Assignment 10

Thomas Edison State College

Introductory Astronomy
AST-101-GS002
Semester - October 2013

1.)

Compare and contrast the Jovian Planets of Jupiter,

Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. How are they different from the
Terrestrial Planets and what are the unique features of each?
The Jovian planets are different from the terrestrial planets in many
ways. The Jovian planets are much larger, of low density, and gaseous
planets while the terrestrial planets are small, dense, and rocky. The
terrestrial planets are all close to the sun and lay near each other but the
Jovian planets are widely spaced throughout the solar system. The
terrestrial planets have weak magnetic fields while the Jovian planets
have strong magnetic fields. All the Jovian planets have rings but this is a
feature unknown on the terrestrial planets. The terrestrial planets have
solid surfaces but the Jovian planets do not have a surface instead they
have deep thick atmospheres.
A unique feature about Uranus is its rings look so dark due to
radiation darkening. A unique feature about Jupiter is it contains the Great
Red Spot is larger than Earth and rotates counter clockwise with a 6 day
period, and has been observed for over 300 years. A unique feature about
Saturn has extremely thin rings about 2000 times thinner than a sheet of
paper. In comparison to Saturn, Jupiter is much more dense and massive,
due to its gravity being much stronger than Saturns. Both Neptune and
Uranus have the same banded patterns of East and West moving winds.

2.)

Discuss the minor members of the solar system such as

comets, meteors, and asteroids. Include in your answer their

origin, properties, and geology, where it applies.
A comet is an icy body that releases gas or dust. Comets were
formed from left over debris of a collection of gas, ice, rocks, and dust
that formed the outer planets about 4.6 billion years ago. They are
classified based on how long they take to orbit the sun. Comets that take
less than 200 years to orbit the sun are known as short-period comets and
those that take longer than 200 years to orbit the sun are known as longperiod comets.
Meteors are bright streaks of light that appear briefly in the sky and
are also called shooting stars. They are made up of specks of dust and
grains of sand or tiny peddles. They often get sucked into Earths
gravitational pull whenever they get too close to Earth. While in space a
meteor is also called a meteoroid. There are three different types of
meteoroids are known as stony, iron, and stony-iron. Stony-iron
meteoroids have nearly the same amount of silicon based stone and ironnickel metal. Iron meteoroids are made up of mostly iron and nickel. Sony
meteoroids are made up of minerals rich in silicon and oxygen with small
amounts of iron, magnesium, and other elements.
Asteroids are small rocky bodies orbiting the sun. There are nearly
200 asteroids larger than 60 miles in diameter, more than 750,000 larger

than 3/5 a mile in diameter, and millions of smaller ones located on the
asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It is believed that
most asteroids are shattered remains of a smaller group of larger objects
left over from when the planets were formed. Asteroids are compiled into
two groups based on their composition. The group that dominates the
outer part of the belt are rich in carbon which has remained stagnate
since the solar system was formed and a second group of asteroids
located in the inner part of the belt which are rich in minerals formed from
melted materials.

References
Horizons: Exploring the Universe, 10th ed., by Michael A. Seeds (Belmont, CA:
Brooks/Cole-Thompson Learning, 2008).