AST101H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Kuiper Belt, Liquid Hydrogen, Oort Cloud

• School: UTSG
• Department: Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Course: AST101H1
• Professor: Bryan Gaensler, C. Barth Netterfield, Ilana MacDonald

Document Summary

Jupiter, saturn, uranus, neptune, many dwarf planets & comets. Compared to planets in inner solar system, planets in the outer solar system are generally made of lighter elements. Only 2 probes have ever been there. Lots of possible active volcanoes about the same size as earth. Runaway greenhouse effect makes it even hotter than mercury 460c. Surface and atmosphere heavily modified by life. Was probably warmer and wetter in past. Many surface features carved by water (giant canyons) In between orbits of mars and jupiter. Many thousands or millions of rubble piles. Material left over from formation of solar system, prevented from turning into a planet by tides or jupiter. Thick gaseous atmosphere surrounds a giant ball of liquid hydrogen. Many moons: more than 60 known to date. It is the most volcanically active body in the solar system thanks to tides from jupiter. Rings of saturn are made of tiny particles if ice.