Journey Around the Solar System Part 2




Hello! This is part 2 of the Solar System blog! (If you haven’t read part 1 yet, try reading that one first!) Today, I will be talking about the Jovian planets aka gas giants in our solar system!

We begin with the fifth planet from the Sun, Jupiter. It’s the biggest planet in the solar system. Even though its mass is more than all of the other planets combined, it still only consists of less than 0.1% of all the mass in the solar system! Jupiter’s most famous feature is the Great Red Spot, a high-pressure hurricane region on Jupiter’s surface. It’s been occurring continuously since it was first spotted by Cassini in 1665. The Great Red Spot is as large as 3 Earths.

Jupiter also has over a whopping 60 moons. The most famous are the Galilean Moons, which names are Ganymede, Io, Callisto and Europa. Ganymede is also the biggest moon in the solar system, being bigger than Mercury, having its own magnetic field and atmosphere. Io is a volcanically active moon, spewing out sulfur dioxide flakes hundreds of kilometers above its surface! Callisto and Europa both have icy surface, and they might have liquid water ocean underneath the crust. Europa, we believe, might be humanity’s next hope for a new habitable planet.

Next, we have the sixth planet from the Sun, Saturn. Its size is close to Jupiter’s, making it the second largest planet in the solar system. Saturn is well-known for its numerous layers and gaps of its rings. It has 1 ring, but it is divided into 7 smaller rings with gaps and divisions. The rings names aren’t too creative. The names are Ring A, Ring B, Ring C, Ring D, Ring E, Ring F and finally Ring G. Wow. There are a lot of divisions as well, the most famous being the Encke Division and the Cassini Division.

Saturn also has a lot of moons, the biggest being Titan, the second biggest moon in the solar system. It is even bigger than the planet Mercury like Ganymede! It has a thick orange atmosphere of methane and nitrogen, and has seas of liquid methane. Titan also has dunes that can reach 330 meters in height and geysers that shoot up ammonia and water into the air.
Saturn has many other interesting moons such as Enceladus, having a surface of ice, making it one of the most reflective bodies in the solar system! Its temperature plummets to a freezing -200°C! It also has geysers on its surface that shoots up water vapor and molecular hydrogen and some solid material such as sodium chlorine crystals (salt) into the atmosphere reaching heights of 200km!

Uranus is the 7th and the coldest planet in the solar system. Its surface is colored completely blue. The factor that makes Uranus unique is the fact that it tilts at an axis of 98°. This means that in summer for Uranus, the sun never sets, and in winter, the sun never sets! In autumn and spring, the sun rises and sets every 9 hours. Some of its moons are Miranda, Oberon, and Ariel.

Neptune is the 8th and final planet of the solar system. It has strong winds that can reach up to 2000 km/h! Neptune has clouds of hydrogen and is also the 2nd coldest planet in the solar system. Neptune also used to have a special spot called the Great Dark Spot. However, the Great Dark Spot has already disappeared.

I will be making part 3 soon, which is about all the extra stuff in the solar system, such as comets!

Thanks for reading! ~Nat

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