Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun, the largest in the solar system. The stripes and curls on its surface are cold clouds dispersed by the wind, consisting of ammonia and water. The atmosphere is mainly composed of helium and hydrogen, and the famous Big Red Spot is a giant storm, the size of which exceeds the Earth, lasting hundreds of years. Jupiter is surrounded by 53 confirmed moons, as well as 14 temporary moons, a total of 67. Scientists are most interested in the four largest objects discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei: Europe, Callisto, Ganymede and Io. Jupiter also has three rings, but they are very difficult to see, and they are not as elegant as those of Saturn. The planet is named after the supreme Roman god.
Comparative sizes of the Sun, Jupiter and the Earth
The planet is removed from the star by an average of 778 million km, which is 5.2 astronomical units. At this distance, the light takes 43 minutes to reach the gas giant. The size of Jupiter compared with the Sun is so impressive that their barycenter extends beyond the surface of the star by 0.068 of its radius. The planet is much larger than Earth and much less dense. Their volume is correlated as 1: 1321, and the mass - as 1: 318. From the center to the surface, the size of Jupiter in km is 69911. It is 11 times wider than our planet. The size of Jupiter and Earth can be compared as follows. If our planet was with a nickle, then the gas giant would have been with a basketball. The size of the Sun and Jupiter in diameter are correlated as 10: 1, and the mass of the planet is 0.001 mass of the star.
Orbit and rotation
The gas giant has the shortest day in the solar system. Despite the size of Jupiter, the day on the planet lasts about 10 hours. A year, or revolution around the Sun, takes about 12 Earth years. The equator is inclined with respect to its orbital trajectory by only 3 degrees. This means that Jupiter rotates almost in an upright position and does not have such pronounced changes in the seasons that occur on our and other planets.
Formation
The planet formed together with the entire solar system 4.5 billion years ago, when gravity led to its formation from rotating dust and gas. The size of Jupiter is due to the fact that it captured most of the mass remaining after the formation of the star. Its volume doubled the rest of the substance of other objects in the solar system. It consists of the same substance as a star, but the size of the planet Jupiter has not grown enough to trigger a thermonuclear reaction. About four billion years ago, the gas giant ended up in its current position in the outer solar system.
Structure
The composition of Jupiter is similar to the solar - mostly helium and hydrogen. Deep in the atmosphere, pressure and temperature increase, compressing hydrogen gas into a liquid. Because of this, Jupiter has the largest ocean in the solar system, consisting of hydrogen instead of water. Scientists believe that at depths, perhaps halfway to the center of the planet, the pressure becomes so great that the electrons are squeezed out of hydrogen atoms, turning it into a liquid electrically conductive metal. The rapid rotation of the gas giant causes electric currents in it to generate a strong magnetic field. It is still unknown whether the planet has a central core of solid material, or whether it is a thick superhot soup made of iron and silicate minerals (like quartz) with temperatures up to 50,000 ° C.
Surface
Like a gas giant, Jupiter has no true surface. The planet consists mainly of rotating gases and liquids. Since the spacecraft will not be able to land on Jupiter, it will not be able to fly unharmed. Extreme pressures and temperatures deep inside the planet will crush, melt and vaporize a ship that tries to hit it.
Atmosphere
Jupiter looks like a colored tapestry of cloud stripes and spots. The gas planet probably has three separate cloud layers in its “sky”, which together cover about 71 km. The top one is made of ammonia ice. The middle layer is most likely formed by crystals of ammonium hydrosulfide, and the inner layer is water ice and steam. The bright colors of the thick stripes on Jupiter can be emissions of sulfur and phosphorus-containing gases rising from its bowels. The fast rotation of the planet creates strong vortex flows, dividing the clouds into long dark belts and light zones.
The absence of a solid surface capable of slowing them down allows Jupiter spots to persist for many years. The planet is covered by more than a dozen prevailing winds, some reach speeds of 539 km / h at the equator. The size of the Red Spot on Jupiter is two times wider than the Earth. The formation of a swirling oval shape has been observed on a giant planet for more than 300 years. More recently, three small ovals formed a small Red Spot, about half the size of a larger cousin. Scientists do not yet know whether these ovals and stripes encircling the planet are shallow or extend far in depth.
