60 second JPL mission summary

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60 second JPL mission summary

• Ex. Cassini-Huygens Mission
• Launched in 1997, and will arrive at Saturn in
  July 2004.
• Cassini Orbiter (JPL)
• Take images of Saturn and its 30 moons
• Scientific goals are to study Saturns
  magnetosphere, rings, and atmosphere.
• Expected lifetime of 4 yrs over 70 orbits
• Huygens probe (ESA)
• Descend through Titans atmosphere to study its
  clouds, and surface.
• Uses nuclear energy for power
• Price tag 6 billion a lot of money so this
  better work
• JPL is controlling the Cassini-Huygens mission,
  and I hope that well be able to visit their
  control room.

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NASAs budget
U.S. Constrained Buget 2004
NASAs Cut
Defense spending 388 billion dollars/year 1 B2
bomber - 1 billion dollars NASA spending 16
billion dollars/year (4 of Defense Spending)
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Our Home in the Universe
Presentation adapted from Addison Wesley
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A Modern View of the Universe
Our goals for learning

• What is our physical place in the Universe?
• Describe our cosmic origins and why we say that
  we are star stuff.
• Why does looking into space mean looking back in
  time?

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Our location
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Star

• A large, glowing ball of gas that generates heat
  and light through nuclear fusion

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Planet

• A moderately large object which orbits a star it
  shines by reflected light. Planets may be rocky,
  icy, or gaseous in composition.

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Moon

• An object which orbits a planet.

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Asteroid

• A relatively small and rocky object which
  orbits a star.

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Comet

• A relatively small and icy object which orbits
  a star.

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Solar (Star) System

• A star and all the material which orbits it,
  including its planets and moons

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Nebula

• An interstellar cloud
• of gas and/or dust

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Galaxy

• A great island of stars in space, all held
  together by gravity and orbiting a common center

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Universe

• The sum total of all matter and energy that is,
  everything within and between all galaxies

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Atom

• Microscopic building blocks of all chemical
  elements

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Where do we come from?

• The first (and simplest) atoms were created
  during the Big Bang.
• More complex atoms were created in stars.
• When the star dies, some of the heavy elements
  are expelled into space to form the next
  generation of stars and planets.

Most of the atoms in our bodies were created in
the core of a star!
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Looking back in time

• Light, although fast, travels at a finite speed.
• It takes
• 8 minutes to reach us from the Sun
• 8 years to reach us from Sirius (8 light-years
  away)
• 1,500 years to reach us from the Orion Nebula
• The farther out we look into the Universe, the
  farther back in time we see!

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How large is the Solar System?

• Lets view it to scale
• say the Sun is the size of a large grapefruit
  (13.9 cm)
• then

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How large is our Galaxy?
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How far away is the nearest galaxy?
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How large is the Universe?

• Now lets view the Universe in terms of meters
• Powers of 10 or 10?

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How old is the Universe?

• The Cosmic Calendar
• if the entire age of the Universe were one
  calendar year
• one month would be approximately 1 billion real
  years

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A Universe in motion

• Contrary to our perception, we are not sitting
  still.
• We are moving with the Earth.
• and not just in one direction

The Earth rotates around its axis once every day!
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The Earth orbits around the Sun once every year!
The Earths axis is tilted by 23.5º!
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Our Sun moves relative to the other stars in the
local Solar neighborhood!
Our Sun and the stars of the local Solar
neighborhood orbit around the center of the
Milky Way Galaxy every 230 million years!
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The Milky Way moves with the expansion of the
Universe

• Mostly all galaxies appear to be moving away from
  us.
• The farther away they are, the faster they are
  moving.
• Just like raisins in a raisin cake they all move
  apart from each other as the dough (space itself)
  expands.

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Formation of the Solar System
The evolution of the world may be compared to a
display of fireworks that has just ended some
few red wisps, ashes, and smoke. Standing on a
cool cinder, we see the slow fading of the suns,
and we try to recall the vanished brilliance of
the origin of the worlds.
George Lemaître (1894 1966) Astronomer and
Catholic Priest
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Origin of the Solar System

• Our theory must explain the data
• Large bodies in the Solar System have orderly
  motions.
• There are two types of planets.
• small, rocky terrestrial planets
• large, hydrogen-rich Jovian planets
• Asteroids comets exist in certain regions of
  the Solar System
• There are exceptions to these patterns.

