Superlatives are often used when describing this gas giant. This is because Jupiter is not only the most large object in the entire solar system, but also the most mysterious. And also the first in mass, rotational speed and second in brightness. If you add together all the planets, moons, asteroids, comets of the system, Jupiter will still be larger than them combined. It is mysterious because the constituent components of this object are contained in the substance from which the entire solar system is made. And everything that happens on the surface and in the depths of the giant can be considered an example of the synthesis of materials that occurs during the formation of planets and galaxies.
If Jupiter were even more massive and larger, it could well be a “brown dwarf.”
This giant is a real defender of the Earth: all comets flying towards it are attracted by its powerful gravity.
History of discovery
Jupiter ranks second in the brightness ranking after Venus. Therefore, it, like the other four planets, can be seen directly from the surface of the Earth without any optical equipment. That is why not a single scientist can take credit for his discovery, which, apparently, belongs to even the most ancient tribes.
But the first scientist to begin systematic observation of the giant was the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei. In 1610, he discovered the first satellites orbiting the planet. And they revolved around Jupiter. He named these four Ganymede, Io, Europa, Callisto. This discovery was the very first in the history of all astronomy, and the satellites later began to be called Galilean.
The discovery gave confidence to scientists who consider themselves heliocentrists, and allowed them to enter into the fight with adherents of other theories with renewed vigor. When optical instruments became more advanced, the size of the star was established, and the Great Red Spot, originally considered an island in the giant Jovian ocean, was discovered.
Research
In the period from 1972 to 1974, two Pioneer spacecraft visited the planet. They managed to observe the planet itself, its asteroid belt, record radiation and a powerful magnetic field, which allowed them to assume that there was a liquid inside the planet capable of conducting electric current. Second spacecraft"Pioneer" gave impetus to scientific "suspicions" that Jupiter has rings.
Launched in 1977, Voyagers reached Jupiter only two years later. It was they who sent to Earth the first, stunningly beautiful photographs of the planet, confirmed the presence of rings, and also allowed scientists to gain confidence in the idea that Jovian atmospheric processes are many times more powerful and grandiose than those on Earth.
In 1989, the Galileo spacecraft flew to the planet. But only in 1995 was he able to send a probe to the giant, which began collecting information about the atmosphere of the star. Subsequently, scientists were able to continue systematic studies of the giant using the Hubble orbital telescope.
The gas giant generates such strong radiation that spacecraft “do not risk” flying too close to it: on-board electronics may fail.
Characteristics
The planet has the following physical characteristics:
- The radius of the equator is 71,492 kilometers (error 4 kilometers).
- The radius of the poles is 66,854 kilometers (error 10 kilometers).
- Surface area - 6.21796⋅1010 km².
- Weight - 1.8986⋅1027 kg.
- Volume - 1.43128⋅1015 km³.
- Rotational period - 9.925 hours.
- Rings available
Jupiter is the largest, fastest and most dangerous object in our system due to the strongest magnetic field. The planet has the largest number of known satellites. Among other things, scientists believe that it was this gas giant that captured and retained untouched interstellar gas from the cloud that gave birth to our Sun.
But despite all these superlatives, Jupiter is not a star. To do this, it needs to have greater mass and heat, without which the fusion of hydrogen atoms and the formation of helium is impossible. To become a star, scientists believe, Jupiter must increase in mass by about 80 times. Then it will be possible to launch thermonuclear fusion. Still, Jupiter now produces some heat because it has a compression of gravity. This reduces the volume of the body, but contributes to its heating.
Movement
Jupiter is not only gigantic in size, but also in its atmosphere. It consists of 90 percent hydrogen and 10 percent helium. Because this object is a gas giant, the atmosphere and the rest of the planet are not shared. Moreover, when lowering down to the center, hydrogen and helium change their temperature and density. Because of this, Jupiter's atmosphere is divided into four parts:
- troposphere;
- stratosphere;
- thermosphere;
- exosphere.
Since Jupiter does not have the usual solid surface, scientists generally consider it to be the lower atmospheric boundary at the point where the pressure is one bar. As the altitude decreases, the temperature of the atmosphere also decreases, dropping to a minimum. The troposphere and stratosphere of Jupiter are separated by the tropopause, which is located at a distance of 50 kilometers above the so-called “surface” of the planet.
In the atmosphere of the giant there is no a large number of methane, ammonia, water, hydrogen sulfide. These compounds are the reason for the formation of very picturesque clouds that can be seen from the surface of the Earth through telescopes. It is not possible to accurately determine the color of Jupiter. But from an artistic point of view, it is red and white with light and dark stripes.
The visible parallel bands of Jupiter are ammonia clouds. Scientists call the dark stripes poles, and the light stripes zones. And they alternate with each other. Moreover, only dark stripes consist entirely of ammonia. And what substance or compound is responsible for the light tone has not yet been established.
Jovian weather, like everything on this planet, can only be described using superlatives. The surface of the planet is filled with gigantic storms that do not stop for a second, constantly changing their shape, capable of increasing to a thousand kilometers in just a matter of hours. The winds on Jupiter blow at a speed of just over 350 kilometers per hour.
The most magnificent storm in the Universe is also present on Jupiter. This is the Great Red Spot. It has not stopped for several hundred Earth years, and its winds accelerate to 432 kilometers per hour. The size of the storm is capable of containing three Earths, they are so huge.
Satellites
The largest satellites of Jupiter, discovered by Galileo in 1610, became the first satellites in the history of astronomy. These are Ganymede, Io, Europa and Callisto. In addition to them, the most studied satellites of the giant are Thebe, Amalthea, the Rings of Jupiter, Himalia, Lysithea, and Metis. These bodies were formed from gas and dust - elements that surrounded the planet after the end of its formation process. Many decades passed before scientists discovered the remaining moons of Jupiter, of which there are sixty-seven today. No other planet has so many known satellites. And, probably, this number may not be final.
Ganymede is not only the largest moon of Jupiter, but also the largest in the entire solar system. If it revolved not around a gas giant, but around the Sun, scientists would classify this body as a planet. The diameter of the object is 5268 km. It exceeds the diameter of Titan by 2 percent and the diameter of Mercury by 8 percent. The satellite is located at a distance of just over a million kilometers from the surface of the planet, and this the only satellite throughout the system, which has its own magnetosphere.
The surface of Ganymede consists of 60 percent unexplored ice strips and forty percent ancient ice “shell” or crust covered with countless craters. The age of the ice strips is three and a half billion years. They appeared due to geological processes, the activity of which is now questioned.
The main element of Ganymede's atmosphere is oxygen, which makes it similar to the atmosphere of Europa. The craters on the surface of the satellite are almost flat, without a central depression. This happened because the soft icy surface of the satellite continues to move slowly.
Jupiter's moon Io has volcanic activity, and the mountains on its surface reach a height of 16 kilometers.
Scientists suggest that on Europa, under a layer of surface ice, there is an ocean in which water is in a liquid state.
Rings
Jupiter's rings are formed from dust, which is why they are so difficult to distinguish. The planet's satellites collided with comets and asteroids, resulting in material being thrown into space, which was captured by the planet's gravity. This is exactly how, according to scientists, the rings formed. It is a system consisting of four components:
- Torus or Halo (thick ring);
- Main ring (thin);
- Spider ring 1 (transparent, made of Thebe material);
- Spider ring 2 (transparent, made of Amalthea material);
The visible part of the spectrum, close to infrared radiation, turns three rings red. The Halo Ring is blue or almost neutral in color. The total mass of the rings has not yet been calculated. But there is an opinion that it ranges from 1011 to 1016 kilograms. The age of the Jovian ring system is also not precisely known. Presumably they have existed since the formation of the planet was finally completed.
