Interesting facts about the large Giant planets! Giant planets of the Solar System (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) Brief information about the mass of the giant planets.

Jupiter- the largest planet in the solar system, it has the largest radius and mass. Therefore, the acceleration of gravity on Jupiter is 2.67 times greater than on Earth. The composition of Jupiter is similar to that of stars: hydrogen is approximately 80%, helium is approximately 17%. The enormous speed of Jupiter's rotation causes it to be greatly flattened at the poles. Jupiter has a powerful magnetic field, the origin of which is due to the fact that in the depths of Jupiter there is enormous pressure at which hydrogen transforms into a metallic state.

Jupiter has 64 satellites, the largest are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Calisto, their sizes are comparable to the size of the Moon. These satellites are visible from Earth through strong binoculars.

Saturn(Fig. 52) is a planet famous for its rings. Saturn's rings are a thin layer of debris of varying sizes orbiting around it. The first ring was discovered in 1656 by a Dutch astronomer and physicist X. Huygens(1629-1695). Images transmitted to Earth from the Voyager spacecraft showed that there are almost 1000 such rings. Their width ranges from 25 to 90 km.

There are 62 satellites orbiting around Saturn, the largest being Titan, which has a diameter 1.5 times the diameter of the Moon.

Uranus just like Saturn and Jupiter, it is a gas ball consisting of hydrogen, helium, methane and ammonia. It also has rings, only relatively thin ones. Uranus has 27 moons of varying sizes, many of them larger than 1000 km in diameter.

Neptune very similar in its physical properties to Uranus. Its size and mass are close to the size and mass of Uranus, and the atmosphere has the same composition. It is surrounded by a system of rings thinner than Uranus and is orbited by 13 satellites ranging in diameter from 54 to 400 km. Material from the site

The history of the discovery of Neptune is very interesting; it confirms not only the validity of physical laws, but also their predictive role in scientific knowledge. Neptune is the farthest planet in the solar system, and scientists could not detect it during observations. Studying in the middle of the 19th century. movement of Uranus, English astronomer J.-K. Adams(1819–1892) and French astronomer U.-J. Leverrier(1811 -1877) discovered that Uranus moves with some deviations from the orbit that they calculated for it using Newton's laws of motion. They suggested that there is another planet behind Uranus, the attraction of which distorts the calculated trajectory of its movement. Using the law of universal gravitation, they calculated the coordinates of the supposed planet. Later, Neptune was discovered exactly in the place whose coordinates they had calculated.

In 1930 it was opened in the same way Pluto, has long been considered the ninth planet of the Solar system (has 4 satellites). However, in 2006, it was hypothesized that Pluto was a satellite of Neptune that had left orbit.

The group of giant planets consists of four planets of the solar system - Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Jupiter. Since these huge planets are much further away from the Sun than smaller planets, they have another name - the outer planets.

You can divide interesting facts about the giant planets into several categories. The first takes into account their structure and rotation. The second is devoted to phenomena observed in their atmospheres. The third notes the presence of rings on planets. The fourth describes the presence of satellites.

The structure of the giant planets and their rotation

Basically, giant planets are formed from a complex mixture of gases - ammonia, hydrogen, methane and helium. According to scientists, these planets have small stone or metal cores.

Due to the enormous mass of the object, the pressure in the bowels of the gas planet reaches millions of atmospheres. Its compression by gravity releases significant energy. As a result of this factor, the giant planets release more heat than is absorbed from solar radiation.

Having dimensions significantly larger than those of Earth, such gas planets complete their daily rotation in 9-17 hours. As for the average density of the giant planets, it is close to 1.4 g/cubic. cm - approximately equal to solar.

Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, has a mass greater than the total mass of all other planets. This is probably why he was named after the main god of the Roman Pantheon. Scientists believe that it is the rapid rotation of Jupiter that explains the location of the clouds in its atmosphere - we observe them in the form of extended stripes.

Atmospheric phenomena

Among the interesting facts about the giant planets is the presence of powerful atmospheric shells, where processes that are extraordinary according to earthly concepts take place.

In the atmospheres of such planets, strong winds with speeds of over a thousand kilometers per hour are not uncommon.

Long-lived hurricane vortices are also observed there, for example, on Jupiter - the three-hundred-year-old Great Red Spot. A Great Dark Spot existed on Neptune for a long period, and anticyclone spots were observed on Saturn.

