EART 290Q – OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM

Winter 2006 Class Notes

 

All files are in Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt) or Word (.doc) format unless otherwise indicated

Email Francis Nimmo (fnimmo@es.ucsc.edu) if you have problems accessing them

 

·        Course Outline                                             Poster Advertizing Course

 

Timing/Location: Mon/Weds from 9:00 to 10:45 in E&MS D250

 

The course will consist of three parts. In the first part, the students will be given an overview of the outer solar system, focusing on the surfaces and interiors of the planets, their satellites and other minor bodies. We will focus in particular on the recent results of the Cassini  mission. In the second, the students will spend some time using computer programs and images to investigate the evolution of some of the satellites. In the final part, the students will give presentations on a controversial topic in outer solar system studies. 

 

Examples of last year’s student topics are listed below. The presentations may be paired, with one student arguing for a particular hypothesis, and the other against it. The presentations will be followed by a discussion of the relative merits of the various arguments used.

 

 

     Weeks 1&2: Introduction and solar system formation Powerpoint slides    Handout on vector relationships

Weeks 3&4: Galilean satellites Powerpoint slides (1) Powerpoint slides (2) Stan Peale’s review article

Week 5: Titan and the medium-sized satellites Powerpoint slides

Week 6: Computer project / Giant Planets Powerpoint slides   

Week 7: Computer project  Notes on code  

Week 8: Student presentations

Week 9: Pluto, Triton and the Kuiper Belt Powerpoint slides   

Week 10: Computer project & writeup; LPSC

 

 

Reading: There is no one book which covers all the topics we’re going to discuss, but there are three which are particularly useful. One is The New Solar System, J.K. Beatty et al., eds., 4th edition, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1999. This is comprehensive without being too technical, and has excellent illustrations. The second is Planetary Sciences, Lissauer and DePater, CUP, 2001. This will tell you more than you possibly want to know about the technical details. A good and comprehensive summary of orbital theory is given by Solar System Dynamics, Murray and Dermott, CUP, 1999.  

 

Much more information about individual bodies can be obtained from the various University of Arizona Press volumes, though in some cases these are now out-of-date.

 

There are also several useful introductory articles in the April 2004 issue of Physics Today. Links are supplied below; you may have to register in order to view them, but you ought to be able to access them via Web of Science now that UC has signed an agreement with AGU. They are:

 

A look at the Galilean satellites after Galileo, T.V. Johnson, Physics Today, 77-83, 2004.

Probing the giant planets, T. Guillot, Physics Today, 63-69, 2004.

The Kuiper Belt, M.E. Brown, Physics Today, 49-54, 2004.

 

Similarly, the Cassini mission has resulted in several special issues in Science: vol. 307 no. 5713 (2005) and

vol. 308 no. 5724 (2005).

 

Student Topics from Last Year:

 

Thurs 18th Nov           Jared Leisner                  Origin of Triton

Ming-Chang Liu             Does the Kuiper belt have an edge?

 

 

Tues 23th Nov            Line Drube                      Why are  so many extra-solar planets eccentric?

Dave Galvan                   How thick is Europa’s ice shell?

Mads Ellehoj                   Is Callisto really undifferentiated?

 

 

Tues 30th Nov            Pradeep Thiyanaratnam   How dry is Jupiter?

Lan Jian                          How are Uranus/Neptune’s magnetic fields generated?

Yasong Ge                      Does Io really have a dynamo?

 

 

Thurs 2nd Dec             Jennifer Palguta               Does Ganymede have a dynamo?

Colleen Milbury               The dichotomy on Iapetus

Darren Baird                   Does Titan really have an ocean?