Potential for life
The environment of Jupiter is probably not conducive to life, as we know it. The temperatures, pressures and substances that characterize this planet are most likely too extreme and lethal for living organisms. Although Jupiter is an unlikely place for living things, the same cannot be said for some of its many moons. Europe is one of the most likely places to seek life in our solar system. There is evidence of the existence under the ice crust of a vast ocean in which life can be maintained.
Satellites
Many small and four large moons of Jupiter form the solar system in miniature. The planet has 53 confirmed satellites, as well as 14 temporary satellites, giving a total of 67. Astronomers reported these recently discovered satellites and the International Astronomical Union gave them a temporary designation. As soon as their orbits are confirmed, they will be included in the number of constants.
The four largest satellites - Europe, Io, Callisto and Ganymede - were first discovered in 1610 by the astronomer Galileo Galilei using an early version of the telescope. These four moons today represent one of the most fascinating lines of research. Io is the most volcanically active body in the solar system. Ganymede is the largest of them (even larger than the planet Mercury). The second largest satellite from Jupiter - Callisto - has few small craters, which indicates a small degree of current surface activity. An ocean of liquid water with ingredients for life can lie beneath the ice crust of Europe, making it an attractive object to study.
Rings
The rings of Jupiter discovered in 1979 by NASA's Voyager-1 were a surprise, as they turned out to be composed of small dark particles that can only be seen against the sun. Data from the Galileo spacecraft suggests that the ring system can be formed by dust from interplanetary meteor bodies that crashed into small internal satellites.
Magnetosphere
The magnetosphere of the gas giant is an area of space under the influence of a powerful magnetic field of the planet. It extends to a distance of 1-3 million km to the Sun, which is 7-21 times the size of Jupiter and narrows in the shape of a tadpole tail by 1 billion km, reaching the orbit of Saturn. A huge magnetic field is 16–54 times more powerful than the earth. It rotates with the planet and captures particles with an electric charge. Near Jupiter, it captures hordes of charged particles and accelerates them to very high energies, creating intense radiation that bombards nearby satellites and can damage the spacecraft. The magnetic field causes some of the most impressive auroras in the solar system at the poles of the planet.
Study
Although Jupiter has been known since ancient times, the first detailed observations of this planet were made by Galileo Galilei in 1610 using a primitive telescope. And only recently he was visited by spaceships, satellites and probes. The 10th and 11th Pioneers, the 1st and 2nd Voyagers were the first to fly to Jupiter in the 1970s, and then the Galileo was sent into the orbit of the gas giant, and a probe was launched into the atmosphere. Cassini took detailed photographs of the planet on its way to neighboring Saturn. The next Juneau mission arrived in Jupiter in July 2016.
Significant Events
- 1610: Galileo Galilei first made detailed observations of the planet.
- 1973: the first Pioneer 10 spacecraft crossed the asteroid belt and flew past the gas giant.
- 1979: the first and second Voyagers discovered new moons, rings, and volcanic activity on Io.
- 1992: On February 8, Ulysses flew past Jupiter. Gravity changed the trajectory of the spacecraft away from the plane of the ecliptic, placing the probe in its final orbit above the south and north poles of the sun.
- 1994: A collision with fragments of the comet Shoemaker-Levy occurred in the southern hemisphere of Jupiter.
- 1995-2003: the Galileo spacecraft dropped a probe into the atmosphere of the gas giant and made long-term observations of the planet, its rings and satellites.
- 2000: Cassini made its closest approach to Jupiter at a distance of about 10 million km by making a very detailed color mosaic photograph of the gas giant.
- 2007: Images taken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft en route to Pluto reveal new perspectives on atmospheric storms, rings, volcanic Io, and icy Europe.
- 2009: astronomers observed the fall of a comet or asteroid in the southern hemisphere of the planet.
- 2016: Launched in 2011, Juneau arrived in Jupiter and began conducting in-depth studies of the planet’s atmosphere, its deep structure and magnetosphere in order to unravel its origin and evolution.
Pop culture
The huge size of Jupiter is not inferior to its significant presence in pop culture, including films, television shows, video games and comics. The gas giant has become a prominent point in the Wachowski sisters science fiction film “The Ascent of Jupiter”, various satellites of the planet have become the abode of “Cloud Atlas”, “Futurama”, “Halo” and many other tapes. In the movie People in Black, when Agent Jay (Will Smith) says that one of his teachers seemed to be from Venus, Agent Kaye (Tommy Lee Jones) replied that she was actually from one of Jupiter’s moons.