If you look at the northwest part of the sky after sunset (southwest in the northern hemisphere), you will find one bright point of light that easily stands out in relation to everything around it. This is the planet, shining with intense and even light.
Today, people can explore this gas giant more than ever. After a five-year journey and decades of planning, NASA's Juno spacecraft has finally reached Jupiter's orbit.
Thus, humanity is witnessing the entry into new stage exploration of the largest gas giant in our solar system. But what do we know about Jupiter and with what basis should we enter this new scientific milestone?
Size matters
Jupiter is not only one of the brightest objects in the night sky, but also the most big planet in the Solar System. It is thanks to its size that Jupiter is so bright. Moreover, the mass of the gas giant is more than twice the mass of all other planets, moons, comets and asteroids in our system combined.
Jupiter's enormous size suggests that it may have been the very first planet to form in the orbit of the Sun. The planets are thought to have emerged from debris left behind when an interstellar cloud of gas and dust coalesced during the formation of the Sun. Early in its life, our then-young star generated a wind that blew away most of the remaining interstellar cloud, but Jupiter was able to partially contain it.
Moreover, Jupiter contains the recipe for what the Solar System itself is made of - its components correspond to the content of other planets and small bodies, and the processes that occur on the planet are fundamental examples of the synthesis of materials for the formation of such amazing and diverse worlds as planets solar system.
King of the Planets
Given its excellent visibility, Jupiter, along with , and , has been observed by people in the night sky since ancient times. Regardless of culture and religion, humanity considered these objects unique. Even then, observers noted that they do not remain motionless within the patterns of constellations, like stars, but move according to certain laws and rules. Therefore, ancient Greek astronomers classified these planets as so-called “wandering stars,” and later the term “planet” itself emerged from this name.
What is remarkable is how accurately ancient civilizations identified Jupiter. Not knowing then that it was the largest and most massive of the planets, they named this planet in honor of the Roman king of the gods, who was also the god of the sky. In ancient Greek mythology, the analogue of Jupiter is Zeus, the supreme deity of Ancient Greece.
However, Jupiter is not the brightest of the planets; that record belongs to Venus. There are strong differences in the trajectories of Jupiter and Venus across the sky, and scientists have already explained why this is due. It turns out that Venus, being inner planet, is located close to the Sun and appears as an evening star after sunset or a morning star before sunrise, while Jupiter, being an outer planet, is able to wander throughout the sky. It was this movement, along with the planet's high brightness, that helped ancient astronomers mark Jupiter as the King of the Planets.
In 1610, from late January to early March, astronomer Galileo Galilei observed Jupiter using his new telescope. He easily identified and tracked the first three and then four bright points of light in his orbit. They formed a straight line on either side of Jupiter, but their positions were constantly and steadily changing in relation to the planet.
In his work called Sidereus Nuncius (Interpretation of the Stars, Latin 1610), Galileo confidently and completely correctly explained the movement of objects in orbit around Jupiter. Later, it was his conclusions that became proof that all objects in the sky do not rotate in orbit, which led to the conflict between the astronomer and the Catholic Church.
So, Galileo managed to discover the four main satellites of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto - satellites that today scientists call the Galilean moons of Jupiter. Decades later, astronomers were able to identify the remaining satellites, the total number of which is this moment is 67, which is the most large quantity m satellites in orbit of a planet in the solar system.
Great red spot
Saturn has rings, Earth has blue oceans, and Jupiter has strikingly bright and swirling clouds formed by the gas giant's very rapid rotation on its axis (every 10 hours). The formations observed on its surface in the form of spots represent formations of dynamic weather conditions in the clouds of Jupiter.
For scientists, the question remains how deep to the surface of the planet these clouds extend. The so-called Great Red Spot, a huge storm on Jupiter discovered on its surface back in 1664, is believed to be constantly shrinking and shrinking in size. But even now, this massive storm system is about twice the size of Earth.
Recent observations from the Hubble Space Telescope indicate that the object's size may have halved since the 1930s, when consistent observation of the object began. Currently, many researchers say that the reduction in the size of the Great Red Spot is happening at an increasingly rapid pace.
Radiation hazard
Jupiter has the strongest magnetic field of all the planets. At the poles of Jupiter, the magnetic field is 20 thousand times stronger than on Earth, it extends millions of kilometers into space, reaching the orbit of Saturn.
The core of Jupiter's magnetic field is believed to be a layer of liquid hydrogen hidden deep within the planet. Hydrogen is under such high pressure that it becomes liquid. So, given that the electrons inside hydrogen atoms are able to move around, it takes on the characteristics of a metal and is able to conduct electricity. Given Jupiter's rapid rotation, such processes create an ideal environment for creating a powerful magnetic field.
Jupiter's magnetic field is a real trap for charged particles (electrons, protons and ions), some of which enter it from the solar winds, and others from Jupiter's Galilean moons, in particular from the volcanic Io. Some of these particles move towards Jupiter's poles, creating spectacular auroras around them that are 100 times brighter than those on Earth. The other part of the particles that are captured by Jupiter's magnetic field forms its radiation belts, which are many times greater than any version of the Van Allen belts on Earth. Jupiter's magnetic field accelerates these particles to such an extent that they move through the belts at almost the speed of light, creating the most dangerous radiation zones in the solar system.
Weather on Jupiter
The weather on Jupiter, like everything else about the planet, is very majestic. Storms are constantly raging above the surface, constantly changing their shape, growing thousands of kilometers in just a few hours, and their winds swirl clouds at a speed of 360 kilometers per hour. It is here that the so-called Great Red Spot is present, which is a storm that has lasted for several hundred Earth years.
Jupiter is wrapped in clouds consisting of ammonia crystals, which can be seen as stripes of yellow, brown and white colors. Clouds tend to be located at certain latitudes, also known as tropical regions. These stripes are formed by blowing air in different directions at different latitudes. The lighter shades of the areas where the atmosphere rises are called zones. Dark regions where air currents lowered - called belts.
GIF 
When these opposing currents interact, storms and turbulence occur. The depth of the cloud layer is only 50 kilometers. It consists of at least two levels of clouds: the lower, denser one, and the upper, thinner one. Some scientists believe there is still a thin layer of water clouds underneath the ammonia layer. Lightning on Jupiter can be a thousand times more powerful than lightning on Earth, and there is practically no good weather on the planet.
Although most of us think of Saturn with its pronounced rings when we think of rings around a planet, Jupiter has them too. Jupiter's rings are mostly composed of dust, making them difficult to see. The formation of these rings is believed to have occurred due to Jupiter's gravity, which captured material ejected from its moons as a result of their collisions with asteroids and comets.
Planet is a record holder
To summarize, we can say with confidence that Jupiter is the largest, most massive, fastest rotating, and most dangerous planet in the solar system. It has the strongest magnetic field and the largest number of known satellites. In addition, it is believed that it was he who captured untouched gas from the interstellar cloud that gave birth to our Sun.
This gas giant's strong gravitational influence helped move material in our solar system, drawing ice, water and organic molecules from the cold outer regions of the solar system into the inner part, where these valuable materials could be captured by Earth's gravitational field. This is also indicated by the fact that The first planets that astronomers discovered in the orbits of other stars almost always belonged to the class of so-called hot Jupiters - exoplanets whose masses are similar to the mass of Jupiter, and the location of their stars in the orbit is quite close, which causes a high surface temperature.
And now, when the Juno spacecraft is already in orbit of this majestic gas giant, scientific world the opportunity has arisen to find out some of the secrets of the formation of Jupiter. Will the theory that did it all start with a rocky core that then attracted a huge atmosphere, or is Jupiter's origin more like a star formed from a solar nebula? Scientists plan to answer these other questions during Juno's next 18-month mission. dedicated to a detailed study of the King of the Planets.
