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Astronomy 2e

11.1 Exploring the Outer Planets

Astronomy 2e11.1 Exploring the Outer Planets

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Table of contents
  1. Preface
  2. 1 Science and the Universe: A Brief Tour
    1. Introduction
    2. 1.1 The Nature of Astronomy
    3. 1.2 The Nature of Science
    4. 1.3 The Laws of Nature
    5. 1.4 Numbers in Astronomy
    6. 1.5 Consequences of Light Travel Time
    7. 1.6 A Tour of the Universe
    8. 1.7 The Universe on the Large Scale
    9. 1.8 The Universe of the Very Small
    10. 1.9 A Conclusion and a Beginning
    11. For Further Exploration
  3. 2 Observing the Sky: The Birth of Astronomy
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 2.1 The Sky Above
    3. 2.2 Ancient Astronomy
    4. 2.3 Astrology and Astronomy
    5. 2.4 The Birth of Modern Astronomy
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. For Further Exploration
    9. Collaborative Group Activities
    10. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  4. 3 Orbits and Gravity
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 3.1 The Laws of Planetary Motion
    3. 3.2 Newton’s Great Synthesis
    4. 3.3 Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation
    5. 3.4 Orbits in the Solar System
    6. 3.5 Motions of Satellites and Spacecraft
    7. 3.6 Gravity with More Than Two Bodies
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. For Further Exploration
    11. Collaborative Group Activities
    12. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  5. 4 Earth, Moon, and Sky
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 4.1 Earth and Sky
    3. 4.2 The Seasons
    4. 4.3 Keeping Time
    5. 4.4 The Calendar
    6. 4.5 Phases and Motions of the Moon
    7. 4.6 Ocean Tides and the Moon
    8. 4.7 Eclipses of the Sun and Moon
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary
    11. For Further Exploration
    12. Collaborative Group Activities
    13. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  6. 5 Radiation and Spectra
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 5.1 The Behavior of Light
    3. 5.2 The Electromagnetic Spectrum
    4. 5.3 Spectroscopy in Astronomy
    5. 5.4 The Structure of the Atom
    6. 5.5 Formation of Spectral Lines
    7. 5.6 The Doppler Effect
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. For Further Exploration
    11. Collaborative Group Activities
    12. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  7. 6 Astronomical Instruments
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 6.1 Telescopes
    3. 6.2 Telescopes Today
    4. 6.3 Visible-Light Detectors and Instruments
    5. 6.4 Radio Telescopes
    6. 6.5 Observations outside Earth’s Atmosphere
    7. 6.6 The Future of Large Telescopes
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. For Further Exploration
    11. Collaborative Group Activities
    12. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  8. 7 Other Worlds: An Introduction to the Solar System
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 7.1 Overview of Our Planetary System
    3. 7.2 Composition and Structure of Planets
    4. 7.3 Dating Planetary Surfaces
    5. 7.4 Origin of the Solar System
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. For Further Exploration
    9. Collaborative Group Activities
    10. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  9. 8 Earth as a Planet
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 8.1 The Global Perspective
    3. 8.2 Earth’s Crust
    4. 8.3 Earth’s Atmosphere
    5. 8.4 Life, Chemical Evolution, and Climate Change
    6. 8.5 Cosmic Influences on the Evolution of Earth
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. For Further Exploration
    10. Collaborative Group Activities
    11. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  10. 9 Cratered Worlds
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 9.1 General Properties of the Moon
    3. 9.2 The Lunar Surface
    4. 9.3 Impact Craters
    5. 9.4 The Origin of the Moon
    6. 9.5 Mercury
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. For Further Exploration
    10. Collaborative Group Activities
    11. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  11. 10 Earthlike Planets: Venus and Mars
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 10.1 The Nearest Planets: An Overview
    3. 10.2 The Geology of Venus
    4. 10.3 The Massive Atmosphere of Venus
    5. 10.4 The Geology of Mars
    6. 10.5 Water and Life on Mars
    7. 10.6 Divergent Planetary Evolution
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. For Further Exploration
    11. Collaborative Group Activities
    12. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  12. 11 The Giant Planets
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 11.1 Exploring the Outer Planets
