Assignment 10

Thomas Edison State College

Introductory Astronomy

AST-101-GS002

Semester - October 2013

1.) Compare and contrast the Jovian Planets of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. How

are they different from the Terrestrial Planets and what are the unique features of

each?

The Jovian planets are different from the terrestrial planets in many ways. The

Jovian planets are much larger, of low density, and gaseous planets while the terrestrial

planets are small, dense, and rocky. The terrestrial planets are all close to the sun and lay

near each other but the Jovian planets are widely spaced throughout the solar system. The

terrestrial planets have weak magnetic fields while the Jovian planets have strong magnetic

fields. All the Jovian planets have rings but this is a feature unknown on the terrestrial

planets. The terrestrial planets have solid surfaces but the Jovian planets do not have a

surface instead they have deep thick atmospheres.

A unique feature about Uranus is its rings look so dark due to radiation darkening. A

unique feature about Jupiter is it contains the Great Red Spot is larger than Earth and

rotates counter clockwise with a 6 day period, and has been observed for over 300 years. A

unique feature about Saturn has extremely thin rings about 2000 times thinner than a sheet

of paper. In comparison to Saturn, Jupiter is much more dense and massive, due to its

gravity being much stronger than Saturn’s. Both Neptune and Uranus have the same

banded patterns of East and West moving winds.

2.) Discuss the minor members of the solar system such as comets, meteors, and

asteroids. Include in your answer their origin, properties, and geology, where it

applies.

A comet is an icy body that releases gas or dust. Comets were formed from left over

debris of a collection of gas, ice, rocks, and dust that formed the outer planets about 4.6

billion years ago. They are classified based on how long they take to orbit the sun. Comets

that take less than 200 years to orbit the sun are known as short-period comets and those

that take longer than 200 years to orbit the sun are known as long-period comets.

Meteors are bright streaks of light that appear briefly in the sky and are also called

shooting stars. They are made up of specks of dust and grains of sand or tiny peddles. They

often get sucked into Earth’s gravitational pull whenever they get too close to Earth. While

in space a meteor is also called a meteoroid. There are three different types of meteoroids

are known as stony, iron, and stony-iron. Stony-iron meteoroids have nearly the same

amount of silicon based stone and iron-nickel metal. Iron meteoroids are made up of mostly

iron and nickel. Sony meteoroids are made up of minerals rich in silicon and oxygen with

small amounts of iron, magnesium, and other elements.

Asteroids are small rocky bodies orbiting the sun. There are nearly 200 asteroids

larger than 60 miles in diameter, more than 750,000 larger than 3/5 a mile in diameter, and

millions of smaller ones located on the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

It is believed that most asteroids are shattered remains of a smaller group of larger objects

left over from when the planets were formed. Asteroids are compiled into two groups

based on their composition. The group that dominates the outer part of the belt are rich in

carbon which has remained stagnate since the solar system was formed and a second group

of asteroids located in the inner part of the belt which are rich in minerals formed from

melted materials.

References

Horizons: Exploring the Universe, 10th ed., by Michael A. Seeds (Belmont, CA:

Brooks/Cole-Thompson Learning, 2008).