AS101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Retrograde And Prograde Motion, Galilean Moons, Roche Limit
Document Summary
Jupiter, the largest, could hold 1400 earths, neptune, the smallest, could hold 50 earths. They all have rings, they have many moons (jupiter over 60), composition of h and he (gas and liquid) They have huge atmospheres surrounding relatively small rocky cores. Not perfectly spherical but flattened somewhat at poles due to fast rotation. Obliquity, the inclination of a planet"s equator to its orbital plane, is minimal for jupiter (3 degrees) resulting in no seasons; tilt for uranus is 98 degrees means it rotates backwards. Generate more radiation than they receive from the sun. Temperature increases rapidly along with the pressure and density as one descends into jupiter. Quickly becomes liquid h and then an even more compact form becoming metallic h (a conductor), which when combined with jupiter"s rapid rotation generates a large magnetic field. Central core is a mixture of hydrogen, rock and metals. More mass would make jupiter smaller as it results in a greater gravitational field.