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Origin of the Solar System
Nebular Theory our Solar System formed from a
giant, swirling cloud of gas dust.
1. Law of Gravity 2. Conservation of angular
momentum 3. Basic chemistry
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The Solar Nebula

• The nebular theory holds that our Solar System
  formed out of a nebula which collapsed under its
  own gravity.
• observational evidence
• We observe stars in the process of forming today.
• The are always found within interstellar clouds
  of gas.

newly born stars in the Orion Nebula
solar nebula name given to the cloud of gas
from which our own Solar System formed
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Gravitational Collapse

• The solar nebular was initially somewhat
  spherical and a few light years in diameter.
• very cold
• rotating slightly
• It was given a push by some event.
• perhaps the shock wave from a nearby supernova
• As the nebula shrank, gravity increased, causing
  collapse.
• As the nebula falls inward, gravitational
  potential energy is converted to heat.
• Conservation of Energy
• As the nebulas radius decreases, it rotates
  faster
• Conservation of Angular Momentum

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Flattening of the Solar Nebula

• As the nebula collapses, clumps of gas collide
  merge.
• Their random velocities average out into the
  nebulas direction of rotation.
• The spinning nebula assumes the shape of a disk.

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As the nebula collapses, it heats up, spins
faster, and flattens.
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Collapse of the Solar Nebula
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Orderly Motions in the Solar System

• The Sun formed in the very center of the nebula.
• temperature density were high enough for
  nuclear fusion reactions to begin
• The planets formed in the rest of the disk.
• This would explain the following
• all planets lie along one plane (in the disk)
• all planets orbit in one direction (the spin
  direction of the disk)
• the Sun rotates in the same direction
• the planets would tend to rotate in this same
  direction
• most moons orbit in this direction
• most planetary orbits are near circular
  (collisions in the disk)

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More Support for the Nebular Theory

• We have observed disks around other stars.
• These could be new planetary systems in formation.

? Pictoris
AB Aurigae
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Creating Two Types of Planets

• There are 2 categories of planets.
• The basic steps by which the terrestrial planets
  formed.
• The basic steps by which the Jovian planets
  formed.

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Building the Planets
Condensation elements compounds began to
condense (i.e. solidify) out of the nebula.
depending on temperature!
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Building the Planets
and temperature in the Solar nebula depended on
distance from the Sun!
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Building the Planets
So only rocks metals condensed within 3.5 AU of
the Sun the so-called frost line.
Hydrogen compounds (ices) condensed beyond the
frost line.
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Building the Planets
accretion -- small grains stick to one another
via electromagnetic force until they are massive
enough to attract via gravity to form...
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Building the Planets
planetesimals which will

• combine near the Sun to form rocky planets
• combine beyond the frostline to form icy
  planetesimals which
• capture H/He far from Sun to form gas planets

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Building the Planets

• Each gas (Jovian) planet formed its own
  miniature solar nebula.
• Moons formed out of the disk.

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Building the Planets
solar wind --- charged particles streaming out
from the Sun cleared away the leftover gas
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Origin of the Asteroids

• The Solar wind cleared the leftover gas, but not
  the leftover planetesimals.
• Those leftover rocky planetesimals which did not
  accrete onto a planet are the present-day
  asteroids.
• Most inhabit the asteroid belt between Mars
  Jupiter.
• Jupiters gravity prevented a planet from forming
  there.

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Origin of the Comets

• The leftover icy planetesimals are the
  present-day comets.
• Those which were located between the Jovian
  planets, if not captured, were gravitationally
  flung in all directions into the Oort cloud.
• Those beyond Neptunes orbit remained in the
  ecliptic plane in what we call the Kuiper belt.

The nebular theory predicted the existence of the
Kuiper belt 40 years before it was discovered!
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Exceptions to the Rules
So how does the nebular theory deal with
exceptions, i.e. data which do not fit the
models predictions?
IMPACTS

• There were many more leftover planetesimals than
  we see today.
• Most of them collided with the newly-formed
  planets moons during the first few 108 years
  of the Solar System.
• We call this the heavy bombardment period.

