Tuesday, May 3- Haumea and Makemake

Haumea and its two moons

Hi Everyone,

During class on Tuesday, I presented on Haumea and Makemake. Those are two different dwarf planets located far, far away from our planet, even further away than Pluto! They both have some things in common, like being dwarf planets is one example, but on the other hand, there are many other things that make them different.

Haumea is a dwarf planet discovered in 2004 by Michael E. Brown’s team. In 2005, J.L. Orbitz’ team also discovered it. Since it was discovered around Christmas time, the scientists decided to name it “Santa”. When it got its real name, Haumea, it was named after the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth and fertility.

Haumea is known to be made up completely of rock.

Haumea’s symbol is a simplification of Hawaiian petroglyphs of “woman” and “childbirth”. It looks like this:

Haumea’s diameter is 1960 km at the equator, and 2500 km at the poles. You might think that this is weird. This is because Haumea’s shape is like an American football. Scientists believe that this is because Haumea has a very fast rotation (3:55) which stretched out the planet. The mass of Haumea is 10²¹kg, and the density is 2,600-3-300 kg/m³

Haumea is a very cold planet – it is approximately -241 degrees Celcius! The land is also hard, cold, and rocky.

Haumea has two moons, Namaka and Hi’iaka. Just like the planet itself, these moons have “Santa names” – Rudolf and Blixten, two of Santa’s reindeer. The diameter of the moons is….? As you can see, Hi’iaka is larger than Namaka. Haumea is a dwarf planet and can, because of that, not have rings.

Haumea is located in the Kuiper belt and actually passes Pluto’s orbit. It also passes Neptune’s orbit, since it is a TNO (Trans-Neptunian Object).

All the Trans-Neptunian Objects to Scale

Haumea is the third brightest object in the Kuiper belt after Pluto and MakeMake, and was officially categorized as a dwarf planet in 2008.

<--Makemake
Name and Discovery

• Before Makemake was given an official name, it was called Easterbunny, because it was discovered close to Easter time. Makemake got its name from the fertility god in the mythology of Rapanui (Easter Island). Makemake was discovered by Micheal E. Brown, C.A Trujio, and D. L. Robinowitz on March 31, 2005.

  Size

  Makemake’s diameter is between 1300 and 1900 km approximate mass is about 4x10^21. Its density is approx. 2,000 km/m^3.

  Symbol

  The symbol of Makemake looks like the letter M on Roman petro glyphs and the face of the god Makemake. (to the left is the symbol)

  
  

  Revolution and Rotation

  Rotation- 22.48 Earth hours

  Revolution- 305.34 Earth years

  Climate

  Makemake’s temperature is approximately -240°C.

  Land/Atmosphere

  Sometimes Makemake has an atmosphere and it sometimes doesn’t. Makemake has an atmosphere when it is closer to the Sun and it doesn’t when it is farther away from the Sun due to its orbit that enters Pluto’s orbit and exit Pluto’s orbit.

  Location in Solar System

  Makemake is a Kuiper Belt Object. The Kuiper Belt is an area beyond Neptune which is extremely cold and icy. Makemake enters only Pluto’s orbit during its revolution.

  Moon

  Makemake has no moons and no natural satellites.

  Rings

  And also has no rings.

  Surface:

  Makemake is covered with frozen methane, and iron oxide which gives it a red color as you can see in the picture on the side. It is the second brightest object from the dwarf planets.

  Other interesting facts

  Makemake is the fourth dwarf planet recognized in our solar system. It is about 2/3 the size of Pluto, and only slightly further away from the sun compared to Pluto.

  It is the only dwarf planet in the region without satellites.

  Makemake is known as a “plutoid” which is a name for all the dwarf planets further away than Neptune, and Haumea is as well.

  It was one of the first planets to get a non-Greek/Latin name.
  

  Last plutoid to be discovered

  _________ :D ____________
  

  Here are some links that will inform you more about the Red Spot on Haumea and more about dwarf planets in general, and a link to Moodle. There you can also find the notes for Haumea and Makemake.
  

  
  
  
  
  

CERES PRESENTATION DONE ON THURSDAY 21 APRIL

(Sorry about the size of the picture I couldn't figure out how to make it smaller.)

Discovery:

Ceres was the first thing to be discovered in the asteroid belt. Sicilian astronomer Father Giuseppe Piazzi first saw this dwarf planet in 1801. When more objects were discovered in the same area they were called asteroids or minor planets. Ceres was first called a planet but was then renamed as an asteroid. In recognition of its planet like aspects it was designated a dwarf planet in 2006 along with Pluto and Eris.

(Ceres' Symbol above)

Overview:

Ceres is described by scientist as the embryonic planet. Gravitational perturbations from Jupiter eons ago prevented it from becoming a normal sized planet. Ceres ended up among the debris left over from planetary formation in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The Hubble Space Telescope observed the planet and it demonstrated and orbit that suggests it has a nearly round body. Its diameter is larger at the equator than at the poles. This planet is around the size of Texas. Pluto is 24 times bigger than Ceres.

