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Ice planets would have surface temperatures below 260 K (−13 °C) if composed primarily of water, below 180 K (−93 °C) if primarily composed of CO 2 and ammonia, and below 80 K (−193 °C) if composed primarily of methane. On the surface, ice planets are hostile to life forms like those living on Earth because they are extremely cold.
Earth has a liquid outer core that generates a magnetosphere capable of deflecting most of the destructive solar winds and cosmic radiation. Earth has a dynamic atmosphere, which sustains Earth's surface conditions and protects it from most meteoroids and UV-light at entry. It has a composition of primarily nitrogen and oxygen.
A rendering of the magnetic field lines of the magnetosphere of the Earth. In astronomy and planetary science, a magnetosphere is a region of space surrounding an astronomical object in which charged particles are affected by that object's magnetic field. [1] [2] It is created by a celestial body with an active interior dynamo.
Saturn has an observed magnetic field generated within its metallic core. [3] Metallic hydrogen is present within the core (in lower abundances than Jupiter). [3] Saturn has a rock and or ice core 10–30 times the mass of the Earth, and this core is likely soluble in the gas envelope above, and therefore it is primordial in composition.
For the Earth, this could have been an external magnetic field. Early in its history the Sun went through a T-Tauri phase in which the solar wind would have had a magnetic field orders of magnitude larger than the present solar wind. [60] However, much of the field may have been screened out by the Earth's mantle.
The Moon, Io, and Europa have compositions similar to the terrestrial planets; the others are made of ice and rock like the dwarf planets, with Tethys being made of almost pure ice. Europa is often considered an icy planet, though, because its surface ice layer makes it difficult to study its interior.
Most of them have roughly equal amounts of rock and ice, except Miranda, which is made primarily of ice. [188] Irregular satellites, having more distant and eccentric orbits than the other objects. [189] Neptune (29.9–30.5 AU) [D 6] is the furthest planet known in the Solar System. Its outer atmosphere has a slightly muted cyan color, with ...
The layers are to scale. From the Earth's surface to the top of the stratosphere (50km) is just under 1% of Earth's radius. The exosphere is a thin, atmosphere-like volume surrounding a planet or natural satellite where molecules are gravitationally bound to that body, but where the density is so low that the molecules are essentially collision ...