Lecture 11:

The Giant (or Jovian) Planets

Jupiters Great Red Spot

Claire Max
November 2, 2010
Astro 18: Planets and Planetary
Systems
UC Santa Cruz
The Giant Planets in our own
Solar System

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

(and Earth for comparison)
 Outline of lecture

Jovian Planets:
Properties

Formation

Interior structure

Atmospheres
The Jovian Worlds:
A Different Kind of Planet

Goals for learning:

Briefly describe the major features of

the Jovian planets.

Why are Jovian planets so different

from terrestrial planets?
 Jovian Planet Properties

Compared to the terrestrial planets,

the Jovians:
are much larger & more massive
are composed mostly of Hydrogen,
Helium, & Hydrogen compounds
have no solid surfaces
rotate more quickly
have slightly squashed shapes
have ring systems
have many moons
 Jupiter
318x Earth

Jupiters 4 Galilean Moons

Saturn
95x Earth
Uranus
14x Earth
Neptune
17x Earth
Why are the Jovian Planets so Different?

They formed beyond the frost line to form large,

icy planetesimals which were massive enough to
Capture H/He far from Sun to form gaseous planets.
Each Jovian planet formed its own miniature solar
nebula.
Moons formed out of these disks.
What are the distinguishing
features of the Giant Planets?

Big puffy gas balls!

No solid surface, in contrast with terrestrial planets

Mostly hydrogen and helium

Terrestrial planets are made of rocks - little H and
He
Because of small mass, low gravity, of terrestrial
planets, light elements like H, He escaped to space

Giant Planets are farther from Sun

Beyond the ice line in the early Solar System
Water and other hydrogen compounds were solid
Allowed higher-mass objects to form by accretion
Difference between a Giant
Planet and a star?

Stars get their heat from nuclear

fusion
Four hydrogen atoms fuse to form a helium atom
To make hydrogen
atoms move fast, need
+ high temperatures in
+
core of star

The more massive a

ball of gas is, the
+ + hotter its core

Dont get any fusion

for masses < 13 -14
MJupiter
 More about stars and fusion
energy
Giant Planets (M < 13 Mj): no nuclear fusion
energy
Not enough mass lying over core to create high
temperatures in center

Stars: how does nuclear fusion release energy?

Einstein explained it all!

Helium is a bit less than four times as heavy as
hydrogen
Difference in mass: m = 4mH - mHe
By Einsteins famous rule, mass difference is released
as energy: E = m c2

This mass energy keeps to core of a star hot,

until it has fused all its hydrogen
Distances of Giant Planets
from Sun

Earth 1 AU

Jupiter 5.2 AU Five times farther from Sun

Saturn 9.5 AU

Uranus 19 AU
30 times farther from Sun!
Neptune
30 AU
Jovian Planet Composition

Jupiter and Saturn

Mostly H and He gas

Uranus and Neptune

Mostly hydrogen compounds: water
(H2O), methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3)
Some H, He, and rock
Jovian Planet Interiors

Goals for learning:

Briefly describe the interior

structure of Jupiter.

Why is Saturn almost as big in

radius as Jupiter?

How do the Jovian planet interiors

differ, and why?
Interiors: qualitative
description

Mostly gases plus the odd forms of

matter that are made when gases are
put under high pressure
Liquid hydrogen, metallic hydrogen

It is probable (but not completely

proven yet) that all the Giant Planets
have rocky cores at their centers
Accretion of matter to make planets started
with these rocky cores, then added ices
 Giant planets were farther from
early Sun than the ice line or
frost line
or ice line

Best estimate: frost line was between current

orbits of Mars and Jupiter
Outside frost line: rocky cores could attract icy
solid material fast enough that planets were
already quite massive before early solar wind blew
gas nebula away
An unusually dense
extrasolar planet
 Inside the Jovian Planets
All Jovian cores appear to be similar.
made of rock, metal, and Hydrogen compounds
about 10 x the mass of Earth
Uranus & Neptune captured less gas from the Solar nebula.
accretion of planetesimals took longer
not much time for gas capture before nebula was cleared out by
Solar wind
Only Jupiter and Saturn have high enough pressure for H & He
to exist in liquid and metallic states.
 Inside Jupiter
Although Jupiter has no solid surface and consists
mostly of H & He, it does have distinct interior layers,
defined by phase.
Moving from the surface to
the core:
temperature increases
pressure & density increases

The core of Jupiter is slightly

larger than Earth in size.

But it is 5 times as dense!

thank to tremendous weight
from above

So Jupiter's core has 10

times the mass of Earth.
More about Jupiters core

Liquid metallic hydrogen: a very

unusual state of matter
(degenerate).

Predicted many years ago

Jupiters core has temperature of 25,000 K
and pressure of 12 million bars -- 12 million
times as large as sea level pressure on the
Earth

Such a state for hydrogen has now

been reproduced in labs on Earth.
 How do we know this?

