Jupiter

Kenneth D.C. Delos Santos

10 Need-To-Know
Things
1. The Biggest Planet
 Witha radius of 43,440.7 miles
(69,911 kilometers), Jupiter is 11
times wider than Earth. If Earth were
the size of a nickel, Jupiter would be
about as big as a basketball.
2. Fifth in Line
 Jupiterorbits our sun, a star. Jupiter is
the fifth planet from the sun at a
distance of about 484 million miles
(778 million km) or 5.2 Astronomical
Units (AU). Earth is one AU from the
sun.
3. Short Day / Long Year
 One day on Jupiter takes about 10
hours (the time it takes for Jupiter to
rotate or spin once). Jupiter makes a
complete orbit around the sun (a year
in Jovian time) in about 12 Earth years
(4,333 Earth days).
4. What's Inside?
 Jupiter
is a gas-giant planet and
therefore does not have a solid
surface. Jupiter may have a solid, inner
core about the size of Earth.
5. Atmosphere
 Jupiter's
atmosphere is made up
mostly of hydrogen (H2) and helium
(He).
6. Many Moons
 Jupiterhas 53 known moons, with an
additional 14 moons awaiting
confirmation of their discovery -- that
is a total of 67 moons.
7. Ringed World
 Jupiter
has a faint ring system that
was discovered in 1979 by the
Voyager 1 mission. All four giant
planets in our solar system have ring
systems.
8. Exploring Jupiter
 Many missions have visited Jupiter and
its system of moons. The Juno
spacecraft is currently orbiting Jupiter.
Juno Spacecraft
9. Ingredients for Life?
 Jupiter
cannot support life as we know
it. However, some of Jupiter's moons
have oceans underneath their crusts
that might support life.
10. Did You Know?
 Jupiter's
Great Red Spot is a gigantic
storm (about the size of Earth) that
has been raging for hundreds of years.
Jupiter: In Depth
Jupiter is the fifth planet from our sun
and the largest planet in the solar
system. Jupiter's stripes and swirls are
cold, windy clouds of ammonia and
water.
The atmosphere is mostly hydrogen