    3. 11.2 The Giant Planets
    4. 11.3 Atmospheres of the Giant Planets
    5. Key Terms
    6. Summary
    7. For Further Exploration
    8. Collaborative Group Activities
    9. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  13. 12 Rings, Moons, and Pluto
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 12.1 Ring and Moon Systems Introduced
    3. 12.2 The Galilean Moons of Jupiter
    4. 12.3 Titan and Triton
    5. 12.4 Pluto and Charon
    6. 12.5 Planetary Rings (and Enceladus)
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. For Further Exploration
    10. Collaborative Group Activities
    11. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  14. 13 Comets and Asteroids: Debris of the Solar System
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 13.1 Asteroids
    3. 13.2 Asteroids and Planetary Defense
    4. 13.3 The “Long-Haired” Comets
    5. 13.4 The Origin and Fate of Comets and Related Objects
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. For Further Exploration
    9. Collaborative Group Activities
    10. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  15. 14 Cosmic Samples and the Origin of the Solar System
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 14.1 Meteors
    3. 14.2 Meteorites: Stones from Heaven
    4. 14.3 Formation of the Solar System
    5. 14.4 Comparison with Other Planetary Systems
    6. 14.5 Planetary Evolution
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. For Further Exploration
    10. Collaborative Group Activities
    11. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  16. 15 The Sun: A Garden-Variety Star
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 15.1 The Structure and Composition of the Sun
    3. 15.2 The Solar Cycle
    4. 15.3 Solar Activity above the Photosphere
    5. 15.4 Space Weather
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. For Further Exploration
    9. Collaborative Group Activities
    10. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  17. 16 The Sun: A Nuclear Powerhouse
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 16.1 Sources of Sunshine: Thermal and Gravitational Energy
    3. 16.2 Mass, Energy, and the Theory of Relativity
    4. 16.3 The Solar Interior: Theory
    5. 16.4 The Solar Interior: Observations
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. For Further Exploration
    9. Collaborative Group Activities
    10. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  18. 17 Analyzing Starlight
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 17.1 The Brightness of Stars
    3. 17.2 Colors of Stars
    4. 17.3 The Spectra of Stars (and Brown Dwarfs)
    5. 17.4 Using Spectra to Measure Stellar Radius, Composition, and Motion
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. For Further Exploration
    9. Collaborative Group Activities
    10. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  19. 18 The Stars: A Celestial Census
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 18.1 A Stellar Census
    3. 18.2 Measuring Stellar Masses
    4. 18.3 Diameters of Stars
    5. 18.4 The H–R Diagram
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. For Further Exploration
    9. Collaborative Group Activities
    10. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  20. 19 Celestial Distances
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 19.1 Fundamental Units of Distance
    3. 19.2 Surveying the Stars
    4. 19.3 Variable Stars: One Key to Cosmic Distances
    5. 19.4 The H–R Diagram and Cosmic Distances
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. For Further Exploration
    9. Collaborative Group Activities
    10. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  21. 20 Between the Stars: Gas and Dust in Space
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 20.1 The Interstellar Medium
    3. 20.2 Interstellar Gas
    4. 20.3 Cosmic Dust
    5. 20.4 Cosmic Rays
    6. 20.5 The Life Cycle of Cosmic Material
    7. 20.6 Interstellar Matter around the Sun
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. For Further Exploration
    11. Collaborative Group Activities
    12. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  22. 21 The Birth of Stars and the Discovery of Planets outside the Solar System
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 21.1 Star Formation
    3. 21.2 The H–R Diagram and the Study of Stellar Evolution
    4. 21.3 Evidence That Planets Form around Other Stars
    5. 21.4 Planets beyond the Solar System: Search and Discovery
    6. 21.5 Exoplanets Everywhere: What We Are Learning
    7. 21.6 New Perspectives on Planet Formation
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. For Further Exploration
    11. Collaborative Group Activities
    12. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  23. 22 Stars from Adolescence to Old Age
