Our Solar System Exploration The 2nd Part

"He made this vast universe, from the immense skies, stars and planets to the atom and it's infinitesimal components."

Recap  ..In the first part, we discused Sun and Terrestrial Planets The Planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, are called Terrestrial because they have a compact, rocky surface like Earth's terra firma (dry land; the ground as distinct from the sea or air..)  The terrestrial planets are the four innermost planets in the solar system. In Short , Their distance from the Sun , Orbital Speed, Rotation on Axises, Temprature , Atmospheric Pressure and Conditions To live ...etc etc.

Let's Start the 2nd part..........

The Jovian planets include gas giants Jupiter and Saturn and ice giants Uranus and Neptune.

The Gas Giants are predominantly made of helium and hydrogen, and the ice giants also contain rock, ice, and a liquid mixture of water, methane, and ammonia. All four Jovian planets have multiple moons, sport ring systems, have no solid surface, and are immense. The largest Jovian is also the largest planet in the solar system.

Jupiter."Planetary heap as king"

Born from Primordial stardust, 4.5 billion years ago, Jupiter was the solar system's first planet and much like its namesake, the king of the Ancient Roman gods, Jupiter was destined for greatness. Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun, and the largest planet in the solar system. At approximately 11 earths wide, Jupiter has twice the amount of mass as the other planets put together. But, unlike Earth, and the three other terrestrial worlds, Jupiter has no solid surface. It may not even have a traditionally solid core. Rather, this giant planet may have a dense, liquid center surround by a worldwide ocean of hydrogen and helium gases.

Jupiter's Gassiest composition can be observed in its atmosphere. About 44 miles thick, the atmosphere is a canvas of stripes and storms, churning across the giant planet. Their colors range between shades of whites, yellows, browns, and reds, all caused by the different chemical make up of each area. Probably the most iconic feature of Jupiter, is a crimson brown storm that's been raging for over 300 years. 

The Great Red Spot:

It's a giant, swirling collection of clouds with wind speeds of up to 400 miles per hour, at least two and half times faster than category five hurricanes. Floating hundreds of miles above the storms of Jupiter. its Distance from the Sun is 778.5 million km, Mass is 1.898 × 10^27 kg (317.8 M⊕), Surface area is  61.42 billion km² and  Radius is 69,911 km.

Inside Jupiter Planet: Jupiter is made up almost entirely of hydrogen and helium. On the surface of Jupiter–and on Earth–those elements are gases. However inside Jupiter, hydrogen can be a liquid, or even a kind of metal. These changes happen because of the tremendous temperatures and pressures found at the core.

Orbit and Rotation: Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. Orbital period is 12 years,13.07 km/s , (29,236 miles per hour), or a period of about 11.86 years around the sun. hence The orbital speed of Jupiter is less than the orbital speed of the earth.

(There are about 79 moons, the most of the Eight known Planets. The four largest moons were discovered by Galileo in 1610. Called the Galilean Satellites. will be discussesd in the next blog.)

Planet Saturn: Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in our solar system. Adorned with a dazzling system of icy rings, Saturn is unique among the planets. It is not the only planet to have rings, but none are as spectacular or as complex as Saturn's. Like fellow gas giant Jupiter, Saturn is a massive ball made mostly of hydrogen and helium.The farthest planet from Earth discovered by the unaided human eye, Saturn has been known since ancient times. The planet is named for the Roman god of agriculture and wealth, who was also the father of Jupiter.

Size and Distance: With a radius of 36,183.7 miles (58,232 kilometers), Saturn is 9 times wider than Earth. If Earth were the size of a nickel, Saturn would be about as big as a volleyball. From an average distance of 886 million miles (1.4 billion kilometers), Saturn is 9.5 astronomical units away from the Sun. One astronomical unit (abbreviated as AU), is the distance from the Sun to Earth. From this distance, it takes sunlight 80 minutes to travel from the Sun to Saturn.

Orbit and Rotation: Saturn has the second-shortest day in the solar system. One day on Saturn takes only 10.7 hours (the time it takes for Saturn to rotate or spin around once), and Saturn makes a complete orbit around the Sun (a year in Saturnian time) in about 29.4 Earth years (10,756 Earth days). Its axis is tilted by 26.73 degrees with respect to its orbit around the Sun, which is similar to Earth's 23.5-degree tilt. This means that, like Earth, Saturn experiences seasons.

Inside Saturn Planet: Like Jupiter, Saturn is made mostly of hydrogen and helium. At Saturn's center is a dense core of metals like iron and nickel surrounded by rocky material and other compounds solidified by the intense pressure and heat. It is enveloped by liquid metallic hydrogen inside a layer of liquid hydrogen—similar to Jupiter's core but considerably smaller. It's hard to imagine, but Saturn is the only planet in our solar system whose average density is less than water. The giant gas planet could float in a bathtub if such a colossal thing existed.

Saturn Rings:   

                                              

Saturn actually has many rings made of billions of particles of ice and rock, ranging in size from a grain of sugar to the size of a house. The particles are believed to be debris left over from comets, asteroids or shattered moons. A 2016 study also suggested the rings may be the carcasses of dwarf planets.

The largest Ring spans 7,000 times the diameter of the planet. The main rings are typically only about 30 feet (9 meters) thick, but the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft revealed vertical formations in some of the rings, with particles piling up in bumps and ridges more than 2 miles (3 km) high.The rings are named alphabetically in the order they were discovered. The main rings, working out from the planet, are known as C, B and A. The innermost is the extremely faint D ring, while the outermost to date, revealed in 2009, is so big that it could fit a billion Earths within it. The Cassini Division, a gap some 2,920 miles (4,700 km) wide, separates rings B and A

Planet Uranus:

In ancient times, humans studied the night sky and discovered the worlds of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. But beyond this realm of knowledge,another world shined brightly, just waiting to be discovered. Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun.Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus, who, according to Greek mythology, was the grandfather of Zeus and father of Cronus. It has the third-largest planetary radius and fourth-largest planetary mass in the Solar System. Uranus has 27 known moons, most of which are named after literary characters. Like Saturn, Jupiter and Neptune, Uranus is a ringed planet.

