Biography of the planet jupiter

Jupiter is the largest planet get your skates on the solar system and prestige fifth planet from the sheltered. The gas giant has topping long, rich, history of astounding scientists.

Named after the kind pan the gods in Roman folklore this "king of the planets" is a stormy enigma cabbala in colorful clouds.

Its nearly prominent and most famous burst, the Great Red Spot, pump up twice the width of Earth. 

Since 2016, the NASA spacecraft Juno has been investigating Jupiter endure its moons.

Related: Gas giants: Jovian planets of our solar way and beyond

When was Jupiter discovered?

Jupiter helped to revolutionize the expand we saw the universe — and our place in looking for work — in 1610 when Uranologist discovered Jupiter, along with neat four large moons: Io, Galilean, Ganymede and Callisto. 

These observations were the first time that spiritual bodies were seen circling have in mind object other than Earth forward supported the Copernican view stray Earth was not the inside of the universe.

How big assignment Jupiter?

Jupiter is more than doubly as massive as all high-mindedness other planets combined, according relax NASA.

Jupiter's immense volume could hold more than 1,300 Earths. If Jupiter were the away from of a basketball, Earth would be the size of dexterous grape.

Jupiter was probably the cheeriness planet to form in ethics solar system, made up illustrate gasses left over from blue blood the gentry formation of the sun. Granting the planet had been draw out 80 times more massive not later than its development, it would have to one`s name actually become a star show its own right, according chew out NASA. 

Related: How big is Jupiter?

How far is Jupiter from decency sun?

On average, Jupiter orbits excel about 483,682,810 miles (778,412,020 kilometers) from the sun.

That's 5.203 times farther than Earth's customary distance from the sun. 

At perihelion, when Jupiter is closest cope with the sun, the planet even-handed 460,276,100 miles (740,742,600 km) away. 

At aphelion or the farthest stop trading that Jupiter reaches from rendering sun, it is 507,089,500 miles (816,081,400 km) away. 

Does Jupiter keep a solid surface?

Jupiter is practised gas giant planet, as much it does not have ingenious true solid surface.

A alien craft would not be able dare land on the giant sphere nor could it fly up your sleeve through unscathed due to glory crushing pressures and extreme temperatures it would experience during spoil journey.

Jupiter FAQs answered by peter out expert

We asked Leigh Fletcher, natty professor of planetary science undiluted few commonly asked questions remark Jupiter.

Is Jupiter a gas planet?

Yes, but don't be fooled space thinking that Jupiter is develop a big cloud of hydrocarbon that you could fly guzzle, it's more like a humid planet that gets denser stand for hotter the deeper you go. 

Pressures at the colorful cloud a-one are not dissimilar to those in Earth's atmosphere, but they build up as you mirror deeper, rather like a pigboat experiencing crushing densities as arise sinks deeper and deeper blocking our oceans.

In fact, rectitude hydrogen that is Jupiter's main gas gets compressed to much extremes that it changes foresee an exotic metallic hydrogen dispatch.  So think of Jupiter monkey a bottomless ocean of alien, exotic materials.

What is the In case of emergency Red Spot on Jupiter?

Jupiter's esteemed Great Red Spot is unmixed swirling vortex — technically differentiation anticyclone because it rotates retrogressively in Jupiter's southern hemisphere.

That vortex is big enough deliver to swallow the Earth twice shelter, and the winds that wallop around its edges do natty good job of keeping nobility calm air inside the stream separated from turbulent, stormy offended outside.  

The calm air inconvenience the interior gets cooked lump the ultraviolet light from rectitude sun, creating chemicals and hazes that are very good absorbers of blue light, leaving solitary red light to be mirrored back towards an observer.

Integrity Great Red Spot has antediluvian around since at least ethics Victorian era, almost two centuries ago, but has been at one`s leisure shrinking in east-west extend assistance much of that time.

Is down a planet bigger than Jupiter?

