Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and is the most interesting, a favorite to watch and view through a standard earthbound telescope.It is about 320 times the mass than Earth and 11 times the diameter. Clouds and whirling winds reach up to 500 kilometers per hour. Jupiter is approximately 149 light years away. Jupiter takes approximately 12 Earth years to go around the sun. There have been over 16 moons found that orbit Jupiter but some are so small they sometimes cannot be found. Jupiter radiates energy which is caused by its own source deep inside which is trapped inside the gases. The core of Jupiter is similar to that of Earth. Jupiter is opposite the Sun in Earth’s sky. Jupiter will rise near sunset just like the Full Moon.
The ancient swirling storm system around Jupiter is also known as the Great Red Spot This storm has been around for over 300 years. The progress of this storm is constantly followed and the red spot does get bigger and smaller over time. Other newer storms are being followed as well which have grown to take on similar smaller reddish colors which is sometimes referred to Red Spot Jr and a smaller spot referred to as baby red spot. Red Spot Jr. was formed in 2006 and the smaller spot was just identified in early 2008. The Great Red Spot is so large that is almost twice the diameter of Earth. It is expected that the Jr. and baby red spots will combine together with the Great Red Spot which will become a giant storm system. These storms are larger than Earth, these storms appear to be almost colliding but it is unknown what would happen if these storms did collide. The storms seem to survive no matter what but do get smaller and move around.
Jupiter’s Rings were revealed in 1979 but the original formation of the rings were still not determined at that time. It was later confirmed that these rings were created by meteoroid impacts on smaller nearby moons. The meteorite would strike a moon, vaporize and explode into dirt or dust and off into Jupiter’s orbit. The rings and small dust particles high in Jupiter’s atmosphere can be seen by the reflected sunlight.
The gas giant Jupiter is made up of gases including nitrogen, hydrogen, helium, methane and ammonia. Not all these gases are poisonous but there is no oxygen on Jupiter. Even though Jupiter has so many gases mostly hydrogen, it will not explode since it would need oxygen to ignite the explosion. Jupiter does not have an outer crust it is all gas unlike the terrestrial planet s like Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury.
Extensive atmosphere of the largest planet in the solar system has bands and belts of light and dark clouds. Every day is a cloudy day on Jupiter. The clouds contain hydrogen compounds like ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and even water.
The clouds of Jupiter are also unique characteristics of its planet. The cloud bands are sometimes visible through modest sized telescopes. There is a wide range of cloud patterns, probably the most diverse in our solar system. There are turbulent storms and swirling clouds in which are also seen as a dark region which is also known as the belt. The light colored areas also show different structures and very complex wave patterns. The energy that comes from the storms can be the cause of the wave patterns. The upper cloud layer is haze which is a few tens of miles thick.
The most predominant family in our solar system is Jupiter and its moons. The sight of the big gas giant with its various large Galilean moons does look quite interesting from a distance. When Jupiter and its four large moons are photographed it is definitely similar to a family photograph. There are a few small moons that orbit Jupiter between Io (the moon nearest to Jupiter) and Jupiter’s rings. The moons appear to be potato shaped and are considered the inner moons. These moons are potato shaped since their own gravity is not strong enough to mold them into circles.
The Galilean Moons consist of Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. The order listed is the order in which they are located to Jupiter with Io being the nearest. Io’s surface is constantly changing. This moon of Jupiter has the most volcanically active body in the Solar System. The surface is continually formed and reformed by lava flows. The moon’s surface resembles a cheese pizza. The absence of impact craters evidences that the entire surface is covered by new volcanic lava. The volcanic activity of this moon is caused by energy source from the changing gravitational tides caused by Jupiter and the other Galilean moons. Io is the closest moon to Jupiter and the other three moons orbit beyond Io. This causes heating of Io’s interior and the tides would generate the volcanic activity.
Io can sometimes be seen as yellow which is caused from sulfur and molten silicate rock. The intense tidal gravity of Jupiter stretches Io which is pulled the opposite direction by the gravitational pull from the Jupiter’s other moons. The friction results in the heating of its interior which keeps the volcanoes active. Some of the lava is so hot it glows in the dark. Io orbits Jupiter once every 43 hours.
Europa contains plains of bright ice, cracks that run into the horizon and dark patches that probably have ice and dirt. There is a raised terrain near the terminator, where it does have a shadow. Eupora is the same size as Earth’s moon. It is much smoother than Earth’s moon and has little highlands and shows no large crater impacts. Liquid oceans may exist beneath the icy surface.
Ridges on Europa may be caused by cold water volcanoes or volcanic cracks in the ice where emerging liquid water force upon exposure to the cold. This moon has the most likeliness to have any extra-terrestrial life.
Ganymede does appear to have some torn comet crater chain. This crater chain is made up of 13 closely spaced craters. The actual crater chain covers about 120 miles and is made up of dark and light terrain. Crater chains are not unique to the solar system but it was determined that a torn comet slammed into Jupiter as well. Early history reveals this did happen when the solar system was in its early stages. Ganymede is also similar in size to Earth’s moon but is about 1500 times farther away. Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system and has a diameter of 3100 miles. It is larger than the planets Mercury and Pluto. Ganymede has a large oval dark region which is heavily cratered. This implies that they are very old since the lighter regions are typically younger.
Callisto’s surface has unusually jagged hills that are about 100 meters tall. They were thought to be caused from ejection thrown billions of years ago during some type of violent impact. The lower region appears to have some high ice-erosion where the dark rock has filled in some of the hill regions. Callisto does not have a strong magnetic field. One theory is that it has subsurface oceans of electrically conducting salt water. Callisto is thought to create heat by the radioactivity of decaying rock which is the same process that Earth keeps mantel molten. This would lead one to believe that like Europa and Ganymede there is some sub-surface oceans, but Callisto’s oceans would probably not support any Earth-like life.
Nasa’s robot spacecraft Galileo did take more than six years to reach Jupiter which traveled some 2.3 billion miles. This particular voyage did provide important data for the formation and information for Jupiter and the four large moons.