Density ---> made of primarily light stuff

---> hydrogen and helium
Jupiter: density 1.3 gm/cc
Saturn: density 0.7gm/cc

Magnetic fields ---> yes; all jovians have

strong magnetic fields ---> molten,
electrically conducting interiors

Nonspherical shapes (flattening due to

rapid rotation) ---> interior structure --->
rocky cores 5-20 x mass of the Earth
(both Jupiter and Saturn)
Liquid metallic hydrogen?

Liquid hydrogen: if you poured it into a

cup, it would assume the shape of the
cup, but would not spread out throughout
the entire volume (as would a gas).

Metallic hydrogen: will conduct electricity.

Fact that this layer can flow and can

conduct electricity means that Jupiter and
Saturn can support large internal
electrical currents and should thus show
large magnetic fields.
All the Giant Planets except
Uranus are generating some of
their own heat

Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune radiate more

energy into space in infrared light than
they receive from Sun in visible light

Reason: they are still contracting under

their own gravity!
Planet contracts or gets more centrally
condensed
Material in core is squeezed, feels more
pressure
Temperature of core increases
Additional heat conduction to outer parts of
planet, stronger infrared radiation to space
Internal heat, continued

Another way to think about

gravitational contraction making heat
Planet contracts
Decreases its gravitational potential energy
GmM/r
Total energy = kinetic energy GmM / r =
constant
So kinetic energy must increase
Particles in core move faster (random
motions)
Means their temperature is higher
 Radii of Jupiter and Saturn
Jupiter emits almost twice as much energy as it
absorbs from the Sun.
accretion, differentiation, radioactivity can not account
for it
Jupiter must still be contracting

Jupiter has 3 x more mass than Saturn, but is not

much larger!
the added weight of H & He compresses the core to a
higher density
If you added even more
just like stacking pillows
mass, Jupiter would
get smaller.
Jupiter is about as
large as a planet can
get.
Very important spacecraft

Voyager 1 and 2 (1980's)

Flew by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
First close-up views of all these planets

Galileo (recently ended mission)

In orbit around Jupiter for several years
Also sent a probe into Jupiters atmosphere

Cassini (in orbit around Saturn now,

but passed by Jupiter)
Jovian Planet Atmospheres

Goals for learning:

How is Jupiters atmospheric structure
similar to Earths?

Why does Jupiter have three distinct

cloud layers?

What is the Great Red Spot?

How do other Jovian atmospheres

compare to Jupiters?
Composition of atmospheres:
mostly hydrogen and helium
Giant planets
are massive
enough that
light elements
(H, He) didnt
entirely
escape to
space (as on
Earth)

This is very
similar to the
Solar
composition!
Page
Atmospheres of the Giant
Planets

Dominated by hydrogen and helium

gases
Thus very different from terrestrial planets
Earths atmosphere mostly nitrogen

Clouds form out of this gaseous soup in

a variety of striking colors

Cloud patterns are organized by winds,

which get their energy from the
planets internal heat
By contrast, terrestrial planets weather is
determined by heat from the Sun
 Cloud bands

Jupiter, Saturn clouds in

fast-moving bands

On Earth, transient storms

break up such bands, but
not on Jupiter or Saturn

Storms on Jupiter can last

tens to hundreds of years!

Why the cloud bands are

particular colors is not
clear; color depends on
chemistry which we dont
understand.

Page
 Jupiters Atmosphere

In 1995, the Galileo space

probe plunged into the
planet Jupiter!

It measured the atmospheric

structure of Jupiter
thermosphere absorbs Solar X-
rays
stratosphere absorbs Solar UV
troposphere greenhouse gases
These are the same structures
trapfound in Earths
heat from both Jupiter and
atmosphere. the Sun
Atmospheres are governed by interactions between sunlight and
gases.
Features on Jupiter

Credit: Imamura, U. Oregon

(c) Nick Strobel
Jupiters Cloud Layers

Convection in the troposphere

causes Jovian weather.

Warm gas rises to cooler

altitudes, where it condenses
to form clouds.

Three gases condense in the

Jovian atmosphere:
ammonia (NH3)
ammonium hydrosulfide
(NH4SH)
water (H2O)

They condense at different

temperatures, so their clouds
form at different altitudes.
Winds are strongly latitudinal

Zonal winds of alternating direction

Huge wind speeds on Saturn, Neptune

There are even opposing
zonal winds at poles!
 What is the coriolis force?

Coriolis force: if you try to move radially in or

out on a spinning merry-go-round, you are
deflected to the side
 What makes Jupiter's cloud bands so
colorful?

Like Earth, Jupiter

has circulation cells
in its atmosphere.
Jupiter is much larger
& rotates much
faster.
Coriolis effect is
much stronger
circulation cells are
split into many
bands of rising and
falling air
these are the
Visible light Infrared light
colored stripes we
see
Belts: warm, red, low
altitude
Zones: cool, white,
high altitude Page
 We also see high pressure storms

Jupiter
the Great Red Spot
we are not sure why it is red

Neptune
the Great Dark Spot
Jupiter Storms: best example
is the Great Red Spot

Great Red
Spot has
been around
for at least
300 yrs
Seen in 17th
century!