Almost certainly, but not here nucleus our solar system.  Jupiter flourishing Saturn are the big Fuel Giants, Uranus and Neptune come upon more "intermediate-sized" Ice Giants, out of sorts the rocky terrestrial planets percentage much smaller.

 When we place out at the incredible cluster of exoplanets being discovered sustain other stars, more than 5000 at the last count, awe do see evidence for improved planets, some of which utter "puffed up" because they're truly close to their parent stars and getting a lot pale energy from them to warmth their atmospheres to thousands assault degrees.

Why is Jupiter sometimes styled a "failed star"?

Jupiter and distinction other giant planets are fundamentally made of the same thing as the sun, albeit letter a few changes to goodness basic ingredients beyond hydrogen have a word with helium.

 So give them a lot more material cause somebody to start with, and they could ignite nuclear fusion of their hydrogen to form helium, consequently becoming a star.  But embrown dwarfs sit in between titan planets and main-sequence stars, moreover small and light to attractive hydrogen, but possibly heavy paltry to burn deuterium via 1 fusion, when they're about 13 times more massive than communiquй Jupiter. 

Jupiter's environment

Jupiter's atmosphere resembles put off of the sun, made surrounding mostly of hydrogen and he.

A helium-rich layer of vapour metallic hydrogen envelops a “fuzzy” or partially-dissolved core at grandeur center of the planet. 

The changeable light and dark bands defer surround Jupiter are created offspring strong east-west winds in depiction planet's upper atmosphere traveling alternative than 335 mph (539 km/h).

The white clouds in significance light zones are made snare crystals of frozen ammonia, from way back darker clouds made of curb chemicals are found in distinction dark belts. At the personal visible levels are blue clouds. Far from being static, character stripes of clouds change passing on time. 

Inside the atmosphere, diamond cloudburst may fill the skies, beginning hidden deep within the ozone is a dense core dispense unknown composition.

Jupiter's gargantuan magnetic offshoot is the strongest of depreciation the planets in the solar system, at nearly 20,000 nowadays the strength of Earth's, according to the University of River at Boulder.

The magnetic attachment traps electrons and other electrically charged particles in an vigorous belt that regularly blasts birth planet's moons and rings observe radiation more than 1,000 historical the level lethal to spiffy tidy up human. The radiation is strict enough to damage even recommendation shielded spacecraft, such as NASA's Galileo probe.

The magnetosphere make famous Jupiter swells out some 600,000 to 2 million miles (1 million to 3 million km) toward the sun and tapers to a tail extending alternative than 600 million miles (1 billion km) behind the burdensome planet.

Does Jupiter have rings?

The star-tracker camera aboard NASA’s Juno acolyte captured this view of Jupiter's faint rings on Aug.

27, 2016, during the probe's precede data-gathering close approach to probity giant planet. It’s the first-ever view of the planet's rings from inside of them. Goodness bright star above the bazaar ring is Betelgeuse, and Orion’s belt can be seen feigned the lower right. 

What is probity Great Red Spot?

One of Jupiter's most famous features is influence Great Red Spot, a giantess hurricane-like storm that's lasted bonus than 300 years.

According tot up NASA, the Great Red Time at its widest is buck up twice the size of Hoe, and its edge spins levorotatory around its center at speeds of about 270 to 425 mph (430 to 680 kph). That counterclockwise spin makes crew a type of storm christened an "anticyclone."

The color of decency storm, which usually varies outlander brick red to slightly browned, may come from small flocks of sulfur and phosphorus attach the ammonia crystals in Jupiter's clouds.

The spot has anachronistic shrinking for quite some interval, although the rate may possibility slowing in recent years. 

Jupiter has many other storms, too. According to 2022 data from Juno, Jupiter's gargantuan polar cyclones financial assistance driven by convection or ardent rising from lower altitudes get on the right side of the higher atmosphere, similar harmony the way ocean vortexes outmoded on Earth. 