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 22.1 Evolution from the Main Sequence to Red Giants
    3. 22.2 Star Clusters
    4. 22.3 Checking Out the Theory
    5. 22.4 Further Evolution of Stars
    6. 22.5 The Evolution of More Massive Stars
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. For Further Exploration
    10. Collaborative Group Activities
    11. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  24. 23 The Death of Stars
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 23.1 The Death of Low-Mass Stars
    3. 23.2 Evolution of Massive Stars: An Explosive Finish
    4. 23.3 Supernova Observations
    5. 23.4 Pulsars and the Discovery of Neutron Stars
    6. 23.5 The Evolution of Binary Star Systems
    7. 23.6 The Mystery of the Gamma-Ray Bursts
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. For Further Exploration
    11. Collaborative Group Activities
    12. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  25. 24 Black Holes and Curved Spacetime
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 24.1 Introducing General Relativity
    3. 24.2 Spacetime and Gravity
    4. 24.3 Tests of General Relativity
    5. 24.4 Time in General Relativity
    6. 24.5 Black Holes
    7. 24.6 Evidence for Black Holes
    8. 24.7 Gravitational Wave Astronomy
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary
    11. For Further Exploration
    12. Collaborative Group Activities
    13. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  26. 25 The Milky Way Galaxy
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 25.1 The Architecture of the Galaxy
    3. 25.2 Spiral Structure
    4. 25.3 The Mass of the Galaxy
    5. 25.4 The Center of the Galaxy
    6. 25.5 Stellar Populations in the Galaxy
    7. 25.6 The Formation of the Galaxy
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. For Further Exploration
    11. Collaborative Group Activities
    12. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  27. 26 Galaxies
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 26.1 The Discovery of Galaxies
    3. 26.2 Types of Galaxies
    4. 26.3 Properties of Galaxies
    5. 26.4 The Extragalactic Distance Scale
    6. 26.5 The Expanding Universe
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. For Further Exploration
    10. Collaborative Group Activities
    11. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  28. 27 Active Galaxies, Quasars, and Supermassive Black Holes
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 27.1 Quasars
    3. 27.2 Supermassive Black Holes: What Quasars Really Are
    4. 27.3 Quasars as Probes of Evolution in the Universe
    5. Key Terms
    6. Summary
    7. For Further Exploration
    8. Collaborative Group Activities
    9. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  29. 28 The Evolution and Distribution of Galaxies
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 28.1 Observations of Distant Galaxies
    3. 28.2 Galaxy Mergers and Active Galactic Nuclei
    4. 28.3 The Distribution of Galaxies in Space
    5. 28.4 The Challenge of Dark Matter
    6. 28.5 The Formation and Evolution of Galaxies and Structure in the Universe
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. For Further Exploration
    10. Collaborative Group Activities
    11. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  30. 29 The Big Bang
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 29.1 The Age of the Universe
    3. 29.2 A Model of the Universe
    4. 29.3 The Beginning of the Universe
    5. 29.4 The Cosmic Microwave Background
    6. 29.5 What Is the Universe Really Made Of?
    7. 29.6 The Inflationary Universe
    8. 29.7 The Anthropic Principle
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary
    11. For Further Exploration
    12. Collaborative Group Activities
    13. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  31. 30 Life in the Universe
    1. Thinking Ahead
    2. 30.1 The Cosmic Context for Life
    3. 30.2 Astrobiology
    4. 30.3 Searching for Life beyond Earth
    5. 30.4 The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. For Further Exploration
    9. Collaborative Group Activities
    10. Exercises
      1. Review Questions
      2. Thought Questions
      3. Figuring for Yourself
  32. A | How to Study for an Introductory Astronomy Class
  33. B | Astronomy Websites, Images, and Apps
  34. C | Scientific Notation
  35. D | Units Used in Science
  36. E | Some Useful Constants for Astronomy
  37. F | Physical and Orbital Data for the Planets
  38. G | Selected Moons of the Planets
  39. H | Future Total Eclipses
  40. I | The Nearest Stars, Brown Dwarfs, and White Dwarfs
  41. J | The Brightest Twenty Stars
  42. K | The Chemical Elements
  43. L | The Constellations
  44. M | Star Chart and Sky Event Resources
  45. Index

