Quark Presents: Holiday Tour of the Star System Sol Elegantly appointed spacebus - every seat has a...
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Transcript of Quark Presents: Holiday Tour of the Star System Sol Elegantly appointed spacebus - every seat has a...
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 Ð99.95 Latinum Bars or Federation Credit equivalent
Void where prohibited
Close approach to Sol during a spectacular flare
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
Quark Presents: Holiday Tour of the Star System Sol
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 planetsQuark’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
JupiterAs seen by U-manz during a
lunar eclipse on Terra
Solar Corona
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
The Outer Planets of SolThe Outer Planets of Sol
PlutoNeptune
Uranus
Saturn
Jupiter
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
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
yearsN. Lindsley-Griffin, 1999
SOL - THE STAR Quark’s Holiday Tour SOL - THE STAR Quark’s Holiday Tour
CORONA
Prominence
Radiativeinterior Convective
Zone
Core(Fusion)Sun
Spots
Houghton-Mifflin - Dolgoff, 1998; N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1999
STELLAR NEBULAE Quark’s Holiday Tour STELLAR NEBULAE Quark’s Holiday Tour
Disk is gaseous ring withoxygen and nitrogenDisk is gaseous ring withoxygen and nitrogen
Primitive solar systems condense from stellar nebulae like this one.
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
D. Some planetesimals grow large enough
to attract others. These collide and
coalesce to become primitive planets.N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1999
ORIGIN OF PLANETS Quark’s Holiday Tour ORIGIN OF PLANETS Quark’s Holiday Tour A
B
C
D
PLUTO - CHARON Quark’s Holiday Tour PLUTO - CHARON Quark’s Holiday Tour
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.
Pluto
Charon
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
PLUTO - CHARON Quark’s Holiday Tour PLUTO - CHARON Quark’s Holiday Tour
Charon is bluer than Pluto:
they have different surface composition and structure
Pluto has bright highlights:
smooth reflecting surface layer
Pluto and Charon always keep the same face towards each other
A
a
a
a
a
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
PLUTO - CHARON Quark’s Holiday Tour 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’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
Pluto
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
JOVIAN PLANETS Quark’s Holiday Tour JOVIAN PLANETS Quark’s Holiday Tour
Low densities - 0.7-1.7 g/cm3
All have rings, although only Saturn’s are spectacular
All have multiple small moons
Most have small rocky cores and dense hydrogen-rich
atmospheresJupiter
Saturn
NeptuneUranus
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
NEPTUNE: Atmosphere Quark’s Holiday Tour 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
Fastest winds in the Solar
System: 2000 km/hr
“Great Dark Spot”
“Scooter”
“Little Dark Spot”
NEPTUNE: Rings Quark’s Holiday Tour NEPTUNE: Rings Quark’s Holiday Tour
Barely visible rings are dispersed clots of dirty ice
Unusual twisted structure of ring
Outermost ring has three brighter arc-shaped clumps - no one knows why
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
NEPTUNE: Moons Quark’s Holiday Tour 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 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 URANUS: Atmosphere Quark’s Holiday Tour
Hydrogen (83%), helium (15%), methane (2%) Zoned into bands (visible in false color image)
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
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
URANUS: Rings Quark’s Holiday Tour URANUS: Rings Quark’s Holiday Tour
Uranus has multiple faint rings
of dark dust, ice, and boulders
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
URANUS: Moons Quark’s Holiday Tour URANUS: Moons Quark’s Holiday Tour
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 Quark’s Holiday Tour URANUS: Miranda Quark’s Holiday Tour
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 Quark’s Holiday Tour SATURN Quark’s Holiday Tour
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 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
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 SATURN: Rings Quark’s Holiday Tour
Most spectacular
ring system in the Solar system
Rings are ice particles, silt
to boulder size Saturn with two of its moons
Tethys
Dione
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
SATURN: Moons Quark’s Holiday Tour 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
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
SATURN’S MOONS: Titan Quark’s Holiday Tour
Surface:Light and dark areas -
continents, oceans,
impact craters?
Oceans of liquid hydrocarbons
Hydrocarbon rainN. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
JUPITER Quark’s Holiday Tour
JUPITER Quark’s Holiday Tour
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 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
Hydrogen (90%),
helium (10%),
traces of water, ammonia, methane
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.
JUPITER: Atmosphere
Quark’s Holiday Tour
JUPITER: Atmosphere
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Great Red Spot
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
JUPITER: Atmosphere
Quark’s Holiday Tour
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: RingsQuark’s Holiday Tour JUPITER: RingsQuark’s Holiday Tour
Fainter, smaller, and darker
than Saturn’s rings
Mostly rock dust rather than ice
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
JOVIAN MOONS Quark’s Holiday Tour JOVIAN MOONS Quark’s Holiday Tour
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 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
Lake of molten sulfurSmooth surface lacks impact craters N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
JOVIAN MOONS: Io Quark’s Holiday Tour 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 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 and Ganymede
Quark’s Holiday Tour
JOVIAN MOONS: 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
Europa: ice ridges
GanymedeN. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
Quark’s Holiday Tour Part II: the Inner Planets of SolQuark’s Holiday Tour Part II: the Inner Planets of Sol
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998
Mars Venus
TerraMercury
Jupiter
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
Houghton-Mifflin, Dolgoff, 1998; N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1999
Geology of Terrestrial Planets
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Geology of Terrestrial Planets
Quark’s Holiday Tour
Terra (“Earth”)
Venus
Mars
Luna
(“Moon”)
Mercury
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
Evolution of Terrestrial Planets Quark’s Holiday Tour Evolution of Terrestrial Planets Quark’s Holiday Tour
Venus - carbon dioxide
Earth - nitrogen/oxygen
Mars - carbon dioxide
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
Atmospheres - Venus, Earth, Mars Quark’s Holiday Tour Atmospheres - Venus, Earth, Mars Quark’s Holiday Tour
Crater Density and Age of SurfaceMany craters on older, original lunar crust (anorthosite brecciated by repeated impacts)
Fewer craters on younger crust of basalt in the lunar mare (dark colored basins)
Crater density provides relative dating for lunar surfaces
N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1999
LUNA Quark’s Holiday Tour LUNA Quark’s Holiday Tour
B
A
C D
b.y. ago
Cra
ter
Den
sity
(a
rbit
rary
un
its)