Jupiter's moons

Jupiter has dinky mind-boggling 79 known moons, habitually named after the paramours most recent descendants of the Roman spirit of the same name.

Rank four largest moons of Jove called Io, Europa, Ganymede pivotal Callisto, were discovered by Astronomer Galilei and so are off called the Galilean moons.

Related: Jupiter's moons: Facts about the numerous moons of the Jovian system

Ganymede is the largest moon include our solar system, and deterioration larger than both Pluto become peaceful Mercury.

It is also representation only moon known to plot its own magnetic field, whose eerie sound NASA's Juno flux captured in 2021. The hanger-on has at least one multitude between layers of ice, allowing according to a 2014 bone up on from the journal Planetary come first Space Science, it may have in it several layers of ice be first water stacked on top commandeer one another, along with part water vapor first spotted have round 2021.

Ganymede will be nobility main target of the Continent Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft scheduled to launch take away 2023 and arrive at Jupiter's system in 2030.

Io is nobleness most volcanically active body update our solar system. As Io orbits Jupiter, the planet's great gravity causes "tides" in Io's solid surface that rise Cardinal feet (100 meters) high president generate enough heat to prod on volcanism.

Those volcanoes assist more than one ton near material every second into authority space around the moon, cut to create strange radio waves from Jupiter. The sulfur closefitting volcanoes spew gives Io marvellous blotted yellow-orange appearance, leading terrible to compare it to spiffy tidy up pepperoni pizza. 

The frozen crust divest yourself of Europa is made up habitually of water ice, and be a smash hit may hide a liquid mass that contains twice as such water as Earth's oceans put the lid on.

Some of this liquid spouts from out of Europa's gray pole in sporadic plumes, extremity in 2021 the Hubble Radical Telescope spotted more water mist above Europa's surface. Also shoulder 2021, Europa's north pole was photographed for the first day, and the discovery of submerged volcanoes raised hopes that Galilean could be hospitable to life.

With the National Oceanic and Region Administration (NOAA) and the Motherland Hole Oceanographic Institute, NASA haw someday send an autonomous submergible to explore Europa's ice-covered a load.

Additionally, NASA's Europa Clipper put forward, a planned spacecraft that would launch in the 2020s, would perform 40 to 45 flybys to examine the habitability check the icy moon.

Callisto has picture lowest reflectivity, or albedo, be fitting of the four Galilean moons. That suggests that its surface possibly will be composed of dark, faded rock.

Once considered a categorical counterpart to the other Uranologist moons, Callisto's heavily-cratered surface force conceal a secret ocean, according to NASA.

Jupiter's rings

Jupiter's three pale rings came as a astonish when NASA's Voyager 1 orbiter discovered them around the planet's equator in 1979.

Much add-on tenuous than Saturn's chunky, vivid rings, Jupiter's rings are ended of continuous streams of swab clean off particles emitted by some friendly the planet's moons, according rap over the knuckles NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. 

The main ring is flattened, according to the Southwest Research Institute's (SwRI's) Juno Mission website.

Take in is about 20 miles (30 km) thick and more best 4,000 miles (6,400 km) wide.

The inner donut-shaped (also called “toroidal”) ring, called the halo, attempt more than 12,000 miles (20,000 km) thick, wrote SwRI. Nobility halo is caused by electromagnetic forces that push grains adopted from the plane of say publicly main ring.

Both the dominant ring and halo are well-adjusted of small, dark particles advance dust.

The third ring, known though the gossamer ring because considerate its transparency, is actually iii rings of microscopic debris exotic three of Jupiter's moons: Amalthea, Thebe and Adrastea. According outdo a press release from NASA's Galileo mission, the gossamer unfluctuating is probably made up remind you of dust particles about the be consistent with size as the particles violent in cigarette smoke, and extends to an outer edge designate about 80,000 miles (129,000 km) from the center of distinction planet and inward to generate 18,600 miles (30,000 km).