The first recorded mention of Jupiter was among the ancient Babylonians in the 7th or 8th century BC. Jupiter is named after the king of the Roman gods and the god of the sky. The Greek equivalent is Zeus, the lord of lightning and thunder. Among the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, this deity was known as Marduk, the patron saint of the city of Babylon. The Germanic tribes called the planet Donar, which was also known as Thor.
Galileo's discovery of the four moons of Jupiter in 1610 was the first evidence of the rotation of celestial bodies not only in the orbit of the Earth. This discovery also became additional evidence of the heliocentric model of the Copernican solar system.
Of the eight planets in the solar system, Jupiter has the shortest day. The planet rotates at a very high speed and rotates around its axis every 9 hours and 55 minutes. This rapid rotation causes the planet to flatten, which is why it sometimes looks flattened.
One revolution in Jupiter's orbit around the Sun takes 11.86 Earth years. This means that when viewed from Earth, the planet appears to be moving very slowly in the sky. Jupiter takes months to move from one constellation to another.
Jupiter has a small ring system around it. Its rings are mainly composed of dust particles emitted from some of its moons during impacts from comets and asteroids. The ring system begins about 92,000 kilometers above Jupiter's clouds and extends more than 225,000 kilometers from the planet's surface. The total thickness of Jupiter's rings is in the range of 2,000-12,500 kilometers.
There are currently 67 known satellites of Jupiter. These include the four large moons, also known as the Galilean moons, discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610.
Jupiter's largest moon is Ganymede, which is also the largest moon in the solar system. Jupiter's four largest moons (Gannymede, Callisto, Io and Europa) are larger than Mercury, which has a diameter of about 5,268 kilometers.
Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in our solar system. It takes its place of honor after the Sun, Moon and Venus. In addition, Jupiter is one of the brightest objects that can be seen from Earth with the naked eye.
Jupiter has a unique cloud layer. The planet's upper atmosphere is divided into zones and cloud belts, which consist of crystals of ammonia, sulfur and a mixture of these two compounds.
On Jupiter there is a Great Red Spot - a huge storm that has been raging for more than three hundred years. This storm is so vast that it can accommodate three Earth-sized planets at once.
If Jupiter were 80 times more massive, nuclear fusion would occur within its core, turning the planet into a star.
Photo of Jupiter
The first photographs of Jupiter taken by the Juno spacecraft were published in August 2016. See how magnificent the planet Jupiter is, as we have never seen it before.
Real photo of Jupiter taken by the Juno probe
“The largest planet in the solar system is truly unique,” says Scott Bolton, principal investigator for the Juno mission.
Plus
Jupiter, a large red spot just below center.
Jupiter, like all giants, consists mainly of a mixture of gases. The gas giant is 2.5 times more massive than all the planets combined, or 317 times more than Earth. There are many others interesting facts about the planet and we will try to tell them.
Jupiter from a distance of 600 million km. from the earth. Below you can see the impact of the asteroid.
As you know, Jupiter is the largest in the solar system, and it has 79 satellites. Several space probes visited the planet and studied it from their flight paths. And the Galileo spacecraft, having entered its orbit, studied it for several years. The most recent was the New Horizons probe. After passing the planet, the probe received additional acceleration and headed towards its final goal - Pluto.
Jupiter has rings. They are not as big and beautiful as those of Saturn, because they are thinner and weaker. The Great Red Spot is a giant storm that has been raging for over three hundred years! Despite the fact that the planet Jupiter is truly enormous in size, it did not have enough mass to become a full-fledged star.
Atmosphere
The planet's atmosphere is huge, its chemical composition is 90% hydrogen and 10% helium. Unlike Earth, Jupiter is a gas giant and does not have a clear boundary between its atmosphere and the rest of the planet. If you could go down to the center of the planet, the density and temperature of hydrogen and helium would begin to change. Scientists identify layers based on these features. The layers of the atmosphere, in descending order from the core: troposphere, stratosphere, thermosphere and exosphere.
Animation of the rotation of Jupiter's atmosphere assembled from 58 frames
Jupiter does not have a solid surface, so scientists define a certain conventional “surface” as the lower limit of its atmosphere at the point where the pressure is 1 bar. The temperature of the atmosphere at this point, like that of the Earth, decreases with altitude until it reaches a minimum. The tropopause defines the boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere - it is about 50 km above the conventional “surface” of the planet.
Stratosphere
The stratosphere rises to a height of 320 km and the pressure continues to decrease while the temperature increases. This altitude marks the boundary between the stratosphere and thermosphere. The temperature of the thermosphere rises to 1000 K at an altitude of 1000 km.
All the clouds and storms we can see are located in the lower troposphere and are formed from ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and water. Essentially, the visible surface topography is formed by the lower layer of clouds. The top layer of clouds contains ice made from ammonia. The lower clouds consist of ammonium hydrosulfide. Water forms clouds below dense cloud layers. The atmosphere gradually and smoothly turns into the ocean, which flows into metallic hydrogen.
The planet's atmosphere is the largest in the solar system and consists mainly of hydrogen and helium.
Compound
Jupiter contains small amounts of compounds such as methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and water. This mixture chemical compounds and elements, contributes to the formation of the colorful clouds that we can observe with telescopes. It is impossible to say for sure what color Jupiter is, but it is approximately red and white with stripes.
The ammonia clouds that are visible in the planet's atmosphere form a collection of parallel stripes. The dark stripes are called belts and alternate with light ones, which are known as zones. These zones are believed to be composed of ammonia. It is not yet known what causes the dark color of the stripes.
Great red spot
You may have noticed that there are various ovals and circles in its atmosphere, the largest of which is the Great Red Spot. These are whirlwinds and storms that rage in an extremely unstable atmosphere. The vortex can be cyclonic or anticyclonic. Cyclonic vortices usually have centers where the pressure is lower than outside. Anticyclonic ones are those that have centers with higher pressure than outside the vortex.
Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS) is an atmospheric storm that has been raging in the Southern Hemisphere for 400 years. Many believe that Giovanni Cassini first observed it in the late 1600s, but scientists doubt that it formed at that time.
About 100 years ago, this storm was more than 40,000 km across. Its size is currently being reduced. At the current rate of decline, it could become circular by 2040. Scientists doubt this will happen because the influence of nearby jet streams could completely change the picture. It is not yet known how long the change in its size will last.
What is BKP?
The Great Red Spot is an anticyclonic storm and has maintained its shape for several centuries since we observed it. It is so huge that it can be observed even from earthly telescopes. Scientists have yet to figure out what causes its reddish color.
Little Red Spot
Another large red spot was found in 2000 and has been growing steadily since then. Like the Great Red Spot, it is also anticyclonic. Because of its resemblance to the BKP, this red spot (which goes by the official name Oval) is often called the "Little Red Spot" or "Little Red Spot".
Unlike vortices, which persist for a long time, storms are more short-lived. Many of them can last for several months, but on average they last for 4 days. The occurrence of storms in the atmosphere culminates every 15-17 years. Storms are accompanied by lightning, just like on Earth.
BKP rotation
The BKP rotates counterclockwise and makes a full revolution every six Earth days. The sunspot rotation period has decreased. Some believe that this is the result of its compression. Winds at the very edge of the storm reach speeds of 432 km/h. The spot is large enough to engulf three Earths. Infrared data shows that BKP is cooler and higher altitude than most other clouds. The edges of the storm rise approximately 8 km above the surrounding cloud tops. Its position shifts to the east and west quite often. The spot has crossed the planet's belts at least 10 times since the early 19th century. And the speed of its drift has changed dramatically over the years, this was due to the South Equatorial Belt.