Composition:

Ceres does not have the same composition as the rest of its neighbors. It I made up of three layers the first being its dusty outer layer than the water ice inner layer and finally the stone core. Astronomers believe that there is water within Ceres because the density of the planet is less than that of the Earth’s crust. Another reason is that the surface of Ceres shows evidence of water bearing minerals.

Ceres' composition

The numbers:

Orbit size

Metric: 413,690,250 km

Scientific Notation: 4.1369025 x 10⁸ km (2.7653485 x 10⁰ A.U.)

Perihelion (closest)

Metric: 380,951,528 km

Scientific Notation: 3.80952 x 10⁸ km (2.547 x 10⁰ A.U.)

Aphelion (farthest)

Metric: 446,428,973 km

Scientific Notation: 4.46429 x 10⁸ km (2.984 x 10⁰ A.U.)

Mass

Metric: 947,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg

Scientific Notation: 9.47 x 10²⁰ kg

Density

Metric: 2.09 g/cm³

Surface area

Metric: 2,849,631 km²

Scientific Notation: 2.8496 x 10⁶ km²

Length of Day

0.378 Earth days

9.07417 hours

Length of Year

4.6 Earth years

Orbit Eccentricity(the shape of the orbit)

0.079138251

Orbit inclination (what its angle is from our perspective)

10.59

Links to Moodle

Thursday, April 22, 2011

The symbol of Eris

Dwarf Planet Eris

Eris

Basic Information

• Names: 2003 UB 313, Eris
• Nickname: Xena
• Named after the Greek godess of discord and strife

Sign

• The sign represents the arms of Eris

Statistics

• Diameter: 2300-2400 km
• Density: 2.3 g/cm3
• Mass: 1.68x10^{22 kg}
• Rotation: about 8h
• Revolution: 557 earth years

The Orbit

• eccentric orbit=the orbit is not a perfect circle
• Eris is about can 96.7 AU from the sun when it is the farthest away (aphelion), and can be 38 AU away from the sun when it is the closest (perihelion).

Climate

• Temperatures: 217°C to -243°C

• The temperatures are very similar to Pluto

Land and Atmosphere

• The atmosphere is frozen to the surface of Eris
• The land is made out of icy frozen rock
• Chemical components: methane, nitrogen, water
• Tholins= cause the reddish color when they get mixed with methane

Location is the Solar System

• Located in the Kuiper Belt
• 3x farther away from Earth than Pluto
• It is the most distant dwarf Planet when it is in its aphelion
• About 96.7 AU (aphelion) from the sun ( 14.60×10⁹ km )
• Perihelion: 38 AU ( 5.64×10^{9 km)}

When discovered and by Who

• Discovered by Mike Brown, Chad Trujillo and David Rabinowitz
• Picture taken in 2003
• Discovered in 2005

Where Discovered

• Discovered in a Palomar Observatory

The Moon

• Name: Dysnomia
• Named after the daughter of Eris ( the demon goddess of lawlessness)
• Nicknamed after Gabrielle

Spacecrafts

• New Horizons
• Send out to find out more about Pluto and the objects beyond it, including the Kuiper Belt
• Expected to arrive at Pluto in 2015

Interesting Facts

• Most Distant Dwarf Planet to orbit the Sun
• Eris is the reason why Pluto is not a Planet anymore (27% more massive)
• The largest dwarf planet in our Solar System
• Smaller than Earths Moon
• Some people associate it with 2012
• The naming of the Dwarf Planet and classifying Pluto as a Dwarf Planet led to a lot of strife, which is why the dwarf planet is now called Eris

Links

Link to Moodle

Link to a video of how Eris might look like

Link to a long talk that Mike Brown gives about the dwarf planets

Tuesday, April 19th - Uranus

Planet Uranus

One of the signs of Uranus

Uranus Facts

Basics:

• Uranus has two signs
• 7th planet from the Sun
• One of the four Gas Giants
• Discovered in 1781 - William Herschel
• Named after the Greek God of the Heavens (1850)
• Tilted planet - 98 degree axis tilt (rolls on its side) 
• Blue-green in color - due to methane in atmosphere

Revolution of Uranus around Sun

Numbers:

• Rotation = -17.24 Earth hours 
• Retrograde = rotates clockwise (backwards from most things in Universe!)
• Revolution = 85 Earth years
• Rolls like a barrel around the Sun due to axis tilt
• Orbit = 2,870,990,000 km (~19 AU)
• Diameter = 51,118 km - 3rd largest planet
• Mass = 8.683e25 kg
• e = exponent (times 10 to the 25th power)
• Density = 1,270 kg per meters cubed
• Less gravity than Earth!

