Реферат: Planets And Solar System Essay Research Paper

has. These ” rings are very diffuse. The ring particles must

generally be about as big as the wavelength of light, that is,

only a few microns ” (Grolier, 1992). That is why these rings

are faint or diffuse. The rings are what Jupiter is known for.

Saturn is a planet which is also known for its rings and

when viewed has a yellow or grayish color. The color is from the

gaseous atmosphere and the dust particles in that atmosphere.

The atmosphere is mostly a clear hydrogen-helium atmosphere.

There are also traces of methane, phosphine, ethane, and

acetylene. This atmosphere is much different than that of the

Earth’s.

Saturn orbits the sun with a period of 29.4577 tropical

years. It is 1.427 billion Km away from the sun and is therefore

a cold planet. It has an equatorial diameter of 120,660 Km which

Planets 7

makes it the second largest planet in our solar system.

The next planet is Uranus. The main problem scientists have

with Uranus is that, “the lack of visible surface features means

that it is difficult to measure the rotation period of Uranus

“(Hunt/Moore, 388, 1983). Uranus has an equatorial diameter of

51,000 Km which is almost four times as much as Earth. The

atmosphere is mostly methane gas and therefore the planet has a

red tint or a blueish green color. Uranus also has rings but

unlike Saturn these rings have almost no small particles.

Scientists are not as concerned with this planet.

Neptune is the last of the gaseous planets in our solar

system. Its atmosphere is much like Uranus’s because it is

mostly helium and hydrogen. It also contains methane. Neptune

has a diameter of 49,500 Km and a mass 17.22 times that of the