ASTR 101 Lecture 29: Unit 9.1
5 Sep 2016
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Jovian planets: h compounds, lots of he, and deep clouds of complex molecules. Mercury has no atmosphere because it"s so close to the sun. Mars and venus: almost pure carbon dioxide. Earth: around 80% n2, 20% o2, water in the form of vapour and clouds. Colour bands in the atmosphere of jupiter are due to the various complex molecules that are contained within those clouds. Know about this because able to see directly with the galileo probe. Light from sun is scattered in the process rayleigh scattering . Blue light is scattered much more dramatically than red light by water molecules. If you look directly above at the sun, light is white. If looking at an angle, will appear blue. Water droplets (or ice crystals in cirrus clouds) are big compared to the wavelength of light. No colour dependence, so clouds are white or grey. Would think all skies should be blue because of rayleigh scattering, but not true.