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Exceptions to the Rules
Close encounters with and impacts by
planetesimals could explain

• Why some moons orbit opposite their planets
  rotation
• captured moons (e.g. Triton)
• Why rotation axes of some planets are tilted
• impacts knock them over (extreme example
  Uranus)
• Why some planets rotate more quickly than others
• impacts spin them up
• Why Earth is the only terrestrial planet with a
  large Moon
• giant impact

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Formation of the Moon(Giant Impact Theory)

• The Earth was struck by a Mars-sized planetesimal
• A part of Earths mantle was ejected
• This coalesced in the Moon.
• it orbits in same direction as Earth rotates
• lower density than Earth, and similar composition
  to the Earths crust
• Earth was spun up

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Radiometric Dating

• Isotopes which are unstable are said to be
  radioactive.
• They spontaneously change in to another isotope
  in a process called radioactive decay.
• protons convert to neutrons
• neutrons convert to protons
• The time it takes half the amount of a
  radioactive isotope to decay is called its half
  life.

• By knowing rock chemistry, we chose a stable
  isotope which does not form with the rockits
  presence is due solely to decay.
• Measuring the relative amounts of the two
  isotopes and knowing the half life of the
  radioactive isotope tells us the age of the rock.

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The Age of our Solar System

• Radiometric dating can only measure the age of a
  rock since it solidified.
• Geologic processes on Earth cause rock to melt
  and resolidify.
• Earth rocks cant be used to measure the Solar
  Systems age.
• We must find rocks which have not melted or
  vaporized since the condensed from the Solar
  nebula.
• meteorites imply an age of 4.6 billion years for
  Solar System
• Radioactive isotopes are formed in stars
  supernovae
• suggests that Solar System formation was
  triggered by supernova
• short half lives suggest the supernova was nearby

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Extrasolar Planets

• Since our Sun has a family of planets, shouldnt
  other stars have them as well?
• Planets which orbit other stars are called
  extrasolar planets.
• Over the past century, we have assumed that
  extrasolar planets exist, as evidenced from our
  science fiction.
• The Starship Enterprise visits many such worlds.
• But do they exist in fact?
• We finally obtained direct evidence of the
  existence of an extrasolar planet in the year
  1995.
• A planet was discovered in orbit around the star
  51 Pegasi.
• Over 100 such extrasolar planets are now known to
  exist.

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Detecting Extrasolar Planets

• Can we actually make images of extrasolar
  planets?
• NO, this is very difficult to do.
• The distances to the nearest stars are much
  greater than the distances from a star to its
  planets.
• The angle between a star and its planets, as seen
  from Earth, is too small to resolve with our
  biggest telescopes.

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Detecting Extrasolar Planets

• A star like the Sun would be a billion times
  brighter than the light reflected off its
  planets.
• As a matter of contrast, the planet would be lost
  in the glare of the star.
• Improved techniques of interferometry may solve
  this problem someday.

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Detecting Extrasolar Planets

• We detect the planets indirectly by observing the
  star.
• Planet gravitationally tugs the star, causing it
  to wobble.
• This periodic wobble is measured from the Doppler
  Shift of the stars spectrum.

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Measuring the Properties of Extrasolar Planets

• A plot of the radial velocity shifts forms a
  wave.
• Its wavelength tells you the period and size of
  the planets orbit.
• Its amplitude tells you the mass of the planet.

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Measuring the Properties of Extrasolar Planets

• The Doppler technique yields only planet masses
  and orbits.
• Planet must eclipse or transit the star in order
  to measure its radius.
• Size of the planet is estimated from the amount
  of starlight it blocks.

• We must view along the plane of the planets
  orbit for a transit to occur.
• transits are relatively rare
• They allow us to calculate the density of the
  planet.
• extrasolar planets we have detected have
  Jovian-like densities.

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Properties of Other Planetary Systems

• planets appear to be Jovian
• more massive than our system

• planets are close to their stars
• many more highly eccentric orbits than in our
  Solar System

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Implications for the Nebular Theory

• Extrasolar systems have Jovian planets orbiting
  close to their stars.
• Theory predicts Jovian planets form in cold,
  outer regions.
• Many extrasolar planets have highly eccentric
  orbits.
• Theory predicts planets should have nearly
  circular orbits.
• Is the nebular theory wrong?
• Not necessarily it may be incomplete.
• Perhaps planets form far from star and migrate
  towards it.
• Doppler technique biased towards finding close
  Jovian planets
• Are they the exception or the rule?
• Migrating Jovians could prevent terrestrials from
  forming
• Is our Solar Solar System rare?