Rings and satellites of giant planets

The invisibility of Jupiter’s “frame” is explained by its narrowness and the small size of the dust particles in its composition.

The ring of Saturn is the most impressive in size - its diameter is 400 thousand kilometers, but the width of the ring is only a few tens of meters. The ring consists of pieces of ice and small rocks rotating around the planet. These parts are separated by several gaps, which form several different rings that encircle the planet.

Uranus' ring system is the second largest, and its "rim" has red, gray and blue colors. It contains pieces of water ice and very dark debris no more than a meter in diameter.

There are five subrings in Neptune's ring, presumably composed of ice particles.

Jupiter's satellite system includes almost 70 objects. One of them, Ganymede, is considered the largest satellite in the Solar System.

Researchers have discovered more than 60 satellites of Saturn, Neptune has 27 satellites, Neptune has 14, including Triton. The latter is notable for its retrograde orbit - the only one of all the large satellites of the Solar System.

This satellite, as well as two other satellites of the gas planets - Titan and Io, have atmospheres.

Jupiter

Jupiter, the fifth major planet from the Sun in the Solar System, is the largest of the giant planets.

Movement, size, shape

Jupiter moves around the Sun in a nearly circular elliptical orbit, the plane of which is inclined to the ecliptic plane at an angle of 1°18.3". The minimum distance of Jupiter from the Sun is 4.95 AU, the maximum is 5.45 AU, average - 5.2 AU (1 AU = 149.6 million km).

The equator is inclined to the orbital plane at an angle of 3°5"; due to the smallness of this angle, seasonal changes on Jupiter are very weakly expressed. Jupiter, moving around the Sun at an average speed of 13.06 km/s, makes one revolution in 11,862 Earth years The distance of Jupiter from the Earth varies from 188 to 967 million km. At opposition, Jupiter is visible as a slightly yellowish star -2.6 magnitude; of all the planets, it is second in brilliance only to Venus and Mars during the latter's great opposition.

Jupiter does not have a solid surface, therefore, speaking about its size, they indicate the radius of the upper boundary of the clouds, where the pressure is about 10 kPa; The radius of Jupiter at the equator is 71,400 km. In the atmosphere of Jupiter, layers or zones parallel to the plane of its equator are clearly visible, rotating around the axis of the planet with different angular velocities. The equatorial zone rotates the fastest - its rotation period is 9 hours 50 minutes 30 s, which is 5 minutes 11 s less than the rotation period of the polar zones. No other planet in the solar system rotates so quickly.

The mass of Jupiter is 1.899 * 10 27 kg, which is 317.8 times the mass of the Earth, but the average density is 1.33 g/cm 3, that is, 4 times less than that of the Earth. The acceleration of gravity at the equator is 23.5 m/s 2 .

In the temperate southern latitudes of Jupiter, the oval Great Red Spot, whose transverse dimensions are 30-40 thousand km, slowly moves. In a hundred years it makes approximately 3 revolutions. The nature of this phenomenon is not completely clear.

The structure and composition of Jupiter

Like other giant planets, Jupiter differs significantly in chemical composition from the terrestrial planets. Hydrogen and helium are absolutely dominant here in the “solar” proportion of 3.4: 1, but in the center of the planet, according to existing models, there is a liquid core of molten metals and silicates, surrounded by a water-ammonia liquid shell. The radius of this core is about 1/10 of the radius of the planet, the mass is ~ 0.3-0.4 of its mass, the temperature is about 2500 K at a pressure of ~ 8000 GPa.

The heat flow from the depths of Jupiter is twice the energy it receives from the Sun. Due to the lack of a solid surface, Jupiter has no atmosphere as such. Its gas shell consists mainly of hydrogen and helium, but there is also a small admixture of methane, water molecules, ammonia, etc.

Physical and chemical parameters

Thunderstorms have been spotted in Jupiter's atmosphere. The presence of an ionosphere has also been established, the length of which in height is about 3000 km.

Jupiter has a magnetic field. Its magnetic dipole moment is almost 12,000 times greater than the dipole moment of the Earth, but since the magnetic field strength is inversely proportional to the cube of the radius, and Jupiter’s is two orders of magnitude greater than that of the Earth, the intensity at the surface of Jupiter is higher, compared to the Earth, only 5-6 times. The magnetic axis is inclined to the rotation axis by (10.2 ± 0.6)°. The dipole structure of the magnetic field dominates up to distances of the order of 15 planet radii. Jupiter has an extensive magnetosphere that is similar to Earth's but is about 100 times larger. There are radiation belts.

