Jupiter and Saturn Lecture Notes Flashcards

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and topics from the Jupiter and Saturn lecture notes.

Belt (on a jovian planet)

Dark band of low-pressure sinking gas that encircles a planet at a nearly constant latitude. The dark color is hypothesized to be due to hydrocarbons that darken when exposed to the Sun's UV light.

Zone (on a jovian planet)

Bright band of high-pressure rising gas that encircles a planet at a nearly constant latitude. The lighter colored zones are hypothesized to be high soaring clouds of ammonia ice crystals that reflect sunlight.

Belt-zone circulation

Atmospheric structure on jovian planets due to convection and the Coriolis force.

Storms on Jovian Planets

Giant circulating atmospheric storms on Jovian planets that are larger and last longer than hurricanes on Earth.

Great Red Spot

A massive storm in Jupiter's atmosphere, observed for over three centuries, that changes unpredictably in shape, color, and size.

Little Red Spot / Red Spot Jr

A circulating storm on Jupiter formed by the merger of three white ovals, turning red in 2006.

Saturn's Great Storm of 2010

A massive storm that erupted in Saturn's northern hemisphere in 2010, wrapping around the planet and releasing a burst of energy and ethylene gas.

Hexagonal Weather Feature on Saturn

A turbulent and unstable hexagonal jet stream above the north pole of Saturn.

Hydrogen (H) and Helium (He)

The primary components of the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn.

Ammonia (NH3), Ammonium Hydrosulfide (NH4SH), and Water (H2O) Ices

Layered structures embedded within the gaseous envelopes of Jupiter and Saturn's atmospheres.

Aerosols

A very fine mist of ice condensates that make up the ice structures in Jupiter and Saturn's atmospheres.

Liquid Metallic Hydrogen

The state of hydrogen under extreme pressure, where electrons are squeezed away. It is a good conductor of electricity.

Magnetosphere Requirements

The requirements are: conductive fluid, convection of the conductive fluid, and rotation of the conductive fluid around an axis.

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9

Comet that impacted Jupiter in July 1994, providing valuable data and one of the first major uses of the internet for real-time information dissemination.