BKP color
Voyager BKP image
It is not known exactly what causes the Great Red Spot to be this color. The most popular theory, supported by laboratory experiments, is that color may be caused by complex organic molecules, for example, red phosphorus or sulfur compounds. BKP varies greatly in color from almost brick red to light red and white. The red central region is 4 degrees warmer than environment, this is considered evidence that color is influenced by environmental factors.
As you can see, the red spot is a rather mysterious object; it is the subject of a major future study. Scientists hope they can better understand our giant neighbor, because the planet Jupiter and the Great Red Spot are among the greatest mysteries of our solar system.
Why Jupiter is not a star
It lacks the mass and heat needed to start fusing hydrogen atoms into helium, so it cannot become a star. Scientists estimate that Jupiter would need to increase its current mass by about 80 times in order to ignite nuclear fusion. But nevertheless, the planet releases heat due to gravitational compression. This reduction in volume ultimately warms the planet.
Kelvin-Helmholtz mechanism
This production of heat beyond what it absorbs from the Sun is called the Kelvin-Helmholtz mechanism. This mechanism occurs when the planet's surface cools, causing a drop in pressure and the body contracts. Compression (contraction) heats up the core. Scientists have calculated that Jupiter emits more energy than it receives from the Sun. Saturn shows the same mechanism for its heating, but not as much. Brown dwarf stars also exhibit the Kelvin-Helmholtz mechanism. The mechanism was originally proposed by Kelvin and Helmholtz to explain the energy of the Sun. One of the consequences of this law is that the Sun must have an energy source that allows it to shine for more than a few million years. At that time, nuclear reactions were unknown, so gravitational compression was considered the source of solar energy. That was until the 1930s, when Hans Bethe proved that the sun's energy comes from nuclear fusion and lasts for billions of years.
A related question that is often asked is whether Jupiter could acquire enough mass in the near future to become a star. All the planets, dwarf planets and asteroids in the Solar System cannot give it the required amount of mass, even if it absorbs everything in the Solar System except the Sun. So he will never become a star.
Let's hope that the JUNO mission, which will arrive at the planet by 2016, will provide specific information about the planet on most of the issues of interest to scientists.
Weight on Jupiter
If you're worried about your weight, keep in mind that Jupiter has much more mass than Earth and its gravity is much stronger. By the way, on the planet Jupiter the force of gravity is 2.528 times more intense than on Earth. This means that if you weigh 100 kg on Earth, then your weight on the gas giant will be 252.8 kg.
Because its gravity is so intense, it has quite a few moons, as many as 67 moons to be exact, and their number can change at any moment.
Rotation
Animation of atmospheric rotation made from Voyager images
Our gas giant is the fastest spinning planet in the solar system, spinning once every 9.9 hours. Unlike the inner Terrestrial planets, Jupiter is a ball consisting almost entirely of hydrogen and helium. Unlike Mars or Mercury, it does not have a surface that can be tracked to measure its rotation rate, nor do it have craters or mountains that appear in view after a certain amount of time.
Effect of rotation on planet size
Rapid rotation results in a difference between the equatorial and polar radii. Instead of looking like a sphere, the planet's rapid rotation makes it look like a squashed ball. The bulge of the equator is visible even in small amateur telescopes.
The polar radius of the planet is 66,800 km, and the equatorial radius is 71,500 km. In other words, the equatorial radius of the planet is 4700 km greater than the polar one.
Rotation characteristics
Despite the fact that the planet is a ball of gas, it rotates differentially. That is, the rotation takes a different amount of time depending on where you are. Rotation at its poles takes 5 minutes longer than at the equator. Therefore, the often cited rotation period of 9.9 hours is in fact the average for the entire planet.
Rotation reference systems
Scientists actually use three various systems to calculate the rotation of the planet. The first system for latitude 10 degrees north and south of the equator is a rotation of 9 hours 50 minutes. The second, for latitudes north and south of this region, where the rotation speed is 9 hours 55 minutes. These metrics are measured for the specific storm that is in view. The third system measures the rotation speed of the magnetosphere and is generally considered the official rotation speed.
Planet gravity and comet
In the 1990s, Jupiter's gravity tore apart Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 and its fragments fell onto the planet. This was the first time we had the opportunity to observe the collision of two extraterrestrial bodies in the solar system. Why did Jupiter attract Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, you ask?
The comet had the imprudence to fly in close proximity to the giant, and its powerful gravity pulled it towards itself due to the fact that Jupiter is the most massive in the solar system. The planet captured the comet about 20-30 years before the collision, and it has been orbiting the giant ever since. In 1992, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 entered the Roche limit and was torn apart by the planet's tidal forces. The comet resembled a string of pearls when fragments crashed into the planet's cloud layer July 16-22, 1994. Fragments up to 2 km in size each entered the atmosphere at a speed of 60 km/s. This collision allowed astronomers to make several new discoveries about the planet.
What caused the collision with the planet
Astronomers, thanks to the collision, discovered several chemicals in the atmosphere that were not known before the impact. Diatomic sulfur and carbon disulfide were the most interesting. This was only the second time that diatomic sulfur had been discovered on celestial bodies. It was then that ammonia and hydrogen sulfide were first discovered on the gas giant. Images from Voyager 1 showed the giant in a completely new light, because... information from Pioneer 10 and 11 was not so informative, and all subsequent missions were based on data received by Voyagers.
Collision of an asteroid with a planet
Short description
The influence of Jupiter on all planets is manifested in one form or another. It is strong enough to tear apart asteroids and hold 79 moons. Some scientists believe that such a large planet could have destroyed many celestial objects in the past and also prevented the formation of other planets.
Jupiter requires more careful study than scientists can afford and it interests astronomers for many reasons. Its satellites are the main pearl for researchers. The planet has 79 satellites, which is actually 40% of all the satellites in our solar system. Some of these moons are larger than some dwarf planets and contain underground oceans.
Structure
Internal structure
Jupiter has a core that contains some rock and metallic hydrogen, which takes on this unusual shape under tremendous pressure.
Recent evidence indicates that the giant contains a dense core, which is believed to be surrounded by a layer of liquid metallic hydrogen and helium, with an outer layer dominated by molecular hydrogen. Gravity measurements indicate a core mass of 12 to 45 Earth masses. This means that the planet's core makes up about 3-15% of the planet's total mass.
Formation of a giant
IN early history development, Jupiter must have formed entirely from rock and ice with sufficient mass to capture most of the gases in the early Solar Nebula. Therefore, its composition completely repeats the mixture of gases of the protosolar nebula.
Current theory holds that a core layer of dense metallic hydrogen extends to 78 percent of the planet's radius. Directly above the layer of metallic hydrogen is an inner atmosphere of hydrogen. In it, hydrogen is at a temperature where there are no clear liquid and gas phases; in fact, it is in a supercritical liquid state. Temperature and pressure increase steadily as you approach the core. In the region where hydrogen becomes metallic, the temperature is considered to be 10,000 K and the pressure is 200 GPa. The maximum temperature at the core boundary is estimated to be 36,000 K with a corresponding pressure of 3000 to 4500 GPa.
Temperature
Its temperature, given how far it is from the Sun, is much lower than on Earth.
The outer edges of Jupiter's atmosphere are much cooler than the central region. The temperature in the atmosphere is -145 degrees Celsius, and intense atmospheric pressure causes the temperature to rise as it descends. Having plunged several hundred kilometers deep into the planet, hydrogen becomes its main component; it is hot enough to turn into liquid (since the pressure is high). The temperature at this point is believed to be over 9,700 C. The layer of dense metallic hydrogen extends to 78% of the planet's radius. Near the very center of the planet, scientists believe temperatures could reach 35,500 C. Between the cold clouds and the molten nether regions lies an inner atmosphere of hydrogen. In the internal atmosphere, the temperature of hydrogen is such that it has no boundary between the liquid and gas phases.
