The Gas Giants: Jupiter & Saturn

These two planets are busy. Find out how these planets save the Earth from being hit by comets and asteroids AND maintain their own mysterious mini-solar systems.

This Course Includes Great Bonus Lesson: What on Earth is Astronomy?

1. Objective

2. Warm-up activity

3. Planetary composition, including discussions of gas planets, ice planets and terrestrial planets

4. Gas giants: planetary composition and similarities to stars

5. Location and discovery of Jupiter and Saturn

6. Jupiter’s rotation, day-night cycles and orbit around the Sun

7. Jupiter’s size and temperature in comparison to Earth

8. Jupiter’s weather, including lightening and tornadoes, and patterns on the surface

9. The Great Red Spot

10. Mass and weight

11. Overviews of the four major moons of Jupiter: Io, Ganymede, Europa and Callisto

12. Scientist Galileo Galilee and the discovery of Jupiter’s moons in relation to our understanding of astronomical bodies and their orbits

13. Extreme volcanic activity on Jupiter’s moon Io

14. Oceans under Callisto and Europa

15. Jupiter’s rings

16. Voyager I and II spacecrafts

17. Elliptical orbits

18. Comets’ collisions with Jupiter

19. Jupiter’s effect on Earth

20. Saturn’s rings: discovery, composition, gaps and interaction with moons

21. Retrograde motions

22. Scientists Christiaan Huygens and Giovanni Cassini

23. Saturn’s moons and their relationship to the rings

24. Wavemaker moons

25. Saturn’s size, distance, and orbital and rotational information

26. Saturn’s weather

27. Points of reference in space

28. Discussion of density

29. Saturn’s moon Titan

30. Cassini spacecraft and mission

31. Test questions

32. Cross-curricular activities

My name is Tony Ceraso and I will be your instructor. I sometimes run the planetarium and have written curriculum for the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. I have also written curriculum for NASA’s school visitation program and teach on the college level in NJ.

My goal is for you to thoroughly enjoy this lesson. I love astronomy and I want nothing more out of our time together than for you to have a greater appreciation for the universe through the understanding of this material. Besides the lesson I’m going to preview for you now, the course includes warm up activities, test questions, and cross-curricular activities for you to download as a supplement.