .187 Earths
Discovered in 1930 by mathematical calculations and sky survey
by Clyde W. Combaugh
Has three moons: Charon, Nix, and Hydra
Rotates in opposite direction from most other planets
Also has a right angle orbit (center of gravity, poles, etc.) like
Neptune and Uranus.
Atmosphere is probably nitrogen, methane, and hydrogen
Pluto
Pluto Composition
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Made up of ice and rock, similar to Uranus + Neptune
Interior is made of ice in different stages
- Core is heavy, rock elements such as silicates
- Two interior mantles of ice
- Surface is hard ice
- Pluto is mostly just ice and gases
- Gases due to radiation from sun, etc., and mostly on surface
Interior of Pluto
Similarities Between Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto
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All have 90 degree angle tilts (their north and south poles are at our east and west, if it was
on our planet)
All are made out of ice and rock and similar gases, such as methane, hydrogen, etc.
Three furthest planets from the sun (or two furthest planets and dwarf planet)
However, Uranus and Neptune are different from Pluto because:
• They have a tilted center of gravity
• They attract space debris, which creates rings around them
• They appear blue because of methane in the atmosphere (this may be true
about Pluto as well, but not much is known about Pluto in this regard, so it is
debatable.)
• They are much larger
And Uranus is different from Neptune because:
• Neptune has a much more dynamic weather system (similar to Jupiter)
• Neptune is denser than Uranus
But, all in all, they are very similar
to one another
bffs 4eva
bibliography
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“Neptune”,
http://nineplanets.org/uranus.html
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“Uranus”,
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/uranus_worldbook.html
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“Uranus”,
http://kids.nineplanets.org/uranus.htm
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“What Pluto and Charon are made out of”,
http://www.windows2universe.org/pluto/pluto_composition.html
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“Pluto”,
http://nineplanets.org/pluto.html
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“Pluto Statistics”,
http://www.windows2universe.org/pluto/statistics.html&%20link=/mars/mars.html