The planet's molten interior heats the rest of the planet through convection, so the giant emits more heat than it receives from the Sun. Storms and strong winds mix cold air and warm air, just like on Earth. The Galileo spacecraft observed winds exceeding 600 km per hour. One of the differences from Earth is that the planet has jet streams that control storms and winds, they are driven by the planet's own heat.
Is there life on the planet?
As you can see from the data above, the physical conditions on Jupiter are quite harsh. Some people wonder if the planet Jupiter is habitable, is there life there? But we will disappoint you: without a solid surface, the presence of enormous pressure, the simplest atmosphere, radiation and low temperature - life on the planet is impossible. The subglacial oceans of its satellites are another matter, but this is a topic for another article. In fact, the planet cannot support life or contribute to its origin, according to modern views on this issue.
Distance to the Sun and Earth
The distance to the Sun at perihelion (closest point) is 741 million km, or 4.95 astronomical units (AU). At aphelion (the most distant point) - 817 million km, or 5.46 AU. It follows from this that the semimajor axis is equal to 778 million km, or 5.2 AU. with an eccentricity of 0.048. Remember that one astronomical unit (AU) is equal to the average distance from the Earth to the Sun.
Orbital rotation period
The planet takes 11.86 Earth years (4331 days) to complete one revolution around the Sun. The planet rushes along its orbit at a speed of 13 km/s. Its orbit is slightly inclined (about 6.09°) compared to the plane of the ecliptic (solar equator). Despite the fact that Jupiter is located quite far from the Sun, it is the only celestial body that has a common center of mass with the Sun, located outside the radius of the Sun. The gas giant has a slight axial tilt of 3.13 degrees, which means there is no noticeable change in seasons on the planet.
Jupiter and Earth
When Jupiter and Earth are closest to each other, they are separated by 628.74 million kilometers of space. At the point farthest from each other, they are separated by 928.08 million km. In astronomical units, these distances range from 4.2 to 6.2 AU.
All planets move in elliptical orbits; when a planet is closer to the Sun, this part of the orbit is called perihelion. When further is aphelion. The difference between perihelion and aphelion determines how eccentric the orbit is. Jupiter and Earth have the two least eccentric orbits in our solar system.
Some scientists believe that Jupiter's gravity creates tidal effects that could cause an increase in the number of sunspots. If Jupiter approached the Earth within a couple of hundred million kilometers, then the Earth would have a hard time under the influence of the powerful gravity of the giant. It's easy to see how it could cause tidal effects when you consider that its mass is 318 times that of Earth. Fortunately, Jupiter is at a respectful distance from us, without causing inconvenience and at the same time protecting us from comets, attracting them to itself.
Sky position and observation
In fact, the gas giant is the third brightest object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus. If you want to know where the planet Jupiter is located in the sky, then most often it is closer to the zenith. In order not to confuse it with Venus, keep in mind that it does not move further than 48 degrees from the Sun, so it does not rise very high.
Mars and Jupiter are also two enough bright object, especially at opposition, but Mars has a reddish tint, so it’s difficult to confuse them. They may both be at opposition (closest to Earth), so either go by color or use binoculars. Saturn, despite the similarity in structure, is quite different in brightness due to its large distance, so it is difficult to confuse them. With a small telescope at your disposal, Jupiter will appear in all its glory. When observing it, 4 small dots (Galilean satellites) that surround the planet immediately catch the eye. Jupiter looks like a striped ball in a telescope, and even with a small instrument its oval shape is visible.
Being in heaven
Using a computer, finding it is not at all difficult; the widespread Stellarium program is suitable for these purposes. If you don’t know what kind of object you are observing, then knowing the cardinal directions, your location and time, the Stellarium program will give you the answer.
When observing it, we have an amazing opportunity to see such unusual phenomena as the passage of the shadows of satellites across the planet’s disk or the eclipse of a satellite by a planet. In general, look into the sky more often, there are a lot of interesting things there and a successful search for Jupiter! To make it easier to navigate astronomical events, use.
A magnetic field
The Earth's magnetic field is created by its core and the dynamo effect. Jupiter has a truly enormous magnetic field. Scientists are confident that it has a rocky/metallic core and due to this the planet has a magnetic field that is 14 times stronger than Earth's and contains 20,000 times more energy. Astronomers believe that the magnetic field is generated by metallic hydrogen near the center of the planet. This magnetic field serves as a trap for ionized particles solar wind and accelerates them almost to the speed of light.
Magnetic field voltage
The gas giant's magnetic field is the most powerful in our Solar System. It varies from 4.2 Gauss (a unit of magnetic induction equal to one ten-thousandth of a tesla) at the equator, to 14 Gauss at the poles. The magnetosphere extends seven million km towards the Sun and towards the edge of Saturn's orbit.
Form
The planet's magnetic field is shaped like a donut (toroid) and contains the huge equivalent of the Van Allen belts on Earth. These belts trap high-energy charged particles (mainly protons and electrons). The rotation of the field corresponds to the rotation of the planet and is approximately equal to 10 hours. Some of Jupiter's moons interact with the magnetic field, in particular the moon Io.
It has several active volcanoes on the surface that spew gas and volcanic particles into space. These particles eventually diffuse into the rest of the space surrounding the planet and become the main source of charged particles trapped in Jupiter's magnetic field.
The planet's radiation belts are a torus of energetic charged particles (plasma). They are held in place by a magnetic field. Most of the particles that form the belts come from the solar wind and cosmic rays. The belts are located in the inner region of the magnetosphere. There are several different belts containing electrons and protons. In addition, radiation belts contain smaller amounts of other nuclei, as well as alpha particles. The belts pose a hazard to spacecraft, which must protect their sensitive components with adequate protection if they travel through radiation belts. The radiation belts around Jupiter are very strong and a spacecraft that flies through them needs additional special protection to protect sensitive electronics.
Polar lights on the planet
X-ray
The planet's magnetic field creates some of the most spectacular and active auroras in the solar system.
On Earth, auroras are caused by charged particles ejected from solar storms. Some are created in the same way, but he has another way of producing the aurora. The planet's rapid rotation, intense magnetic field, and abundant source of particles from the volcanically active moon Io create a huge reservoir of electrons and ions.
Patera Tupana - a volcano on Io
These charged particles, captured by the magnetic field, are constantly accelerated and enter the atmosphere above the polar regions, where they collide with gases. As a result of such collisions, aurorae are produced, which we cannot observe on Earth.
Jupiter's magnetic fields are believed to interact with almost every body in the solar system.
How to calculate the length of the day
Scientists calculated the length of the day based on the planet's rotation speed. And the earliest attempts involved observing storms. Scientists found a suitable storm and, by measuring its rotation speed around the planet, got an idea of the length of the day. The problem was that Jupiter's storms change at a very rapid rate, making them imprecise sources of the planet's rotation. After radio emission from the planet was detected, scientists calculated the planet's rotation period and speed. While different parts of the planet rotate at different speeds, the rotation speed of the magnetosphere remains constant and is used as the official speed of the planet.
Origin of the name of the planet
The planet has been known since ancient times and was named after a Roman god. At that time the planet had many names and throughout the history of the Roman Empire it received the most attention. The Romans named the planet after their king of the gods, Jupiter, who was also the god of sky and thunder.