Moons of Jupiter

The first of the Galilean satellites, Io, is larger than the Moon. It has an atmosphere and ionosphere consisting mainly of sulfur and sodium ions. Its volcanic activity is very active (more than on Earth). The dimensions of volcanic craters reach hundreds of kilometers, exceeding those on Earth by tens and even hundreds of times, although the height of the volcanoes is comparatively small. Only in the polar regions of Io are there volcanoes about 10 km high. Sulfur emissions from volcanoes rise to a height of up to 250 km. According to a number of researchers, liquid sulfur may be located under the thin, hard surface crust of the satellite, covered with a layer of sulfur and its dioxide. The surface temperature of Io is about -120° C at the equator (except in volcanic areas) and another 50° lower at the poles. The relative scarcity of impact craters larger than 1-2 km allows us to consider the surface of Io to be relatively young (less than 1 million years).

However, not all of Jupiter's satellites have smooth surfaces. Thus, the density of craters in some areas of Callisto, which is smaller in size than Ganymede, is close to the maximum. In some areas, the edges of the craters close together. One of the reasons for this distribution of craters may be the fusibility of surface rocks (in particular, ice).

Jupiter ring

Jupiter has been established to have a huge flat ring of dust and small stones, which, with a width of 6 km and a thickness of 1 km, extends to tens of thousands of km from the upper boundary of the clouds.

The study of Jupiter and its satellites, which has already yielded many significantly new results, has also led to the formulation of a number of new problems. In particular, research concerning the physical nature of intense electric fields near the satellites closest to Jupiter is still in its infancy.

Saturn

Saturn, the sixth from the Sun, the second largest planet in the solar system after Jupiter; belongs to the giant planets.

Movement, size, shape

Saturn's elliptical orbit has an eccentricity of 0.0556 and an average radius of 9.539 AU. e. (1427 million km). The maximum and minimum distances from the Sun are approximately 10 and 9 AU. e. Distances from the Earth vary from 1.2 to 1.6 billion km. The inclination of the planet's orbit to the ecliptic plane is 2°29.4". The angle between the planes of the equator and orbit reaches 26°44". Saturn moves in its orbit at an average speed of 2.64 km/s; The period of revolution around the Sun is 29.46 Earth years.

The planet does not have a solid surface; optical observations are hampered by the opacity of the atmosphere. For the equatorial and polar radii, the accepted values ​​are 60 thousand km and 53.5 thousand km. The average radius of Saturn is 9.1 times greater than that of Earth. In the earth's sky, Saturn looks like a yellowish star, the brightness of which varies from zero to first magnitude. The mass of Saturn is 5.68 10 26 kg, which is 95.1 times the mass of the Earth; Moreover, the average density of Saturn, equal to 0.68 g/cm3, is almost an order of magnitude less than the density of the Earth. The acceleration of gravity at the surface of Saturn at the equator is 9.06 m/s 2 . The surface of Saturn (cloud layer), like Jupiter, does not rotate as a single unit. Tropical regions in the atmosphere of Saturn rotate with a period of 10 hours 14 minutes of Earth time, and at moderate latitudes this period is 26 minutes longer.

Structure and composition

The temperature in the middle layers of the atmosphere (mostly hydrogen, although the presence of small amounts of helium, ammonia and methane is expected) is about 100 K.

In terms of its internal structure and composition, Saturn is very similar to Jupiter. In particular, on Saturn in the equatorial region there is a formation similar to the Great Red Spot, although it is smaller than on Jupiter.

Two-thirds of Saturn is made up of hydrogen. At a depth approximately equal to R/2, that is, half the radius of the planet, hydrogen at a pressure of about 300 GPa transforms into the metallic phase. As the depth further increases, starting from R/3, the proportion of hydrogen compounds and oxides increases. In the center of the planet (in the core region) the temperature is about 20,000 K.