A stable
vortex

Wind speeds
>400 km/hr
Another view of
Jupiters Great Red
Spot
From Galileo spacecraft
 Jupiters Magnetosphere

Jupiters strong magnetic field gives it an enormous

magnetosphere.

Gases escaping Io feed the donut-shaped Io torus.

Magnetospheres of other giant
planets

All jovian
planets have
substantial
magnetospher
es, but
Jupiters is the
largest by far.
Thought Question

Jupiter does not have a large metal

core like the Earth. How can it have a
magnetic field?

a) The magnetic field is left over from

when Jupiter accreted.
b) Its magnetic field comes from the Sun.
c) It has metallic hydrogen inside, which
circulates and makes a magnetic field.
d) Its core creates a magnetic field, but it
is very weak.
Thought Question

Jupiter does not have a large metal

core like the Earth. How can it have a
magnetic field?

a) The magnetic field is left over from

when Jupiter accreted.
b) Its magnetic field comes from the Sun.
c) It has metallic hydrogen inside, which
circulates and makes a magnetic field.
d) Its core creates a magnetic field, but it
is very weak.
Saturn has giant storms

Outbreaks of
Saturn storms
every ~30 yrs

Corresponds to
summertime in
Northern
Hemisphere
Not seen in S.

Origin of storms
not yet
understood
Neptune: Great Dark Spot

Lasted for
several months
as Voyager 2
spacecraft flew
by

Wasnt there a
decade later
when Hubble
Space
Telescope
looked
Temperature structure of all
the Giant Planet atmospheres
Concept Question

On Earth, convection cells are formed

when air is heated at the Earth's
surface

What sources of heating might power

convective cells on Jupiter?
Why Uranus & Neptune are Blue

They both have a higher fraction

of methane gas.
Methane absorbs red sunlight.
Only blue light is reflected back
into space by the clouds.

Uranus is tipped on its side.

It should experience the most

extreme seasonal changes.
no clouds or banded structure
seen in 1986 when N pole facing
Sun
no weather, no internal heat?
HST saw storms in 1998, perhaps
because the S hemisphere is
warming now
1986 - Visual 1998 - IR
Circumferential cloud bands seen by
Voyager spacecraft as it flew by
Neptune

Linear features seen by

Voyager in visible light were
very thin

Circumferential (followed
lines of constant latitude)

Similar in location and

shape to the bands we see
in infrared light

Probably pulled out into

circumferential shape by
Neptunes huge winds
Adaptive optics has been big
help in studying Neptune from
the ground
Neptune in infrared light Neptune in infrared light
without adaptive optics with Keck adaptive optics
Clouds and Rings of Uranus from Keck
Telescope Adaptive Optics

Courtesy: L. Sromovsky
Courtesy: L. Sromovsky
Uranus, 3.8
 Concept Question

Uranus' year is 80 Earth-years long

The axis of rotation of Uranus lies almost

in the plane of Uranus' orbit, so that the
planet "rolls its way around the Sun."

As a consequence, seasons on Uranus

are
a) As long as one Uranus year
b) Non-existent
c) One fourth of Uranus' year, or about 20 Earth years
long
d) Four times Uranus' year, or about 320 Earth years long
Concept Question
 The Main Points

Briefly describe major features of the Jovian

planets.
Largely composed of hydrogen, helium, & hydrogen
compounds. No solid surfaces. Fast rotation. Slightly
squashed shapes. Many moons. Ring systems.

Why are Jovian planets so different from

terrestrial planets?
Formed in cold, outer Solar System at the centers of
miniature protoplanetary disks.

Briefly describe the interior structure of Jupiter.

Central core of H compounds, rocks, & metals.
Next layer up contains metallic H, followed by a layer of
liquid H, followed by the gaseous atmosphere.
Pressure, density, & temperature all increase with
depth.
 The main points, continued

Why is Saturn almost as big in radius as

Jupiter?
Adding mass to a Jovian planet does not necessarily
increase its size, because the stronger gravity compresses
the mass to greater density.
Jupiter is near the maximum possible size for a Jovian
planet.

How do the Jovian planet interiors differ,

and why?
All have cores of about the same mass, but differ in the
amount of surrounding H and He.
Accretion took longer in the more spread out regions of
the outer Solar System, so the more distant planets
captured less gas from the Solar nebula before it was
blown away by the Solar wind.
 Main points, continued

How is Jupiters atmospheric structure

similar to Earths?
Troposphere, stratosphere, and thermosphere
created by similar interactions of gas and sunlight.

Why does Jupiter have three distinct

cloud layers?
Different gases condense at different temperatures.
Jupiter has three cloud layers, each at the altitude
where a particular gas can condense.

What is the Great Red Spot?

A giant, high-pressure storm.
Great Dark Spot on Neptune is probably similar.