Hjem

Welcome to the course “Geo- and Planetary Physics II”!
From a background in “Geo- and Planetary Physics I” (or equivalent) you are already familiar with the Solar System as the gravitationally bound system of the Sun and the objects that orbit it. It was formed 4.6 Gyr ago from the gravitational collapse of a giant interstellar molecular cloud.

A total of 99.86% system’s mass ended up in the Sun. Of the remaining gas, 99% is contained in the four outer system planets, leaving only 1% of the mass for the four smaller inner system planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. They are called terrestrial planets, and primarily composed of rock and metal. The two largest planets, Jupiter and Saturn, are gas giants, being composed mainly of hydrogen and helium; the two outermost planets, Uranus and Neptune, are ice giants, being composed mostly of substances with relatively high melting points compared with hydrogen and helium, such as water, ammonia and methane.