2nd Sign of Uranus

Atmosphere/Land/Climate:

• Composed of rock & various ices (Hydrogen, Helium & Methane)
• Does not have a rocky core - WEIRD!
•  Interior is Methane Ice
•  Atmosphere = 83% H; 15% He, 2% = Methane
•  Methane reflects blue-green color!
• Goes through seasons
• Winds "stripe" the planet
• Methane "smog" on pole not facing Sun
• Has HUGE wind storms when poles switch!

Rings & Moons of Uranus

Rings:

• Has 13 rings made of dark, rocky material
• Pieces can be up to 10 km in diameter
• 1st rings discovered after Saturn
• very faint - called a ring "arc"

Some of Uranus' Moons

Moons:

• 27 Moons
• Named after Shakespeare and Alexander Pope characters
• "Icy Moons" - no atmosphere & no magnetosphere
• Miranda, Oberon, Puck, Juliet, Titania, etc.

Pathway of Voyager 2

Spacecrafts:

• Voyager 2 - Fly-by, January 24th, 1986 - the only one!!!!!
• Still going and reporting back to NASA!
• Future - JUNO Spacecraft - visiting Jupiter, Uranus & Neptune
• Launches August 2011

Uranus - 7th Planet from Sun

Interesting Facts:

• One - First named Georgium Sidus for the King of England!
• Two -  Moon Miranda has the largest canyon in the solar system - would take 12 minutes for us to fall at a rate of 200 kmph!
• Three - Larger in diameter, but smaller in mass than Neptune!
• Four - Magnetic field not centered on planet!
• Five - 1st planet to be discovered with a telescope & math!
• Six - Poles face Sun, but receive less solar radiation from the Sun than the equator!

Uranus without Rings

 Cool Links:

• Moodle
• My Uranus Notes
•  Cool Basic Uranus YouTube Link
• Uranus Basics
• Animation of Voyager 2 Fly-By (NASA)  
• Uranus - The Magician by Gustav Holst

Jupiter

Jupiter,

or also one of the Jovian planets (gas planets) in our solar system.

Name:

It got its name from the Roman god Jupiter, who also is Zeus in the Greek Mythology. He is the king of all the gods, the strongest, smartest, etc. that can be referred to Jupiter’s size as the biggest planet in our solar system. Also Jupiter is the son of Cronus (Saturn).

The sign stands for the Greek letter “zeta” or “Z” in English which stands for Zeus who is also known as Jupiter.

Discovery:

It was discovered by the Babylonians, but because Jupiter is visible to the naked eye on the night sky, it has been visible to everyone and everything.

Size:

• Diameter: 142,984 km. (11.2 times bigger than Earth’s)
• Mass: 1.9 x 10e27 (317 times more than Earth)
• Density: 1.326 g/cm³ (that means that in case you would put Jupiter in a huge bowl of water it would slowly sink.)

Rotation & Revolution:

Rotation: 9h 58m

Revolution: 11.78 Earth years.

Location:

• 5^th planet away from the sun
• 5.2 AU (777909600.9 km)

Land:

• Never solid (gas planet)
• The „sea is out of liquid hydrogen
• 71% hydrogen 24% helium
• About -110 degrees Celsius
• Core is probably solid iron (reason for its enormous magnetic field)

Atmosphere:

· 75% hydrogen 24% helium

· Clouds are out of crystal ammoniac

The Great Red Spot (GRS):

• Discovered in 17th century (350 years!!!)
• High pressured hurricane
• Average wind speed of about 640km/h.
• Twice as big as Earth
• Oval shaped
• 12000km x 25000km area
• more storms (e.g. Little Red Spot)

Rings:

Jupiter has one ring, which has 3-4 parts (Halo Ring, Main Ring, Gossamer Ring/s) depending on your opinion. Some scientists define the Gossamer Ring as one ring others split it up into the Amalthean Gossamer Ring and the Thebe Gossamer Ring. As shown in the picture there are 4 moons orbiting in the ring.

Moons:

• 63 moons (named after Zeus’s lovers)
• 4 Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Callisto, Ganymede)

Io	Europa	Callisto	Ganymede
Most active volcanic body in our solar system (100x more than Earths)	Has a 100km deep water-ocean under its surface.	Has very old craters, that give details about the earlier universe	Biggest moon in the solar system (bigger than Mercury)

Important Missions:

- Pioneer 10 (first to pass the Asteroid belt, Jupiter Flyby, still travelling)

- Pioneer 11 (2^nd to pass the Asteroid belt, Jupiter Flyby, helped to study the moons, magnetic field, atmosphere, broke but still travelling)

- Voyager 2 ( Jupiter Flyby, discovered the rings of Jupiter)

- Galileo (Jupiter orbiting mission, first to put a probe into an outer planets atmosphere, helped to observe the atmosphere Ingredients and then the Galilean Moons in more detail.

- JUNO (Launching in August this year, going to polar orbit Jupiter)

If you would like a copy of my notes they can be found here.

This video shows Jupiter, recorded by a webcam at the Telescope Dobson 6

Real Jupiter (Dobson 6)