The genesis of planets is a long-held mystery in the astronomical repertoire of mysterious tales of the universe. Recently, scientists reasoned out that gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn are formed from little rocks in space, each no more than a foot in circumference.
Until recently the formation process these planets was largely unknown to scientists because contemporary planetary models lacked the requisite time believed to be necessary for massive gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn to grow.
Consider the fact that the Earth probably took only thirty million years to form, despite the upper limit of its potentially having taken up to one hundred million years. The question begged, then, is how did Jupiter and Saturn form so quickly?
The theory among contemporary scientists is known as the accretion model. Put
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However, new research reveals that these gas giants could well have come into being within the ten-million-year deadline. By channeling small planetary pebbles with the flow of accumulating gas, or rather the headwind such a flow would create, the rocky bits would be propelled inwards at a significantly faster rate.
So long as these pebbles gather slow enough to provide enough time for the gravitational wells of the planets to interact with one another, this model has a high degree of correspondence with our Solar System’s necessary timeline.
“If the pebbles form too quickly, pebble accretion would lead to the formation of hundreds of icy Earths,” warned co-author Dr Katherine Kretke, also from SwRI. “The growing cores need some time to fling their competitors away from the pebbles, effectively starving them. This is why only a couple of gas giants formed.”
Levison added, “[a]s far as [he] knows, this is the first model to reproduce the structure of the outer solar system, with two gas giants, two ice giants (Uranus and Neptune), and a pristine Kuiper
In 1979, Voyager 1 discovered Jupiter’s ring system. Jupiter has three rings. Galileo spacecraft suggested that these rings are formed when meteoroids hit Jupiter’s tiny closest moons.
Jupiter Research Jupiter is the fifth and largest planet in our solar system. This gas giant has a thick atmosphere, 17 moons, and a dark, barely-visible ring. Its most prominent features are bands across its latitudes and a great red spot, (which is a storm). Jupiter is composed mostly of gas.
They used radar/microwave radiometer aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which revealed a turbulent atmosphere that has many similarities with Jupiter than previously realized. The new observations reveal a calm and narrow equatorial belt surrounded by stormy bands just like on Jupiter. Although regions at higher latitudes did show a different character that is unique to Saturn. Recently generated global microwave maps of Saturn exposed detail of a mostly stable atmospheric environment. There were some unpredicted diversity, including arid, desert-like patches in Saturn's atmosphere.
The formation of Earth and other planetary bodies through the processes of condensation and accretion was essentially complete _____ years ago.
There are many other large moons that orbit gas giants, but those are thought to have formed rather differently.
It has been known for well over a century now that the Earth’s core, mantle and the crust make up the basic structure of the Earth. However, there is some controversy over how and when the Earth produced its core, mantle and crust. In this essay, I will first discuss about the formation of the Early Earth and its Moon, then about the methods used to pinpoint the age of the Earth. Other than that, I will also expand on core and mantle formation, as well as the eventual production of the continental crust.
Saturn is the second largest planet in the solar system. Jupiter is the only planet that is larger. The gas giant is 72 thousand miles in diameter, almost ten times the size of Earth. In spite of its huge size, though, Saturn weighs very little. It is a very light gas planet. Saturn is the least dense planet in the solar system-- so light, in fact, that it would float in water. This planet is mostly composed of hydrogen and helium, like Jupiter, but it is much less dense. The combination of its light weight and fast rotation causes Saturn to spread out, or oblate, its center. Since Saturn is a gas planet, it does not have a solid surface. Spacecraft are unable to land on this type of surface. The clouds that are seen when looking at Saturn are just the top layer of a very deep layer that covers a center of liquid hydrogen. The clouds are blown by constant winds that reach speeds up to one thousand miles per hour at the equator of the planet (“Great Space Place”).
Several unresolved problems remain concerning the Orion Nebula. The fate of the protoplanetary disks, for example, is presently impossible to predict. Without a more detailed understanding of how planets actually form, it cannot be assumed that the events within the Orion Nebula are analogous to the events that led to the formation of the planets in the solar system. Furthermore, the detection of water in the nebula has revealed the need to revise the theory of star formation to
Let’s discuss these two very similar planets, Uranus and Neptune, which can also be known as sister planets. Other than being called twin planets, or sister planets, they can also be referred to as ice giants. Yes, ice giants now that’s because they’re mostly ice that lack a deep hydrogen mantle. Being referred to as ice giants distinguishes them from Jupiter and Saturn which are known as gas giants. Uranus and Neptune are classified as Jovian planets because they’re bigger compared to Earth.
At 1000 times the size of the planet Earth, Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system and its biggest influence. In fact, Jupiter could swallow all of the plants in the solar system twice and still have room. More than any other planet, Jupiter shapes our solar systems past, present, and future. Most recently, scientists have been attempting to unlock the gas giants’ secrets. On December 7th, 1995, NASA’s Galileo spacecraft dropped a 750 pound titanium probe into Jupiter’s atmosphere. The probe hurled into the cloud tops at over 1006 miles an hour. Even though Jupiter appears calm, quite, and serene from a distance. There are ferocious winds, lightning storms, and immense pressures. With such an enormous mass, the closer
We now focus our attention on the formation of one particular planet, one that is so far unlike any other in the universe, Earth.
was forming it was a giant ball made of liquid molten. Over a long period of time asteroids hit
The four gas giants are: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Jupiter is the fourth brightest object and rotates the slowest in the solar system. Only the Sun, Moon and Venus are brighter. It is one of five planets visible to the naked eye from Earth. Jupiter has the shortest day of all the planets. It turns on its axis once every 9 hours and 55 minutes. The rapid rotation flattens the planet slightly, giving it an oblate shape. Jupiter orbits the Sun once every 11.8 Earth years. From our point of view on Earth, it appears to move slowly in the sky, taking months to move from one constellation to another. Jupiter has unique cloud features. The upper atmosphere of Jupiter is divided into cloud belts and zones. They are made primarily of ammonia
Uncovering the mysteries of Jupiter is a crucial step for a greater understanding of our Solar System. Being the massive planet that it is, this mysterious planet may hold many answers to how our the Solar System formed and evolved. The understanding of the origins of the universe includes answers even to the formation of Earth itself. Many believe that the research of Jupiter will lead to discoveries on planet formation and the role of giant planets on the formation f stars and other smaller bodies. Mysteries of Jupiter include its composition, what is under its clouds, what is in its core and its magnetic field. Research on the amount of water in the planet will tell us about the
The knowledge of what the inner core is made up is still and will remain unknown until we can create a satellite that can make into the atmosphere of Jupiter and the other gas planets. Jupiter's atmosphere was also found to be quite turbulent. It is also know that Jupiter spins faster than any other planet. This indicates that Jupiter's winds are driven in large part by its internal heat rather than from solar input as on Earth. The vivid colors seen in Jupiter's clouds are probably the result of subtle chemical reactions of the trace elements in Jupiter's atmosphere, perhaps involving sulfur whose compounds take on a wide variety of colors, but the details are unknown. The colors correlate with the cloud's altitude: blue lowest, followed by browns and whites, with reds highest. Sometimes we see the lower layers through holes in the upper ones. Then we have the Great Red Spot that everyone can identify as Jupiter. This reddish color of the “Great Red Spot” is a puzzle to scientist, but several chemicals, including phosphorus, have been proposed as a reason. In fact, the color and mechanisms driving the appearance of the entire atmosphere are still not well understood. This spot has been seen by Earthly observers for more than 300 years. Robert Hooke discovered it in the 17th century. The GRS is an oval about 12,000 by 25,000 km, big enough to hold two Earths. Another interesting feature about Jupiter is that it