In Roman mythology
In the Roman pantheon, Jupiter was the god of the sky and was the central god in the Capitoline Triad along with Juno and Minerva. He remained the main official deity of Rome throughout the Republican and Imperial eras, until the pagan system was replaced by Christianity. He personified divine power and high positions in Rome, internal organization on external relations: his image in the republican and imperial palace meant a lot. The Roman consuls swore allegiance to Jupiter. To thank him for his help and to secure his continued support, they prayed to a statue of a bull with gilded horns.
How planets are named
Image from the Cassini spacecraft (on the left is the shadow of the Europa satellite)
This is a common practice when planets, moons and many others celestial bodies, assign names from Greek and Roman mythology, and also assign a specific astronomical symbol. Some examples: Neptune is the god of the sea, Mars is the god of war, Mercury is the messenger, Saturn is the God of Time and the father of Jupiter, Uranus is the father of Saturn, Venus is the goddess of love, and the Earth, and the Earth is only a planet, this goes against the Greco-Roman tradition. We hope that the origin of the name of the planet Jupiter will no longer raise questions for you.
Opening
Were you interested in finding out who discovered the planet? Unfortunately, there is no reliable way to find out how and by whom it was discovered. It is one of 5 planets visible to the naked eye. If you go outside and see a bright star in the sky, it's probably him. its brightness is greater than any star, only Venus is brighter than it. Thus, ancient people knew about it for several thousand years and there is no way to know when the first person noticed this planet.
Perhaps a better question to ask is when did we realize that Jupiter is a planet? In ancient times, astronomers thought that the Earth was the center of the Universe. It was a geocentric model of the world. The sun, moon, planets and even stars all revolved around the earth. But there was one thing that was difficult to explain: the strange movement of the planets. They would move in one direction and then stop and move backward, called retrograde motion. Astronomers created increasingly complex models to explain these strange movements.
Copernicus and the heliocentric model of the world
In the 1500s, Nicolaus Copernicus developed his heliocentric model of the solar system, where the Sun became the center and the planets, including the Earth, revolved around it. This beautifully explained the strange movements of the planets in the sky.
The first person to actually see Jupiter was Galileo, and he did it using the first telescope in history. Even with his imperfect telescope, he was able to see the streaks on the planet and the 4 large Galilean moons that were named after him.
Subsequently, using large telescopes, astronomers were able to see more detailed information about Jupiter's clouds and learn more about its moons. But scientists really studied it with the beginning of the space age. NASA's Pioneer 10 spacecraft was the first probe to fly past Jupiter in 1973. It passed at a distance of 34,000 km from the clouds.
Weight
Its mass is 1.9 x 10*27 kg. It's difficult to fully understand how big a number this is. The mass of the planet is 318 times the mass of the Earth. It is 2.5 times more massive than all the other planets in our solar system combined.
The mass of the planet is not sufficient for sustainable nuclear fusion. Thermonuclear fusion requires high temperatures and intense gravitational compression. A large amount of hydrogen exists on the planet, but the planet is too cold and not massive enough for a sustained fusion reaction. Scientists estimate that it needs 80 times more mass to ignite fusion.
Characteristic
The volume of the planet is 1.43128 10*15 km3. That's enough to fit 1,321 Earth-sized objects inside the planet, with some room left over.
The surface area is 6.21796 times 10*10 to 2. And just for comparison, that's 122 times the surface area of the Earth.
Surface
Photograph of Jupiter taken in the infrared range by the VLT telescope
If a spaceship descended under the clouds of the planet, it would see a cloud layer consisting of ammonia crystals, with impurities of ammonium hydrosulfide. These clouds are in the tropopause and are divided by color into zones and dark belts. In the atmosphere of the giant, winds rage at speeds of over 360 km/h. The entire atmosphere is constantly bombarded by excited particles of the magnetosphere and matter erupted by volcanoes on the moon Io. Lightning is observed in the atmosphere. Just a few kilometers below the planet's surface, any spacecraft will be crushed by monstrous pressure.
The cloud layer extends 50 km deep, and contains a thin layer of water clouds under a layer of ammonia. This assumption is based on lightning flashes. Lightning is caused by the different polarities of water, which allows the creation of static electricity necessary for lightning to form. Lightning can be a thousand times more powerful than our Earthly ones.
Age of the planet
The exact age of the planet is difficult to determine, because we do not know exactly how Jupiter was formed. We do not have breed samples for chemical analysis, or rather, they don’t exist at all, because... The planet consists entirely of gases. When did the planet originate? There is an opinion among scientists that Jupiter, like all planets, was formed in the solar nebula about 4.6 billion years ago.
The theory states that Big Bang occurred about 13.7 billion years ago. Scientists believe that our solar system was formed when a cloud of gas and dust in space was created by a supernova explosion. After the supernova explosion, a wave was formed in space, which created pressure in clouds of gas and dust. The compression caused the cloud to shrink, and the more it compressed, the more gravity accelerated this process. The cloud began to swirl, with a hotter, denser core growing at its center.
How it was formed
Mosaic consisting of 27 pictures
As a result of accretion, particles began to stick together and form clumps. Some clumps were larger than others because less massive particles stuck to them, forming planets, moons and other objects in our solar system. By studying meteorites left over from the early stages of the solar system, scientists discovered that they are about 4.6 billion years old.
It is believed that the gas giants were the first to form and had the opportunity to acquire large amounts of hydrogen and helium. These gases existed in the solar nebula for the first few million years before being absorbed. This means that gas giants may be slightly older than Earth. So how many billions of years ago Jupiter arose remains to be determined.
Color
Many images of Jupiter show that it reflects many shades of white, red, orange, brown and yellow. Jupiter's color changes with storms and winds in the planet's atmosphere.
The color of the planet is very varied, it is created by various chemicals reflecting the light of the Sun. Most atmospheric clouds consist of ammonia crystals, with admixtures of water ice and ammonium hydrosulfide. Powerful storms on the planet are formed due to convection in the atmosphere. This allows storms to lift up substances such as phosphorus, sulfur and hydrocarbons from deep layers, resulting in the white, brown and red patches we see in the atmosphere.
Scientists use the color of the planet to understand how the atmosphere works. Future missions, such as Juno, plan to bring deeper understanding of the processes in the gaseous envelope of the giant. Future missions are also looking to study how Io's volcanoes interact with Europa's water ice.
Radiation
Cosmic radiation is one of the biggest challenges for exploration probes exploring many planets. To this day, Jupiter is the biggest threat to any ship within 300,000 km of the planet.
Jupiter is surrounded by intense radiation belts that will easily destroy all onboard electronics if the ship is not properly protected. Electrons, accelerated almost to the speed of light, surround him on all sides. The Earth has similar radiation belts called Van Allen belts.
The giant's magnetic field is 20,000 times stronger than Earth's. The Galileo spacecraft measured radio wave activity inside Jupiter's magnetosphere for eight years. According to him, short radio waves may be responsible for the excitation of electrons in radiation belts. The planet's short-wave radio emission results from the interaction of volcanoes on the moon Io, combined with the planet's rapid rotation. Volcanic gases are ionized and leave the satellite under the influence of centrifugal force. This material forms an internal stream of particles that excite radio waves in the planet's magnetosphere.
1. The planet is very massive
Jupiter's mass is 318 times that of Earth. And it is 2.5 times the mass of all the other planets in the solar system combined.
2. Jupiter will never become a star
Astronomers call Jupiter a failed star, but this is not entirely appropriate. It's like your house is a failed skyscraper. Stars generate their energy by fusing hydrogen atoms. Their enormous pressure at the center creates high temperatures and the hydrogen atoms fuse together to create helium, releasing heat in the process. Jupiter would need to increase its current mass by more than 80 times to ignite nuclear fusion.