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

  • Provide an overview of the composition of the giant planets
  • Chronicle the robotic exploration of the outer solar system
  • Summarize the missions sent to orbit the gas giants

The giant planets hold most of the mass in our planetary system. Jupiter alone exceeds the mass of all the other planets combined (Figure 11.2). The material available to build these planets can be divided into three classes by what they are made of: “gases,” “ices,” and “rocks” (see Table 11.1). The “gases” are primarily hydrogen and helium, the most abundant elements in the universe. The way it is used here, the term “ices” refers to composition only and not whether a substance is actually in a solid state. “Ices” means compounds that form from the next most abundant elements: oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen. Common ices are water, methane, and ammonia, but ices may also include carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and others. “Rocks” are even less abundant than ices, and include everything else: magnesium, silicon, iron, and so on.

Photograph of Jupiter. Taken from the Cassini spacecraft, the alternating light and dark cloud bands are visible over the entire planet. The Great Red Spot is at lower right. Also seen is the shadow of the moon Europa at lower left.
Figure 11.2 Jupiter. The Cassini spacecraft imaged Jupiter on its way to Saturn in 2012. The giant storm system called the Great Red Spot is visible to the lower right. The dark spot to the lower left is the shadow of Jupiter’s moon Europa. (credit: modification of work by NASA/JPL)
Abundances in the Outer Solar System
Type of Material Name Approximate % (by Mass)
Gas Hydrogen (H2) 75
Gas Helium (He) 24
Ice Water (H2O) 0.6
Ice Methane (CH4) 0.4
Ice Ammonia (NH3) 0.1
Rock Magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), silicon (Si) 0.3
Table 11.1

In the outer solar system, gases dominate the two largest planets, Jupiter and Saturn, hence their nickname “gas giants.” Uranus and Neptune are sometimes called “ice giants” because their interiors contain far more of the “ice” component than their larger cousins. The chemistry for all four giant planet atmospheres is dominated by hydrogen. This hydrogen caused the chemistry of the outer solar system to become reducing, meaning that other elements tend to combine with hydrogen first. In the early solar system, most of the oxygen combined with hydrogen to make H2O and was thus unavailable to form the kinds of oxidized compounds with other elements that are more familiar to us in the inner solar system (such as CO2). As a result, the compounds detected in the atmosphere of the giant planets are mostly hydrogen-based gases such as methane (CH4) and ammonia (NH3), or more complex hydrocarbons (combinations of hydrogen and carbon) such as ethane (C2H6) and acetylene (C2H2).

Exploration of the Outer Solar System So Far

Eight spacecraft, seven from the United States and one from Europe, have penetrated beyond the asteroid belt into the realm of the giants. Table 11.2 summarizes the spacecraft missions to the outer solar system.

Missions to the Giant Planets
Planet Spacecraft1 Encounter Date Type
Jupiter Pioneer 10 December 1973 Flyby
Pioneer 11 December 1974 Flyby
Voyager 1 March 1979 Flyby
Voyager 2 July 1979 Flyby
Ulysses February 1992 Flyby during gravity assist
Galileo December 1995 Orbiter and probe
Cassini December 2002 Flyby
New Horizons February 2007 Flyby during gravity assist
Juno July 2016 Orbiter
Saturn Pioneer 11 September 1979 Flyby
Voyager 1 November 1980 Flyby
Voyager 2 August 1981 Flyby
Cassini July 2004 Orbiter
Uranus Voyager 2 January 1986 Flyby
Neptune Voyager 2 August 1989 Flyby
Table 11.2

The challenges of exploring so far away from Earth are considerable. Flight times to the giant planets are measured in years to decades, rather than the months required to reach Venus or Mars. Even at the speed of light, messages take hours to pass between Earth and the spacecraft. If a problem develops near Saturn, for example, a wait of hours for the alarm to reach Earth and for instructions to be routed back to the spacecraft could spell disaster. Spacecraft to the outer solar system must therefore be highly reliable and capable of a greater degree of independence and autonomy. Outer solar system missions also must carry their own power sources since the Sun is too far away to provide enough energy, or else they must have very large arrays of solar cells. Heaters are required to keep instruments at proper operating temperatures, and spacecraft must have radio transmitters powerful enough to send their data to receivers on distant Earth.