Saturn's moons

All satellites, except for the huge Titan, which is larger than Mercury and has an atmosphere, are composed mainly of ice (with some admixture of rocks at Mimas, Dione and Rhea). Enceladus is unique in its brightness - it reflects light almost like freshly fallen snow. The darkest surface is Phoebe, which is therefore almost invisible. The surface of Iapetus is unusual: its front (in the direction of movement) hemisphere is very different in reflectivity from the rear.

Of all the large satellites of Saturn, only Hyperion has an irregular shape, perhaps due to a collision with a massive body, such as a giant icy meteorite. The surface of Hyperion is heavily polluted. The surfaces of many satellites are heavily cratered. Thus, the largest ten-kilometer crater was discovered on the surface of Dione; On the surface of Mimas lies a crater, the shaft of which is so high that it is clearly visible even in photographs. In addition to craters, on the surfaces of a number of satellites there are faults, grooves, and depressions. The greatest tectonic and volcanic activity was found on Enceladus.

Ring of Saturn

Uranus

URANUS (astronomical sign I), planet, average distance from the Sun - 19.18 AU. e. (2871 million km), orbital period 84 years, rotation period approx. 17 hours, equatorial diameter 51,200 km, mass 8.7 10 25 kg, atmospheric composition: H 2, He, CH 4. Uranus' rotation axis is tilted at an angle of 98°. Uranus has 15 satellites (5 discovered from Earth - Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, and 10 discovered by the Voyager 2 spacecraft - Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Belinda, Peck ) and a system of rings.

Movement, dimensions, mass

Uranus moves around the Sun in an elliptical orbit, the semi-major axis of which (the average heliocentric distance) is 19.182 times greater than that of the Earth, and amounts to 2871 million km. The orbital eccentricity is 0.047, which means the orbit is quite close to circular. The orbital plane is inclined to the ecliptic at an angle of 0.8°. Uranus completes one revolution around the Sun in 84.01 Earth years. The period of Uranus's own rotation is approximately 17 hours. The existing scatter in determining the values ​​of this period is due to several reasons, of which two are main: the gas surface of the planet does not rotate as a single whole and, in addition, no noticeable local inhomogeneities were found on the surface of Uranus that would help clarify the length of the day on the planet.

Composition and internal structure

Like the other giant planets, Uranus's atmosphere is primarily composed of hydrogen, helium, and methane, although their relative contributions are somewhat lower compared to Jupiter and Saturn.

The theoretical model of the structure of Uranus is as follows: its surface layer is a gas-liquid shell, under which there is an icy (a mixture of water and ammonia ice) mantle, and even deeper - a core of solid rock. The mass of the mantle and core makes up approximately 85-90% of the total mass of Uranus. The solid matter zone extends to 3/4 of the planet's radius

The temperature in the center of Uranus is close to 10,000 K at a pressure of 7-8 million atmospheres (one atmosphere approximately corresponds to one bar). At the core boundary the pressure is approximately two orders of magnitude lower (about 100 kilobars). The effective temperature, determined from thermal radiation from the planet's surface, is ca. 55 K.

Moons of Uranus

History of the discovery of Uranus

For many centuries, astronomers on Earth knew only five “wandering stars” - planets. 1781 was marked by the discovery of another planet, named Uranus. This happened when the English astronomer W. Herschel began implementing a grandiose program: compiling a complete systematic survey of the starry sky. On March 13, near one of the stars in the constellation Gemini, Herschel noticed a curious object that was clearly not a star: its apparent dimensions changed depending on the magnification of the telescope, and most importantly, its position in the sky changed. Herschel initially decided that he had discovered a new comet (his report at a meeting of the Royal Society on April 26, 1781 was called “Report on a Comet”), but the comet hypothesis soon had to be abandoned. In gratitude to George III, who appointed Herschel as Astronomer Royal, the latter proposed to name the planet “St. George’s Star”, however, in order not to violate the traditional connection with mythology, the name “Uranus” was adopted. The first few observations did not yet make it possible to accurately determine the parameters of the orbit of the new planet, but, firstly, the number of these observations (in particular, in Russia, France and Germany) quickly increased, and secondly, a careful study of catalogs of past observations made it possible to verify that the planet had been repeatedly recorded before, but was mistaken for a star, which also significantly increased the number of data.

During the 30 years after the discovery of Uranus, the intensity of interest in it periodically fell, but only for a while. The fact is that increasing the accuracy of observations revealed mysterious anomalies in the movement of the planet: it either “laged behind” the calculated one, or began to “lead” it. The theoretical explanation of these anomalies led to new discoveries - the discovery of post-uranium planets.

