NATS 1570 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Great Dark Spot, Voyager 2, Radioactive Decay
Document Summary
In the outer solar system the two furthest out planets are uranus and neptune. Both appear to have rock cores, a thick water/ice layer and an outer shell and atmosphere of h and he. Both also have a large number of moons. Like jupiter and saturn they also have a ring system and magnetic fields. The outer solar system is very much still unknown territory, major discoveries of objects are still being made. Other than the voyager ii flyby, none of these objects have ever been studied close up. The new horizons mission has sent back data that allows us to study some elements of this part of our solar system - recent target last year. The further out you go, the harder it becomes to reach and harder t send data back. Greenish colour comes from presence of methane. Solid core with thick layer of water/ ice making up large part of the interior.