The first spacecraft to investigate the regions past Mars were the NASA Pioneers 10 and 11, launched in 1972 and 1973 as pathfinders to Jupiter. One of their main objectives was simply to determine whether a spacecraft could actually navigate through the belt of asteroids that lies beyond Mars without getting destroyed by collisions with asteroidal dust. Another objective was to measure the radiation hazards in the magnetosphere (or zone of magnetic influence) of Jupiter. Both spacecraft passed through the asteroid belt without incident, but the energetic particles in Jupiter’s magnetic field nearly wiped out their electronics, providing information necessary for the safe design of subsequent missions.

Pioneer 10 flew past Jupiter in 1973, after which it sped outward toward the limits of the solar system. Pioneer 11 undertook a more ambitious program, using the gravity of Jupiter to aim for Saturn, which it reached in 1979. The twin Voyager spacecraft launched the next wave of outer planet exploration in 1977. Voyagers 1 and 2 each carried 11 scientific instruments, including cameras and spectrometers, as well as devices to measure the characteristics of planetary magnetospheres. Since they kept going outward after their planetary encounters, these are now the most distant spacecraft ever launched by humanity.

Voyager 1 reached Jupiter in 1979 and used a gravity assist from that planet to take it on to Saturn in 1980. Voyager 2 arrived at Jupiter four months later, but then followed a different path to visit all the outer planets, reaching Saturn in 1981, Uranus in 1986, and Neptune in 1989. This trajectory was made possible by the approximate alignment of the four giant planets on the same side of the Sun. About once every 175 years, these planets are in such a position, and it allows a single spacecraft to visit them all by using gravity-assisted flybys to adjust course for each subsequent encounter; such a maneuver has been nicknamed a “Grand Tour” by astronomers.

Making Connections

Engineering and Space Science: Teaching an Old Spacecraft New Tricks

By the time Voyager 2 arrived at Neptune in 1989, 12 years after its launch, the spacecraft was beginning to show signs of old age. The arm on which the camera and other instruments were located was “arthritic”: it could no longer move easily in all directions. The communications system was “hard of hearing”: part of its radio receiver had stopped working. The “brains” had significant “memory loss”: some of the onboard computer memory had failed. And the whole spacecraft was beginning to run out of energy: its generators had begun showing serious signs of wear.

To make things even more of a challenge, Voyager’s mission at Neptune was in many ways the most difficult of all four flybys. For example, since sunlight at Neptune is 900 times weaker than at Earth, the onboard camera had to take much longer exposures in this light-starved environment. This was a nontrivial requirement, given that the spacecraft was hurtling by Neptune at ten times the speed of a rifle bullet.

The solution was to swivel the camera backward at exactly the rate that would compensate for the forward motion of the spacecraft. Engineers had to preprogram the ship’s computer to execute an incredibly complex series of maneuvers for each image. The beautiful Voyager images of Neptune are a testament to the ingenuity of spacecraft engineers.

The sheer distance of the craft from its controllers on Earth was yet another challenge. Voyager 2 received instructions and sent back its data via on-board radio transmitter. The distance from Earth to Neptune is about 4.8 billion kilometers. Over this vast distance, the power that reached us from Voyager 2 at Neptune was approximately10–16 watts, or 20 billion times less power than it takes to operate a digital watch. Thirty-eight different antennas on four continents were used by NASA to collect the faint signals from the spacecraft and decode the precious information about Neptune that they contained.

Enter the Orbiters: Galileo, Cassini, and Juno

The Pioneer and Voyager missions were flybys of the giant planets: they each produced only quick looks before the spacecraft sped onward. For more detailed studies of these worlds, we require spacecraft that can go into orbit around a planet. For Jupiter and Saturn, these orbiters were the Galileo, Cassini, and Juno spacecraft. To date, no orbiter missions have been started for Uranus and Neptune, although planetary scientists have expressed keen interest.

The Galileo spacecraft was launched toward Jupiter in 1989 and arrived in 1995. Galileo began its investigations by deploying an entry probe into Jupiter, for the first direct studies of the planet’s outer atmospheric layers.