Neptune

Neptune, the eighth major planet from the Sun in the Solar System, belongs to the giant planets.

Movement and parameters of the planet

Neptune moves around the Sun in an elliptical, close to circular (eccentricity - 0.009) orbit; its average distance from the Sun is 30.058 times greater than that of the Earth, which is approximately 4500 million km. This means that light from the Sun reaches Neptune in a little over 4 hours. The length of a year, that is, the time of one complete revolution around the Sun, is 164.8 Earth years. The equatorial radius of the planet is 24,750 km, which is almost four times the radius of the Earth, and its own rotation is so fast that a day on Neptune lasts only 17.8 hours. Although Neptune's average density of 1.67 g/cm 3 is almost three times less than that of Earth, its mass, due to the large size of the planet, is 17.2 times greater than that of Earth. Neptune appears in the sky as a 7.8 magnitude star (invisible to the naked eye); at high magnification it looks like a greenish disk, devoid of any details. Neptune has a magnetic field whose strength at the poles is approximately twice that of Earth.

Composition and internal structure

Of all the elements on Neptune, hydrogen and helium predominate in approximately the same ratio as on the Sun: there are about 20 hydrogen atoms per helium atom. In the unbound state, there is much less hydrogen on Neptune than on Jupiter and Saturn. Other elements are also present, mostly light. On Neptune, as on other giant planets, multilayer differentiation of matter occurred, during which an extended ice shell was formed, like on Uranus. According to theoretical estimates, there is both a mantle and a core. According to calculated models, the mass of the core together with the ice shell can reach 90% of the total mass of the planet.

Moons of Neptune

History of discovery

After W. Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781 and calculated the parameters of its orbit, mysterious anomalies in the motion of this planet were soon discovered - it either “laged” behind the calculated one or was ahead of it.

In 1832, in a report by the British Association for the Advancement of Science, J. Erie, who later became the Royal Astronomer, noted that in 11 years the error in the position of Uranus had reached almost half a minute of arc. Shortly after the report was published, Airey received a letter from the British amateur astronomer, the Reverend Dr. Hassay, which suggested that these anomalies were due to the influence of an as yet undiscovered “suburanian” planet. Apparently this was the first proposal to look for a “disturbing” planet. Eri did not approve of Hassey's idea, and the search was not started.

And the year before, the talented young student J. C. Adams noted in his notes: “At the beginning of this week the idea arose to begin, immediately after receiving my degree, the study of anomalies in the motion of Uranus, which have not yet been explained. It is necessary to find out whether they can be caused by the influence of an undiscovered planet located behind it and, if possible, to determine at least approximately the elements of its orbit, which can lead to its discovery.”

Adams was able to begin solving this problem only two years later, and by October 1843 preliminary calculations were completed. Adams decided to show them to Erie, but he was unable to meet with the royal astronomer. Adams could only return to Cambridge, leaving the results of his calculations for Erie. For unknown reasons, Erie reacted negatively to Adams' work, the price of which was the loss of England's priority in the discovery of a new planet.

Independently of Adams, W. J. Le Verrier worked on the problem of a post-uranium planet in France. On November 10, 1845, he presented the French Academy of Sciences with the results of his theoretical analysis of the motion of Uranus, concluding with the discrepancy between observational and calculated data: “This can be explained by the influence of an external factor, which I will evaluate in the second treatise.”

Such estimates were made in the first half of 1846. The success of the case was helped by the assumption that the desired planet was moving, in accordance with the empirical rule of Titius Bode, in an orbit whose radius was equal to three times the radius of the orbit of Uranus, and that the orbit had a very small inclination to the ecliptic plane. Le Verrier gave instructions on where to look for a new planet. Having received Le Verrier's second treatise, Erie drew attention to the very close coincidence of the results of Adams's and Le Verrier's studies relating to the motion of the supposed planet disturbing the motion of Uranus, and even emphasized this at a special meeting of the Greenwich Board of Surveyors. But, as before, he was in no hurry to start the search and began to bother about it only in July 1846, realizing what indignation his passivity could subsequently cause.