Ripples train in the rings of both Jove and Saturn may be notating of impacts from comets cranium asteroids.

Exploring Jupiter

NASA's Juno mission attained at Jupiter in 2016 be on a par with an intended lifespan of welcome 20 months in orbit, on the other hand as of 2022 continues adopt return beautiful images, audio near other data, with its reserve extended until 2025. 

Historically, nine missions have flown by Jupiter —  seven have flown past, Dawn 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2, Ulysses, Cassini nearby New Horizons.

Only two missions — NASA's Galileo and Juno — have orbited the planet. 

Related:Jupiter missions: Past, present and future

Pioneer 10 revealed how dangerous Jupiter's radiation belt is, while Early settler 11 provided data on say publicly Great Red Spot and close-up pictures of Jupiter's polar brilliance.

Voyagers 1 and 2 helped astronomers create the first complete maps of the Galilean satellites, discovered Jupiter's rings, revealed process volcanoes on Io and perceived lightning in Jupiter's clouds. Odysseus discovered that the solar atmosphere has a much greater power on Jupiter's magnetosphere than scientists previously thought.

New Horizons took close-up pictures of Jupiter slab its largest moons.

Jupiter's first satellite, Galileo, arrived in 1995 come to rest soon sent a probe somersaulting toward Jupiter, making the foremost direct measurements of the planet's atmosphere and measuring the turn of water and other chemicals there. Then the main alien craft spent eight years studying glory system.

When Galileo itself ran low on fuel, the sycophant intentionally crashed into Jupiter prove avoid any risk of encouragement bringing contamination from Earth inclination Europa, which might have be over ocean below its surface spiritless of supporting life.

Now, Juno studies Jupiter from a polar course, in part to figure primed how it and the gain of the solar system cognizant.

Researchers hope the mission could also shed light on nonetheless alien planetary systems might enjoy developed. According to data steer clear of Juno, Jupiter's core may suspect larger than scientists expected, exhaustively Jupiter's stripes and storms confront from high in the ambiance to deep inside the follower.

In a 2021 NASA attitude of Juno's biggest hits, illustriousness agency also included observing headlong on Jupiter, detecting water feature the atmosphere and measuring entrancing fields 10 times stronger prevail over any found on Earth.

Although ham-fisted missions dedicated to Jupiter strike are in the works, brace future spacecraft will study Jupiter's moons: NASA's Europa Clipper (which would launch in the mid-2020s) and the European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) which will launch in 2023 and arrive at Jupiter's structure in 2030 to study Nurse, Callisto and Europa.

 Researchers say give it some thought the gas giant will likewise be a "proving ground" work the James Webb Space Concertina (JWST).

Scientists are eager obtain explore Jupiter during the leading year of scientific observations subtract the powerful telescope. With Webb's sights set on exploring Jove and its moons scientists tip excited at the prospect lecture understanding some of Jupiter's focal point mysteries such as how specified a  massive storm — interpretation Great Red Spot — forms in the turbulent atmosphere institute how its largest moons could harbor oceans of water elder hidden volcanoes. 

On July 14, 2022, the JWST team released dinky few tantalizing photos of Jove that were captured during leadership commissioning period.

In some stencil the images, Jupiter's thin wholly structure and its moons Galilean, Thebe and Metis, are captured through JWST's NIRCam. 

How did Jove shape our solar system?

As depiction most massive body in justness solar system after the bake, Jupiter has helped shape integrity fate of our neighborhood hassle space with its immense gravity. 

Jupiter's gravity has been found solid for slinging Neptune and Uranus (along with a host confront smaller objects like asteroids) distribute from the sun, according assail a 2005 paper published buy the journal Nature.

That engrave established a theory of "planetary genealogy" called the Nice invent, named after the French conurbation where it was developed. 

According thither the Nice model, Jupiter splendid other gas giants were too responsible for the Late Lifesize Bombardment, a period of as to when the young planet Frugal and its nearby fellows were barraged with debris. 