The probe plunged at a shallow angle into Jupiter’s atmosphere, traveling at a speed of 50 kilometers per second—that’s fast enough to fly from New York to San Francisco in 100 seconds! This was the highest speed at which any probe has so far entered the atmosphere of a planet, and it put great demands on the heat shield protecting it. The high entry speed was a result of acceleration by the strong gravitational attraction of Jupiter.

Atmospheric friction slowed the probe within 2 minutes, producing temperatures at the front of its heat shield as high as 15,000 °C. As the probe’s speed dropped to 2500 kilometers per hour, the remains of the glowing heat shield were jettisoned, and a parachute was deployed to lower the instrumented probe spacecraft more gently into the atmosphere (Figure 11.3). The data from the probe instruments were relayed to Earth via the main Galileo spacecraft.

Artist’s depiction of the Galileo Probe entering Jupiter’s atmosphere. At upper left the parachute is seen, connected by a cable to the spherical-shaped probe near the center of the illustration. At lower right, the protective heat shield falls ahead of the probe, protecting it from the heat of entry.
Figure 11.3 Galileo Probe Falling into Jupiter and Juno Image of Jupiter's South Pole. (a) This artist’s depiction shows the Galileo probe descending into the clouds via parachute just after the protective heat shield separated. The probe made its measurements of Jupiter’s atmosphere on December 7, 1995. (b) This Juno image, taken in 2017 from about 100,000 kilometers above the cloudtops, shows the south polar region of Jupiter with its dramatic complex of storms and clouds. The enhanced-color image was processed for NASA/JPL by citizen scientist John Landino. (credit a: modification of work by NASA/Ames Research Center; credit b: modification of work by NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/John Landino)

The probe continued to operate for an hour, descending 200 kilometers into the atmosphere. A few minutes later the polyester parachute melted, and within a few hours the main aluminum and titanium structure of the probe vaporized to become a part of Jupiter itself. About 2 hours after receipt of the final probe data, the main spacecraft fired its retro-rockets so it could be captured into orbit around the planet, where its primary objectives were to study Jupiter’s large and often puzzling moons.

The Cassini mission to Saturn (Figure 11.4), a cooperative venture between NASA and the European Space Agency, was similar to Galileo in its two-fold approach. Launched in 1997, Cassini arrived in 2004 and went into orbit around Saturn, beginning extensive studies of its rings and moons, as well as the planet itself. In January 2005, Cassini deployed an entry probe into the atmosphere of Saturn’s large moon, Titan, where it successfully landed on the surface. (We’ll discuss the probe and what it found in the chapter on Rings, Moons, and Pluto.)

The Voyager and Galileo missions to Jupiter were primarily designed to study the moons and the atmosphere of the planet. The next NASA mission, an orbiter called Juno, arrived at Jupiter in July 2016. In order to meet its objectives of studying the jovian magnetosphere, it has a very elongated (eccentric) 55-day orbit, that takes it from 4 thousand kilometers above the cloud tops out to 76 thousand kilometers. The orbit takes the craft over Jupiter’s poles, giving us remarkable close-ups of the polar regions (previous spacecraft viewed the planet from lower latitudes).

Juno was originally designed without a camera, but fortunately scientists rectified this omission, adding a simple downward-looking color camera to use during close passes by Jupiter. Recognizing the value of such images, both scientific and artistic, it was decided to post the raw images and encourage “citizen scientists” to process them. The product has been many dramatic, brightly colored views of Jupiter, such as Figure 11.3.

Image of the Earth from Saturn. The Earth appears in the distance as a pale blue dot (arrowed at lower right) below Saturn’s rings in this dramatic image from the Cassini orbiter. The night side of Saturn is seen at upper left, with the backlit rings covering the remaining top half of the image.
Figure 11.4 Earth as Seen from Saturn. This popular Cassini image shows Earth as a tiny dot (marked with an arrow) seen below Saturn’s rings. It was taken in July 2013, when Saturn was 1.4 billion kilometers from Earth. (credit: modification of work by NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute)

Footnotes

  • 1Both the Ulysses and the New Horizons spacecraft (designed to study the Sun and Pluto, respectively) flew past Jupiter for a gravity boost (gaining energy by “stealing” a little bit from the giant planet’s rotation).
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