Meanwhile, Le Verrier completed another study on August 31, 1846, in which the final system of orbital elements of the desired planet was obtained and its place in the sky was indicated. But in France, as in England, astronomers still did not begin the search, and on September 18, Le Verrier turned to I. Galle, an assistant at the Berlin Observatory, who, having received permission from the director of the observatory, began the search on September 23, together with the student D'Arre. That evening the planet was discovered, it was only 52" from the expected location.

The news of the discovery of a planet “at the tip of a pen,” which was one of the brightest triumphs of celestial mechanics, soon spread throughout the scientific world. According to established tradition, the planet was named Neptune in honor of the ancient god.

For about a year, there was a struggle between France and England for the priority of discovery, to which, as often happens, the heroes themselves had no direct connection. In particular, a complete understanding was established between Adams and Le Verrier, and they remained friends until the end of their lives.

During the lesson, everyone will be able to gain an understanding of the topic “Giant Planets”. During the lesson you will learn which planets are considered giants, what features distinguish them from other planets in the solar system. Together with your teacher, consider their mass and size, which are several times larger than planet Earth.

Another feature of the giants of the solar system is that they are planets without a surface, since their atmosphere turns into a liquid state. Inside the planet there is a relatively small core, but even it is much larger than any of the terrestrial planets.

If we compare the Earth with Jupiter(Fig. 2), then it will be 1320 times larger in volume, and 314 times heavier in mass. It is not surprising that it is the largest planet in the solar system, surpassing in mass not only the Earth, but also all other planets. The planet received its name in honor of the most important Roman god (Fig. 3). Jupiter has long streaks of clouds. In the upper layer of the atmosphere, hurricane-force winds blow at speeds exceeding 500 km/h. Jupiter has a dense, rocky core inside. The planet has rings, but they are quite thin. The temperature is -130°C, which is due to the distance from the Sun. For a long time, scientists observed the atmosphere of Jupiter and noticed hurricane winds and cyclones, but the greatest interest is caused by the large red spot (Fig. 4), which scientists have been observing for three hundred years: it either decreases or increases, disappears for a while, then appears again. Researchers believe that this is a giant atmospheric vortex. Jupiter has about 65 satellites (Fig. 5): Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea, Teba, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto(Fig. 6), Leda, Lysithea, Elara, Ananke, Karme, Pasiphae, Sinope and others. The largest satellite is Ganymede.

Saturn (Fig. 7) is the sixth planet from the Sun, named after the ancient Roman god - the patron saint of farmers (Fig. 8). Saturn is located 10 times further from the Sun than Earth. And in its structure it is very similar to Jupiter. The uniqueness of the planet lies in the fact that it is Saturn that has the widest rings (Fig. 9), their width reaches several tens of thousands of kilometers, although they are sometimes no more than one kilometer thick. The number of satellites, according to the most modern data, reaches 62. The temperature on the surface drops below - 170°C.

Uranus (Fig. 10) is the first planet to be discovered in 1781 using a telescope by William Herschel, although he initially confused it with a comet. Later it was proven that Uranus is an independent planet. Due to the fact that the planet is colored light blue, it was named after the ancient Greek god (Fig. 11), who personified the sky. Uranus is 4 times larger than our Earth and 15 times more massive. Mainly composed of Hydrogen (H 2) and Helium (He), and in the center of it is a rocky core. The surface temperature reaches -200°C, and wind speeds reach 100 km/h. It is surprising for science that the axis of rotation of Uranus practically lies in the plane of its orbit. Uranus has 9 rings and 27 satellites orbiting it.

Neptune (Fig. 12) is the eighth planet of the solar system, which was discovered only after the invention of the telescope and was named after the god of water (Fig. 13). Independently of each other, two scientists - the Englishman John Adams and the Frenchman Urbain Le Verrier - suggested that the orbit of rotation of Uranus is influenced by some celestial body, and the calculations carried out indicated the place to search for a new planet. So on September 23, 1846, Johann Halle discovered a new planet at the Berlin Observatory. Neptune and Uranus are similar because Neptune is also composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, and the surface temperature is very low due to its distance from the Sun. According to modern data, Neptune has 13 satellites.

The world of achievements and discoveries of science is very interesting and diverse. We will learn in the next lesson what dwarf planets hide within themselves, what are their characteristic features and differences from other celestial bodies.

1. Melchakov L.F., Skatnik M.N. Natural history: textbook. for 3.5 grades avg. school - 8th ed. - M.: Education, 1992. - 240 pp.: ill.