Size and Distance:  Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun, forms a distance of about 20 astronomical units appox, or 20 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. With a Radius of 15,759.2 miles (25,362 kilometers), Uranus is 4 times wider than Earth. If Earth was the size of a nickel, Uranus would be about as big as a softball. From an average distance of 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers), Uranus is 19.8 astronomical units away from the Sun.

Orbit and Rotation:  Uranus makes a complete orbit around the Sun (a year in Uranian time) in about 84 Earth years (30,687 Earth days). Uranus is the only planet whose equator is nearly at a right angle to its orbit, with a tilt of 97.77 degrees—possibly the result of a collision with an Earth-sized object long ago. This orbit causes each season of Uranus to last that much longer. Theoretically, a human living on Uranus would experience the four seasons only once,but each for about 21 years. Partially due to its distance from the Sun.

Inside Uranas Planet: 

Uranus is one of two ice giants in the outer solar system (the other is Neptune). Most (80 percent or more) of the planet's mass is made up of a hot dense fluid of "icy" materials—water, methane and ammonia—above a small rocky core. Near the core, it heats up to 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit (4,982 degrees Celsius). Uranus is slightly larger in diameter than its neighbor Neptune, yet smaller in mass. Uranus has an Earth-sized core made of iron and magnesium silicate. It is the second least dense planet; Saturn is the least dense of all. Uranus gets its blue-green color from methane gas in the atmosphere. Sunlight passes through the atmosphere and is reflected back out by Uranus' cloud tops. Methane gas absorbs the red portion of the light, resulting in a blue-green color. Next to Uranus is Neptune, the outermost planet in the solar system, and also one of the coldest. 

Uranas Rings:

Saturn is, of course, famous for its majestic rings, but Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune all have ring systems as well. Those ring systems are all much less massive and fainter than Saturn’s, and you need a very powerful telescope or a spacecraft to see them well. But now astronomers have taken some new earth-based thermal images of Uranus’ rings, where they look surprisingly bright. For the first time, researchers were also able to measure the temperature of the rings: a very chilly 320 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-195 Celsius).

Uranus’ ring system as seen in 2019 by the ALMA and VLT telescopes. The planet itself is masked off as it is much brighter than the rings. Uranus’ rings are normally so faint that they can’t be seen through telescopes. They were only discovered in 1977, when astronomers saw them passing in front of a star, blocking its light. (Image via Edward Molter/Imke de Pater/Michael Roman/Leigh Fletcher, 2019.)

Planet Neptune: Dark, cold and whipped by supersonic winds, ice giant Neptune is the eighth and most distant planet in our solar system. More than 30 times as far from the Sun as Earth, Neptune is the only planet in our solar system not visible to the naked eye. In 2011 Neptune completed its first 165-year orbit since its discovery in 1846. The ice giant Neptune was the first planet located through mathematical calculations. Using predictions made by Urbain Le Verrier, Johann Galle discovered the planet in 1846. The planet is named after the "Roman god of the sea", as suggested by Le Verrier.

Size and Distance: With a radius of 15,299.4 miles (24,622 kilometers), Neptune is about four times wider than Earth. If Earth were the size of a nickel, Neptune would be about as big as a baseball. From an average distance of 2.8 billion miles (4.5 billion kilometers), Neptune is 30 astronomical units away from the Sun. One astronomical unit (abbreviated as AU), is the distance from the Sun to Earth. From this distance, it takes sunlight 4 hours to travel from the Sun to Neptune.

Orbit and Rotation: One day on Neptune takes about 16 hours (the time it takes for Neptune to rotate or spin once). And Neptune makes a complete orbit around the Sun (a year in Neptunian time) in about 165 Earth years (60,190 Earth days). Neptune’s axis of rotation is tilted 28 degrees with respect to the plane of its orbit around the Sun, which is similar to the axial tilts of Mars and Earth. This means that Neptune experiences seasons just like we do on Earth; however, since its year is so long, each of the four seasons lasts for over 40 years.

Inside Neptune Planet:

Neptune is an ice giant. Most of its mass is a hot, dense fluid of "icy" materials – water, methane and ammonia – above a small rocky core. Neptune's atmosphere is made up mostly of molecular hydrogen, atomic helium and methane. It may have a small, rocky core, and an icy mantle that blends into the atmosphere. Neptune radiates almost three times as much heat energy as it gets from the distant Sun.

Orbiting the Terrestrial planets is the Asteroid Belt, a flat disc of rocky objects, full of remnants from the solar system's  formation. From microscopic dust particles, to the largest known object, the dwarf planet, Ceres. Another disc of space debris lies much further out, and orbits the Jovian planets, the icy Kuiper Belt.

Apart from asteroids, the Kuiper Belt is also home to dwarf planets, such as Pluto, and is the birthplace of many comets. Beyond the Kuiper Belt is the Oort Cloud, a vast, spherical collection of icy debris. It is considered the edge of the solar system, Since that is where the gravitational and physical influences of the Sun end. Our solar system's particular configuration of planets and other celestial objects, all revolving around a life-giving star, make it a special place to call home. 

I hope for the best response from you guys , Each of the gas giant planets can be thought of as its own mini version of the Solar System., Each planet has a large system of moons which are in orbit around it, i will throw light in my next article about Astriod Belt. Inshallah.

see you then.,

Regards...

Tahir Ahmad Dawood