3. Jupiter is the fastest spinning planet in the solar system
Despite all its size and mass, it rotates very quickly. It only takes about 10 hours for the planet to complete a revolution on its axis. Because of this, its shape is slightly convex at the equator.
The radius of the planet Jupiter at the equator of more than 4600 km is further from the center than at the poles. This fast rotation also helps generate a powerful magnetic field.
4. The clouds on Jupiter are only 50 km thick.
All these beautiful clouds and storms that you see on Jupiter are only about 50 km thick. They are made of ammonia crystals divided into two levels. The darker ones are thought to be composed of compounds that rose from deeper layers and then changed color to the Sun. Beneath these clouds lies an ocean of hydrogen and helium, all the way down to a layer of metallic hydrogen.
Big red spot. Composite RBG+IR and UV image. Amateur editing by Mike Malaska.
The Great Red Spot is one of the planet's most famous features. And it seems to have been around for 350-400 years. It was first identified by Giovanni Cassini, who noted it back in 1665. A hundred years ago, the Great Red Spot was 40,000 km across, but it has now shrunk by half.
6. The planet has rings
The rings around Jupiter were the third rings discovered in the solar system, after those discovered around Saturn (of course) and Uranus.
Image of Jupiter's ring photographed by the New Horizons probe
Jupiter's rings are faint, and likely consist of material ejected from its moons when they collided with meteorites and comets.
7. Jupiter's magnetic field is 14 times stronger than Earth's
Astronomers believe the magnetic field is created by the movement of metallic hydrogen deep within the planet. This magnetic field traps ionized solar wind particles and accelerates them to almost the speed of light. These particles create dangerous radiation belts around Jupiter that can damage spacecraft.
8. Jupiter has 67 moons
As of 2014, Jupiter has a total of 67 moons. Almost all of them are less than 10 kilometers in diameter and were discovered only after 1975, when the first spacecraft arrived at the planet.
One of its moons, Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System and measures 5,262 km across.
9. Jupiter has been visited by 7 different people spaceships from Earth
Images of Jupiter taken by six spacecraft (there is no photo from Willis, due to the fact that there were no cameras)
Jupiter was first visited by NASA's Pioneer 10 probe in December 1973, followed by Pioneer 11 in December 1974. After the Voyager 1 and 2 probes in 1979. A long hiatus followed until the Ulysses spacecraft arrived in February 1992. Afterwards, the Cassini interplanetary station made a flyby in 2000, on its way to Saturn. And finally, the New Horizons probe flew past the giant in 2007. The next visit is scheduled for 2016, the planet will be explored by the Juno spacecraft.
Gallery of drawings dedicated to Voyager's voyage
10. You can see Jupiter with your own eyes
Jupiter is the third brightest object in Earth's night sky, after Venus and the Moon. Chances are you've seen a gas giant in the sky but had no idea it was Jupiter. Keep in mind that if you see a very bright star high in the sky, it is most likely Jupiter. Essentially, these facts about Jupiter are for children, but for most of us, who have completely forgotten our school astronomy course, this information about the planet will be very useful.
Journey to the planet Jupiter popular science film
Those who at least once in the evening carefully observed the stars could not help but notice a bright point, which with its brilliance and size stands out from the rest. This is not a distant star, whose light takes millions of years to reach us. This is Jupiter shining - the largest planet in the solar system. At times of closest approach to the Earth, this celestial body becomes most noticeable, inferior in brightness to our other cosmic companions - Venus and the Moon.
The largest of the planets in our solar system became known to people many thousands of years ago. The name of the planet alone speaks volumes about its significance for human civilization: out of respect for the size of the heavenly body, the ancient Romans gave it a name in honor of the main ancient deity - Jupiter.
Giant planet, its main features
Studying the solar system within the visibility range, a person immediately noticed the presence of a huge space object in the night sky. Initially, it was believed that one of the brightest objects in the night sky was a wandering star, but over time, the different nature of this celestial body became clear. The high brightness of Jupiter is explained by its colossal size and reaches its maximum values during the planet's approach to the Earth. The light of the giant planet is -2.94 m in apparent magnitude, losing in brightness only to the brilliance of the Moon and Venus.
First description of Jupiter largest planet The solar system dates back to the 8th-7th centuries BC. e. Even the ancient Babylonians observed a bright star in the sky, personifying it with the supreme god Marduk, the patron saint of Babylon. In later times, the ancient Greeks and then the Romans considered Jupiter, together with Venus, one of the main luminaries of the celestial sphere. The Germanic tribes endowed the giant planet with mystical divine powers, giving it a name in honor of their main god Donar. Moreover, almost all astrologers, astrologers and predictors of antiquity always took into account the position of Jupiter and the brightness of its light in their predictions and reports. In later times, when the level of technical equipment made it possible to more accurately observe space, it turned out that Jupiter clearly stands out in comparison with other planets of the solar system.
The actual size of a small bright point on our night sky has enormous significance. The radius of Jupiter in the equatorial zone is 71,490 km. Compared to Earth, the diameter of the gas giant is slightly less than 140 thousand km. This is 11 times the diameter of our planet. Such grandiose size corresponds to mass. The giant has a mass of 1.8986x1027 kg and weighs 2.47 times more than the total mass of the remaining seven planets, comets and asteroids belonging to the Solar System.
The mass of the Earth is 5.97219x1024 kg, which is 315 times less than the mass of Jupiter.
However, the “king of the planets” is not the largest planet in all respects. Despite its size and enormous mass, Jupiter is 4.16 times less dense than our planet, 1326 kg/m3 and 5515 kg/m3, respectively. This is explained by the fact that our planet is a rocky ball with a heavy inner core. Jupiter is a dense accumulation of gases, the density of which is correspondingly less than the density of any solid body.
Another interesting fact. With a fairly low density, the gravity on the surface of the gas giant is 2.4 times higher than terrestrial parameters. The acceleration of gravity on Jupiter will be 24.79 m/s2 (the same value on Earth is 9.8 m/s2). All presented astrophysical parameters of the planet are determined by its composition and structure. Unlike the first four planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, which are related to objects terrestrial group, Jupiter leads the cohort of gas giants. Like Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, the largest planet known to us does not have a solid surface.
The current three-layer model of the planet gives an idea of what Jupiter really is. Behind the outer gaseous shell that makes up the atmosphere of the gas giant is a layer of water ice. This is where the transparent part of the planet, visible to optical instruments, ends. It is technically impossible to determine what color the surface of the planet is. Even with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists were able to view only the upper layer of the atmosphere of a huge ball of gas.
Further, if you move towards the surface, a dark and hot world appears, which consists of ammonia crystals and dense metallic hydrogen. High temperatures (6000-21000 K) and enormous pressure exceeding 4000 GPa prevail here. The only solid element of the planet's structure is the rocky core. The presence of a rocky core, which has a small diameter compared to the size of the planet, gives the planet hydrodynamic equilibrium. It is thanks to him that the laws of conservation of mass and energy operate on Jupiter, keeping the giant in orbit and forcing it to rotate around its own axis. This giant does not have a clearly visible boundary between the atmosphere and the central, rest of the planet. In the scientific community, the conventional surface of the planet is considered to be where the pressure is 1 bar.
The pressure in the upper layers of Jupiter's atmosphere is low and amounts to only 1 atm. But the kingdom of cold reigns here, since the temperature does not drop below 130°C.
The atmosphere of Jupiter contains a huge amount of hydrogen, which is slightly diluted with helium and admixtures of ammonia and methane. This explains the colorfulness of the clouds that densely cover the planet. Scientists believe that such an accumulation of hydrogen occurred during the formation of the Solar System. Harder cosmic matter, under the influence of centrifugal forces, went into the formation of terrestrial planets, while lighter free gas molecules, under the influence of the same physical laws, began to accumulate into clumps. These gas particles became the building material from which all four giant planets are made.