2. Ovcharova E.N. Natural history 5. - M.: Association XXI century.

3. Eskov K.Yu. and others. Natural history 5 / Ed. Vakhrusheva A.A. - M.: Balass

1. Melchakov L.F., Skatnik M.N. Natural history: textbook. for 3.5 grades avg. school - 8th ed. - M.: Education, 1992. - p. 155, assignments and questions. 12.

2. Give a general description of the giant planets.

3. Why is Uranus named after the sky god?

4. * How many light years would it take to travel to Neptune? Think about the speed at which a space rocket must travel.

And are rocky planets or inner planets. The other four planets are , and . These planets are located in the outer solar system and are called gas giants. Since ancient times, they have interested and attracted people with their grandeur and many secrets. This article will talk about these monsters.

The structure of the planets

All giant planets are balls of gas, they consist mainly of helium and hydrogen. If you go down to one of the planets, you may never be able to reach its surface. They are so huge that even the “tiny” planet Uranus is 15 times larger than Earth. However, despite such dimensions, one of the planets is so light that it could float on water. This planet is Saturn.

Satellites

All gaseous planets have their own satellites. Jupiter has 67 moons, Saturn has 62 moons, Uranus has 27, and Neptune has only 14 moons. For comparison, the Earth has only one satellite - the well-known Moon. The satellites of giant planets are of particular interest to scientists, since some of them may support life.

Rings

Saturn is recognized by its luxurious rings. However, he is not the only one with rings. Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus also have several rings, but they have a different chemical composition, as a result of which they can only be seen using special equipment. Additionally, only in the rings of Saturn has ice been discovered.

Rotation of planets

Just like the Earth, all gas monsters revolve around their star. However, around their own axis, the movement of gaseous planets looks a little different. This is due to the gaseous structure of the planets: the fastest rotation is observed at the equator, and slower movement is noticeable in the pole areas.

Jupiter

A giant monster who is called the King of all planets. The planet is named after the Roman god. Jupiter is so huge that, if desired, it can accommodate all the planets of the solar system combined. Its gravity is incredibly huge, which is why Jupiter attracts all the radiation from space. The Earth would have been attacked by meteorites long ago if Jupiter’s strong gravitational field had not attracted wandering asteroids. It is interesting that with such a gigantic size, Jupiter rotates at tremendous speed. If on Earth a day lasts 24 hours, then on Jupiter it is only 10 hours.

Interesting facts about the giant planets you can find out in this article.

Giant planets- four planets of the solar system: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune; located outside the ring of minor planets.

Giant planets: interesting facts

According to the structure of the giant planets gaseous, they contain a lot of hydrogen and helium, they are rarefied and they are distinguished by their large sizes. the only exception from the four above-mentioned planets is Pluto, since the chemical elements of its shell are similar to the terrestrial planets. But among the defining differences between these planets is, of course, size - even the smallest Uranus is fifteen times larger than Earth.

Each giant planet has its own in the center hard core. By the standards of the giant planets themselves, the core is completely small, but if we compare these cores with the cores of the terrestrial planets, then any of them is much larger than the cores of the terrestrial planets.

Everyone remembers that Saturn is famous for its rings, but not everyone knows about the presence of the same rings on the other four planets; they have a slightly different chemical composition and are less distinguishable, however, when observing the giants using astronomical technology, they can be seen.

The giant planets have a large number of satellites. U has 67 satellites, Uranus has 62 satellites, Uranus has 27, and only 14 satellites. For comparison, the Earth has only one satellite - the well-known Moon. The satellites of giant planets are of particular interest to scientists, since some of them may support life.

Jupiter so huge that, if desired, it could accommodate all the planets of the solar system combined. Its gravity is incredibly huge, which is why Jupiter attracts all the radiation from space. The Earth would have been attacked by meteorites long ago if Jupiter’s strong gravitational field had not attracted wandering asteroids. It is interesting that with such a gigantic size, Jupiter rotates at tremendous speed. If on Earth a day lasts 24 hours, then on Jupiter it is only 10 hours.

At the very top of the surface of the giant planets are gases, which, approaching the center of the planet, turn into a liquid state. By the way, it is precisely this phenomenon that allows us to say that giant planets do not have a surface, that is, a state where there is no obvious transition from a gaseous to a solid or liquid state.