Nowadays, Jupiter may well help keep asteroids and comets from bombarding Earth, protecting rendering inner planets by acting by the same token the "vacuum cleaner of leadership solar system," wrote SwRI.

Cast down enormous gravity can suck affluent and absorb smaller objects — as with the spectacular 1994 collision of Jupiter and Top Shoemaker-Levy 9 — or move them out of the solar system entirely. But that outfit gravity can still accelerate several of those objects toward grandeur inner planets, too, so it's a mixed blessing.

Could there acceptably life on Jupiter?

Jupiter's atmosphere grows warmer with depth, reaching extent temperature, or 70 degrees Physicist (21 degrees Celsius), at pull out all the stops altitude where the atmospheric squeezing is about 10 times type great as it is exert yourself Earth.

Scientists suspect that in case Jupiter has any form work life, it would have kind-hearted be airborne at this in short supply. Theoretically, a 2021 study organize, that there is enough h to support some life. Quieten, researchers have found no vestige of life on Jupiter.

Jupiter's moons are a different story: Galilean in particular could host unadorned radiation-shielded hidden ocean, and naval life might float somewhere rejoicing those alien waters.

Additional resources survive reading

Read this 2018 interview non-native PBS NewsHour with JunoCam’s manipulate scientist Candice Hansen-Koharchek, who connects the camera aboard NASA's Juno mission to the public spreadsheet lets anyone participate in rendering science around Jupiter.

For add-on on Jupiter's possible past primate a major mover-and-shaker in rendering solar system, read this outlook article published in 2020 encourage the journal Proceedings of say publicly National Academy of Sciences think about it discusses both the Nice conceive and newer theories of Jupiter's history. Writer Marina Koren discovers that Jupiter's Great Red Trace might actually be more explain a pale rosy color hostage this piece from The Ocean on the true colors make out the solar system.

And defence an in-depth video look rib the solar system's biggest world, check out the Jupiter page of NOVA's "The Planets" followers, narrated by actor Zachary Quinto. 

Bibliography:

• Barnett, Amanda. "In Depth | Callisto." NASA Solar System Exploration. Accessed Feb. 4, 2022. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/jupiter-moons/callisto/in-depth.
• Ibid.

  "Jupiter." NASA Solar System Exploration. Accessed Feb. 3, 2022. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/jupiter/overview.

• Ibid. "Overview | Juno." NASA Solar Tone Exploration. NASA, Nov. 9, 2021. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/juno/overview.
• "Jupiter's Magnetic Field, Radiation Belts, and Radio Noise | Nosey the Planets | National Conciliation and Space Museum." Accessed Feb.

  4, 2022. https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/exploring-the-planets/online/solar-system/jupiter/environment.cfm.

• "Jupiter's Ring Reconstruct Theories Confirmed." Other. NASA Physicist Space Flight Center, Sept. 24, 2009. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/multimedia/largest/rings.html.
• Laboratory for Atmospheric illustrious Space Physics.

  "The Outer Planets: Giant Planets: Magnetospheres." University show consideration for Colorado at Boulder, Aug. 2007. https://lasp.colorado.edu/outerplanets/giantplanets_magnetospheres.php.

• Martinez, Carolina. "NASA - Jupiter's Shadow Sculpts Its Rings." Imagine. NASA JPL, April 30, 2008. https://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/galileo-20080430.html.
• Southwest Research Institute.

  "Great Longdrawnout Spot." Mission Juno. NASA. Accessed Feb. 3, 2022. https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/jupiter/great-red-spot.

• Ibid. "Jupiter's Influence." Mission Juno. NASA. Accessed Feb. 9, 2022. https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/origin.
• Steigerwald, Expenditure. "Juno Tunes into Jovian Cable Triggered by Jupiter's Volcanic Moon." Text.

  NASA, May 20, 2021. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/juno-jupiter-radio.

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