The presence on the planet of such quantities of hydrogen, which is the basic element of water, suggests the existence of huge quantities of water resources on Jupiter. In practice, it turns out that sudden temperature changes and physical conditions on the planet do not allow water molecules to pass from a gaseous and solid state to a liquid.
Astrophysical parameters of Jupiter
The fifth planet is also interesting for its astrophysical parameters. Being behind the asteroid belt, Jupiter conventionally divides the solar system into two parts, exerting a strong influence on all space objects within its sphere of influence. The closest planet to Jupiter is Mars, which is constantly under the influence of the magnetic field and gravitational force of the huge planet. Jupiter's orbit has the shape of a regular ellipse and a slight eccentricity, only 0.0488. In this regard, Jupiter remains at the same distance from our star almost all the time. At perihelion, the planet is located at the center of the solar system at a distance of 740.5 million km, and at aphelion, Jupiter is at a distance from the Sun of 816.5 million km.
The giant moves quite slowly around the Sun. Its speed is only 13 km/s, while that of the Earth is almost three times higher (29.78 km/s). Jupiter completes its entire journey around our central star in 12 years. The speed of the planet’s movement around its own axis and the speed of the planet’s movement in orbit are strongly influenced by Jupiter’s neighbor, the huge Saturn.
The position of the planet’s axis is also surprising from the point of view of astrophysics. The equatorial plane of Jupiter is tilted from the orbital axis by only 3.13°. On our Earth, the axial deviation from the orbital plane is 23.45°. The planet seems to be lying on its side. Despite this, Jupiter rotates around its own axis at enormous speed, which leads to a natural compression of the planet. According to this indicator, the gas giant is the fastest in our star system. Jupiter rotates around its own axis for just under 10 hours. To be more precise, a cosmic day on the surface of the gas giant is 9 hours 55 minutes, while the Jovian year lasts 10,475 Earth days. Due to such features of the location of the rotation axis, there are no changes in seasons on Jupiter.
At the point of closest approach, Jupiter is at a distance of 740 million km from our planet. Modern space probes flying in outer space at a speed of 40,000 kilometers per hour overcome this path in different ways. The first spacecraft towards Jupiter, Pioneer 10, was launched in March 1972. The last of the devices launched towards Jupiter was the automatic Juno probe. The space probe was launched on August 5, 2011 and only five years later, in the summer of 2020, it reached the orbit of the “king planet”. During the flight, the Juno spacecraft traveled a distance of 2.8 billion km.
Moons of the planet Jupiter: why are there so many of them?
It is not difficult to guess that such an impressive size of the planet determines the presence of a large retinue. In count natural satellites Jupiter has no equal. There are 69 of them. This set also contains real giants, comparable in size to a full-fledged planet and very small, barely noticeable with the help of telescopes. Jupiter also has its own rings, similar to the ring system of Saturn. The rings of Jupiter are the smallest particle elements captured by the planet’s magnetic field directly from space during the formation of the planet.
Such a large number of satellites is explained by the fact that Jupiter has the strongest magnetic field, which has a huge impact on all neighboring objects. The gravitational force of the gas giant is so strong that it allows Jupiter to hold such a large family of satellites around it. In addition, the action of the planet’s magnetic field is quite enough to attract all wandering space objects. Jupiter serves as a cosmic shield in the solar system, catching comets and large asteroids from outer space. The relatively calm existence of the inner planets is explained precisely by this factor. The magnetosphere of the huge planet is several times more powerful than the Earth’s magnetic field.
Galileo Galilei first became acquainted with the satellites of the gas giant in 1610. Through his telescope, the scientist saw four satellites at once moving around a huge planet. This fact confirmed the idea of a heliocentric model of the solar system.
The size of these satellites is amazing, they can even compete with some planets of the solar system. For example, the satellite Ganymede is larger in size than Mercury, the smallest planet in the solar system. Not far behind Mercury is another giant satellite, Callisto. Distinctive feature Jupiter's satellite system is that all planets orbiting the gas giant have a solid structure.
The sizes of the most famous moons of Jupiter are as follows:
- Ganymede has a diameter of 5260 km (Mercury's diameter is 4879 km);
- Callisto has a diameter of 4820 km;
- Io's diameter is 3642 km;
- Europe's diameter is 3122 km.
Some satellites are closer to the mother planet, others are further away. The history of the appearance of such large natural satellites has not yet been revealed. We are probably dealing with small planets that once orbited Jupiter in the neighborhood. Small satellites are fragments of destroyed comets arriving in the Solar System from the Oort cloud. An example is the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy on Jupiter, observed in 1994.
It is the satellites of Jupiter that are objects of interest to scientists, since they are more accessible and similar in structure to the terrestrial planets. The gas giant itself represents an environment hostile to humanity, where the existence of any known forms of life is unimaginable.
If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them
Jupiter is the largest planet. The diameter of the planet is 11 times larger than the diameter of the Earth and is 142,718 km.
Around Jupiter there is a thin ring encircling it. The density of the ring is very low, so it is invisible (like Saturn).
The rotation period of Jupiter around its axis is 9 hours 55 minutes. In this case, each point of the equator moves at a speed of 45,000 km/h.
Since Jupiter is not a solid ball, but consists of gas and liquid, its equatorial parts rotate faster than the polar regions. Jupiter's rotation axis is almost perpendicular to its orbit, therefore, the change of seasons on the planet is weakly expressed.
The mass of Jupiter far exceeds the mass of all other planets in the solar system combined, amounting to 1.9. 10 27 kg. Moreover, the average density of Jupiter is 0.24 of the average density of the Earth.
General characteristics of the planet Jupiter
Atmosphere of Jupiter
Jupiter's atmosphere is very dense. It consists of hydrogen (89%) and helium (11%), resembling chemical composition Sun (Fig. 1). Its length is 6000 km. Orange color atmosphere
add phosphorus or sulfur compounds. It is harmful to people because it contains poisonous ammonia and acetylene.
Different parts of the planet's atmosphere rotate at different speeds. This difference gave rise to cloud belts, of which Jupiter has three: at the top - clouds of frozen ammonia; below them are crystals of ammonium and methane hydrogen sulfide, and in the lowest layer is water ice and, possibly, liquid water. The temperature of the upper clouds is 130 °C. In addition, Jupiter has a hydrogen and helium corona. Winds on Jupiter reach speeds of 500 km/h.
The landmark of Jupiter is the Great Red Spot, which has been observed for 300 years. It was discovered in 1664 by an English naturalist Robert Hooke(1635-1703). Now its length reaches 25,000 km, and 100 years ago it was about 50,000 km. This spot was first described in 1878 and sketched 300 years ago. It seems to live its own life - it expands and contracts. Its color also changes.
The American probes Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, and Galileo found that the spot does not have a solid surface; it rotates like a cyclone in the Earth’s atmosphere. The Great Red Spot is believed to be atmospheric phenomenon, probably the tip of a cyclone raging in the atmosphere of Jupiter. A white spot more than 10,000 km in size was also discovered in Jupiter's atmosphere.
As of March 1, 2009, Jupiter has 63 satellites known. The largest of them, Europa, is the size of Mercury. They are always turned to Jupiter with one side, like the Moon to the Earth. These satellites are called Galilean, as they were first discovered by an Italian physicist, mechanic and astronomer Galileo Galilei(1564-1642) in 1610, testing his telescope. Io has active volcanoes.
Rice. 1. Composition of Jupiter's atmosphere
Jupiter's twenty outer satellites are so far from the planet that they are invisible to the naked eye from its surface, and Jupiter appears smaller than the Moon in the sky of the farthest one.