and helium, and its iconic Great Red

Spot is a giant storm bigger than Earth
that has raged for hundreds of years.
Jupiter is surrounded by 53 confirmed
moons, as well as 14 provisional ones — for
a possible total of 67 moons. Scientists are
most interested in the "Galilean satellites" —
the four largest moons discovered by Galileo
Galilei in 1610: Europa, Callisto, Ganymede
and Io. Jupiter also has three rings, but they
are very hard to see and not nearly as
intricate as Saturn's.
 Jupiter
is named for the king of
ancient Roman gods.
Size and Distance
 Witha radius of 43,440.7 miles
(69,911 kilometers), Jupiter is 11
times wider than Earth. If Earth were
the size of a nickel, Jupiter would be
about as big as a basketball.
 From an average distance of 484
million miles (778 million kilometers),
Jupiter is 5.2 astronomical units away
from the sun. One astronomical unit
(abbreviated as AU), is the distance
from the sun to Earth. From this
distance, it takes sunlight 43 minutes
to travel from the sun to Jupiter.
Orbit and Rotation
 Jupiterhas the shortest day in the
solar system. One day on Jupiter takes
only about 10 hours (the time it takes
for Jupiter to rotate or spin around
once), and Jupiter makes a complete
orbit around the sun (a year in Jovian
time) in about 12 Earth years (4,333
Earth days).
 Its
equator is tilted with respect to its
orbital path around the sun by just 3
degrees. This means Jupiter spins
nearly upright and does not have
seasons as extreme as other planets
do.
Formation
 Jupitertook shape when the rest of the solar
system formed about 4.5 billion years ago,
when gravity pulled swirling gas and dust in
to become this gas giant. Jupiter took most
of the mass left over after the formation of
the sun, ending up with more than twice the
combined material of the other bodies in the
solar system. In fact, Jupiter has the same
ingredients as a star, but it did not grow
massive enough to ignite.
 About 4 billion years ago, Jupiter
settled into its current position in the
outer solar system, where it is the fifth
planet from the sun.
Structure
 The composition of Jupiter is similar to that of
the sun — mostly hydrogen and helium. Deep in
the atmosphere, pressure and temperature
increase, compressing the hydrogen gas into a
liquid. This gives Jupiter the largest ocean in the
solar system — an ocean made of hydrogen
instead of water. Scientists think that, at depths
perhaps halfway to the planet's center, the
pressure becomes so great that electrons are
squeezed off the hydrogen atoms, making the
liquid electrically conducting like metal.
 Jupiter's fast rotation is thought to drive
electrical currents in this region,
generating the planet's powerful magnetic
field. It is still unclear if, deeper down,
Jupiter has a central core of solid material
or if it may be a thick, super-hot and
dense soup. It could be up to 90,032
degrees Fahrenheit (50,000 degrees
Celsius) down there, made mostly of iron
and silicate minerals (similar to quartz).
Surface
 Asa gas giant, Jupiter doesn't have a
true surface. The planet is mostly
swirling gases and liquids. While a
spacecraft would have nowhere to land
on Jupiter, it wouldn't be able to fly
through unscathed either. The extreme
pressures and temperatures deep inside
the planet crush, melt and vaporize
spacecraft trying to fly into the planet.
Atmosphere
 Jupiter'sappearance is a tapestry of
colorful cloud bands and spots. The gas
planet likely has three distinct cloud layers
in its "skies" that, taken together, span
about 44 miles (71 kilometers). The top
cloud is probably made of ammonia ice,
while the middle layer is likely made of
ammonium hydrosulfide crystals. The
innermost layer may be made of water ice
and vapor.
 The vivid colors you see in thick bands
across Jupiter may be plumes of sulfur
and phosphorus-containing gases
rising from the planet's warmer
interior. Jupiter's fast rotation —
spinning once every 10 hours —
creates strong jet streams, separating
its clouds into dark belts and bright
zones across long stretches.
 With no solid surface to slow them down, Jupiter's
spots can persist for many years. Stormy Jupiter is
swept by over a dozen prevailing winds, some
reaching up to 335 miles per hour (539 kilometers
per hour) at the equator. The Great Red Spot, a
swirling oval of clouds twice as wide as Earth, has
been observed on the giant planet for more than 300
years. More recently, three smaller ovals merged to
form the Little Red Spot, about half the size of its
larger cousin. Scientists do not yet know if these
ovals and planet-circling bands are shallow or
deeply rooted to the interior.
Potential for Life
 Jupiter'senvironment is probably not
conducive to life as we know it. The
temperatures, pressures and materials
that characterize this planet are most
likely too extreme and volatile for
organisms to adapt to.
 Whileplanet Jupiter is an unlikely
place for living things to take hold, the
same is not true of some of its many
moons. Europa is one of the likeliest
places to find life elsewhere in our
solar system. There is evidence of a
vast ocean just beneath its icy crust,
where life could possibly be supported
Moons
 With four large moons and many smaller
moons, Jupiter forms a kind of miniature solar
system. Jupiter has 53 confirmed moons, as
well as 14 provisional ones — for a possible
total of 67 moons. These newly discovered,
provisional moons are reported by astronomers
and acknowledged with a temporary
designation by the International Astronomical
Union. Once their orbits are confirmed, they
are included in Jupiter's confirmed moon count.
 Jupiter's
four largest moons — Io,
Europa, Ganymede and Callisto —
were first observed by the astronomer
Galileo Galilei in 1610 using an early
version of the telescope. These four
moons are known today as the
Galilean satellites, and they're some of
the most fascinating destinations in
our solar system.
 Iois the most volcanically active body in
the solar system. Ganymede is the largest
moon in the solar system (even bigger
than the planet Mercury). Callisto's very
few small craters indicate a small degree
of current surface activity. A liquid-water
ocean with the ingredients for life may lie
beneath the frozen crust of Europa,
making it a tempting place to explore.
Rings
 Discovered in 1979 by NASA's Voyager 1
spacecraft, Jupiter's rings were a surprise,
as they are composed of small, dark
particles and are difficult to see except
when backlit by the sun. Data from the
Galileo spacecraft indicate that Jupiter's
ring system may be formed by dust kicked
up as interplanetary meteoroids smash
into the giant planet's small innermost
moons.
Magnetosphere
 The Jovian magnetosphere is the region of
space influenced by Jupiter's powerful magnetic
field. It balloons 600,000 to 2 million miles (1
to 3 million kilometers) toward the sun (seven
to 21 times the diameter or Jupiter itself) and
tapers into a tadpole-shaped tail extending
more than 600 million miles (1 billion
kilometers) behind Jupiter, as far as Saturn's
orbit. Jupiter's enormous magnetic field is 16
to 54 times as powerful as that of the Earth.
. It rotates with the planet and sweeps
up particles that have an electric
charge. Near the planet, the magnetic
field traps swarms of charged particles
and accelerates them to very high
energies, creating intense radiation
that bombards the innermost moons
and can damage spacecraft.
 Jupiter's
magnetic field also causes
some of the solar system's most
spectacular aurorae at the planet's
poles.
Exploration
 WhileJupiter has been known since
ancient times, the first detailed
observations of this planet were made
by Galileo Galilei in 1610 with a small
telescope. More recently, this planet
has been visited by passing
spacecraft, orbiters and probes.
 Pioneer 10 and 11 and Voyager 1 and 2
were the first to fly by Jupiter in the 1970s,
and since then we've sent Galileo to orbit
the gas giant and drop a probe into its
atmosphere. Cassini took detailed photos
of Jupiter on its way to neighboring Saturn,
as did New Horizons on its quest for Pluto
and the Kuiper Belt. The next mission is
Juno, which arrived in the Jovian system in
July 2016.