ESS 298 – OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM

Fall 2004 Class Notes

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

Email Prof. Nimmo (nimmo@ess.ucla.edu) if you have problems accessing them

· Course Outline Poster Advertizing Course

Timing/Location: Tues/Thurs from 11:15 to 12:30 in room 4677 Geology

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. 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. 

These presentations will be on one of the topics 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. All being well, we will also spend some time discussing the initial results of the ongoing Cassini mission.

     Week 1: Introduction and solar system formation Powerpoint slides Handout on vector relationships

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

Weeks 4: Titan and the medium-sized satellites Powerpoint slides

      NEW Tuesday 26^th October – first Titan flyby  - website / description

Week 5: Giant Planets and Extra-Solar Planets Powerpoint slides

Weeks 6-7: Computer project  notes on computer code

Weeks 8-9: Student presentations

Week 10: Pluto, Triton and the Kuiper Belt Powerpoint slides Alessandro Morbidelli’s review article

NB Computer project writeups are due on Thursday 9^th December!

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., 4^th 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.

Topics:

Thurs 18^th Nov           Jared Leisner                  Origin of Triton

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

Tues 23^th 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 30^th 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 2^nd Dec             Jennifer Palguta               Does Ganymede have a dynamo?

Colleen Milbury               The dichotomy on Iapetus

Darren Baird                   Does Titan really have an ocean?