You can see from the graph to the right that these condense at lower altitudes in Saturn's atmosphere than they do in Jupiter's atmosphere. The cores of all four jovian planets are made of some combination of rock, metal and hydrogen compounds.
Jupiter and Saturn have similar interiors, with layers extending outward of metallic hydrogen, liquid hydrogen, gaseous hydrogen, and topped with a layer of visible clouds. Unlike Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus and Neptune have cores of rock and metal, but also water, methane and ammonia. The layer surrounding the core is made of gaseous hydrogen, covered with a layer of visible clouds similar to Jupiter's and Saturn's.
Just like the terrestrial planets, the deeper you go, the hotter and denser it gets. An increase in temperature and density means an increase in pressure. The Jovian Planets click to enlarge. Back to top. How Rotation Affects Planet Shapes click to enlarge. Jupiter with its moons Europa closest in and Callisto aligned with the planet's center.
Saturn's rings with moons Janus topmost and Pandora. Cloud Altitudes in Jovian Planet Atmospheres. Jovial Planet Interiors click to enlarge. A Pie Slice of Jupiter's Density. The presence of this methane is what gives Uranus and Neptune their hazy blue color, where Jupiter is orange-white in appearance due to the intermingling of hydrogen which gives off a red appearance , while the upwelling of phosphorus, sulfur, and hydrocarbons yield spotted patches areas and ammonia crystals create white bands.
The atmosphere of Jupiter is classified into four layers based on increasing altitude: the troposphere, stratosphere, thermosphere and exosphere. Temperature and pressure increase with depth, which leads to rising convection cells emerging that carry with them the phosphorus, sulfur, and hydrocarbons that interact with UV radiation to give the upper atmosphere its spotted appearance. Hence why it is similarly colored, though its bands are much fainter and are much wider near the equator resulting in a pale gold color.
Both planets also have clouds composed of ammonia crystals in their upper atmospheres, with a possible thin layer of water clouds underlying them. The troposphere is the densest layer, and also happens to be the coldest in the solar system. Within the troposphere are layers of clouds, with methane clouds on top, ammonium hydrosulfide clouds, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide clouds, and water clouds at the lowest pressures.
Next is the stratosphere, which contains ethane smog, acetylene and methane, and these hazes help warm this layer of the atmosphere. Here, temperatures increase considerably, largely due to solar radiation. This is something that Uranus shares with Neptune, which also experiences unusually high temperatures in its thermosphere about K Like Uranus, Neptune is too far from the Sun for this heat to be generated through the absorption of ultraviolet radiation, which means another heating mechanism is involved.
Its atmosphere can be subdivided into two main regions: the lower troposphere where temperatures decrease with altitude , and the stratosphere where temperatures increase with altitude. Like Earth, Jupiter experiences auroras near its northern and southern poles.
But on Jupiter, the auroral activity is much more intense and rarely ever stops. Jupiter also experiences violent weather patterns. Storms form within hours and can become thousands of km in diameter overnight.
One storm, the Great Red Spot , has been raging since at least the late s. The storm has been shrinking and expanding throughout its history; but in , it was suggested that the Giant Red Spot might eventually disappear. You cannot download interactives. For thousands of years, people have looked up at the night sky with questions.
As technologies have advanced so to has our ability to investigate those questions. First, with telescopes, then with satellites, then space rovers, and ultimately with manned spacecraft. Humans have set foot on the moon, successfully landed rovers on Mars, and even photographed other galaxies. Take your classroom into the great beyond with these out-of-this-world resources.
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