Solar System Survey Lunar and Planetary Institute（太阳系调查月球和行星研究所）.ppt

Solar System Overview The Sun At the Center (and we do go around it …..) 99.85% mass of Solar System 92% H / 8% He Source of solar wind and space weather Genesis Mission – solar wind SOHO Inner Planets “Terrestrial Planets” Rocky Dense Metal cores (iron) Asteroids “Minor planets” or “planetoids” less than 1000 km across Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter Occasionally run into Earth and other planets (oops) Outer Planets Large! Gases and liquids No solid surface May have a small solid core Tumultuous atmospheres - rapid winds, large storms Rotate relatively quickly Kuiper Belt Disk of debris at the edge of our Solar System Pluto is a KB Object (sorry!) Source of short-period comets Oort Cloud Sphere of widely spaced comets, dust 30 trillion km from Sun Long-period comets (random time and direction) Where Do Atmospheres Come From? Venera Images - 1982 What’s missing on Venus? Who Cares About a Magnetic Field? We do! Western edge of Tharsis Region Dune Fields, Wind Streaks, Dust Storms Water ice and dust CO2 layer – winter Caps expand and contract during seasonal changes The Gas Giants Small rocky cores – hot? cold? Mostly hydrogen and helium Where’s the surface? 89,000 miles (143,000 km) diameter – 11x Earth 2x mass of all other planets combined (318 x Earth); 100 pounds on Earth = 254 on Jupiter 90% H and 10% He (75/25% by mass) Methane, water, ammonia, rock Rocky core – liquid metallic hydrogen – electrical conductor, generates magnetic field Similar to Solar Nebula Cloud-tops average = -153°C = -244°F. 10 hour rotation / 12 year orbit Fly-bys: Pioneer 10, 11, Voyager 1, 2, Ulysses (2/04), Cassini Orbiter: Galileo – 8 years (recently “visited” the planet), Probe Aurora Ganymede largest moon in Solar System; bigger than Mercury rock, with bright (younger) patches and dark (older) patches older regions may be 4 billion years old has tectonics with ice crust may have salty ocean beneath ice crust Callisto large like Ganymede but heavily cratered and